Moisture/oil on fish causing issue when sealing

[N2013]

Smoked a batch last night but as I'm sealing these, I notice there's moisture starting to crystallize in the vacuum packed bag in the freezer. Am padding the hell outta the fish but not having much luck. Had the fan running all day over them. Any suggestions?

 

[One Fish]

Just a thought.. Maybe still a little to warm when vacuum packing..

 

[bones]

when i do the dry brine it is always oily. i pack it on paper towels but leave it in the fridge for 5 days then i only seal half of it. the oil stops and soaks up on the towels

 

[N2013]

It's been sitting in a cold garage, fan on for.....15hours. Felt cool to touch. Might do the towel/fridge thing. Here's what some of the bags look like

 

[bones]

just a thought.... looks like water... frosty. idk, smoking temp to low? maybe briefly explain your process

 

[Reeltime]

just a thought with all the rain we've had there maybe a lot of moisture in the air , before sealing my fish i put it in the fridge for 8 hours
open just to dry out the exterior of the fish and harden the oils so they don't come through the final sealed end when sealing . fridge seams to dry them out pretty good .

 

[triplenickel]

That looks like a pretty weak vacuum, that bag should be right tight to the flesh with no air pockets underneath. Were you shutting it down early to prevent moisture from hitting the sealing strip? You don't want the product at 0% moisture so as it cools and breathes moisture left on top is gonna condense somewhere. I partially freeze it on a cookie sheet then pack it.

 

[N2013]

Thanks for the tips. Will definitely use the fridge/freezer to dry out the fish a bit next time. I partially freeze my processed dungie meat before I seal it. Never thought to try it with fish. Learning something new every day! My problem was just too much moisture/oil on the fish when sealing. Water expands when frozen, hence a ****** seal and frosty look.

 

[Birdsnest]

The pin bones may be breaking through the bags busting the vacuum. Or you have an issue with your sealer. That is not vacuum sealed.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Weak vacuum seal on food saver . What I do with mine is slightly dampen the foam seal top/bottom, and then it pulls down. Try that.

 

[Birdsnest]

Or you heating element is to hot and flattening the channels in the bag closing them not allowing the air to come out.

 

[Whole in the Water]

If you are using a food saver sealer I would invest in one with a better/more powerful vacuum seal and a wider sealing strip. I have a higher end Cabelas one and it works well. Also I find the Cabelas bags to seal better than the food saver ones.

I also put in a strip of folded paper towel the width of the inside of the bag when sealing moist stuff helps keep moisture away from the sealing area. Any moisture here will result in a poor seal in my experience.