Finished Business
Well-Known Member
I use the Foodsaver Vac Sealer (original clamshell style) for my vaccuum sealing. Its in no way the best sealer on the market, but it's affordable, and for the most part gets the job done.
When I started sealing, I figured, bag in push button and go. It worked, but over the last couple years of heavy use, I've learned a few techniques that further improve the quality of seal that I get with my basic FoodSaver. I'm sure alot of guys use them, and if so, give these a try and you will see a vast improvement in the quality of seal, and the shelf life increase drastically, due to less bag seperation and freezerburn.
Here's some things I do...
Bag choice: 6 or 11" bags.
-I want at least 1" on either side of the filet when in the bag. In other words don't put a filet that is 5+" wide in the 6" bags.
-and 2" of extra bag at the tail and head of the filet. 18" filet = 26" bag. The extra 2" is for the portion of the bag that is inserted into the machine. Fish over 20lbs I leave 4" extra at either end of the filet.
Filet Prep: The most important step.
-I use a piece of plywood to make a flat surface or shelf in my deep freeze. Either put it ontop of the stuff in the chest freezer, or clear a shelf in the standing freezer, depending how many fish I am doing. This is so you have something flat to lay your filets on.
-wrap 1 side of the plywood with tinfoil or wax paper. Heavy Duty tinfoil works best and doesn't tear. The light stuff will. Wax paper is good no matter what.
-lay your filets (skin down) on the plywood/shelf. do not have them touching. Once your filets are laid out, take Saran Wrap (or similar product) and lay it piece by piece covering each filet completely, pressing the Saran onto the filet so as little air as possible is left under the Saran Wrap. I do each piece individually and then put a final layer of Saran, covering all the filets as best I can.
-Let them freeze for 18 to 36 hours depending on freezer strength, OR until the filet has just become frozen solid.
-Remove from freezer by taking plywood/shelf out. Take off all the Saran, it should come off very easily.
-Lift the filets off the board by lifting the Alufoil/wax paper, and peel it carefully off the skin side of the filet.
-Once you have your frozen filet off the board, run the meat side under cold water for a brief second, enough to dampen the meat (a spray bottle works too)
-From there put it immidiately into your pre-made bag.
Sealing:
Once you have your filets in their pre-made bags its time to seal them up.
Although they are damp from the cold water, I use the dry function. And I set the vaccuum to as fast suction as possible.
Instead of using the auto function, I use the pulse function. That way you can vaccuum for as long as you choose.
Prior to sealing, I take a damp cloth and whipe the rubber sealing strips down with water. It seems to create a far better seal when the unit is vaccuuming. Once I do ALL that, I start pulse sealing. Once it has no more air to vaccuum I hit the seal button and finish it up.
One more overkill step I do is double sealing each end of the bag.
Using this method, my foodsaver has kept working away for 3 years now. I have pulled filets out of the deepfreeze a year after they went in (I date the bags) and it was as good as a frozen filet a week old. You could not tell the difference between the two.
If you use the FoodSaver Sealers, give this method a go, and you will be extremely impressed with the quality your little sealer can produce....It just needs a helping hand! Happy Sealing!
-FB-
When I started sealing, I figured, bag in push button and go. It worked, but over the last couple years of heavy use, I've learned a few techniques that further improve the quality of seal that I get with my basic FoodSaver. I'm sure alot of guys use them, and if so, give these a try and you will see a vast improvement in the quality of seal, and the shelf life increase drastically, due to less bag seperation and freezerburn.
Here's some things I do...
Bag choice: 6 or 11" bags.
-I want at least 1" on either side of the filet when in the bag. In other words don't put a filet that is 5+" wide in the 6" bags.
-and 2" of extra bag at the tail and head of the filet. 18" filet = 26" bag. The extra 2" is for the portion of the bag that is inserted into the machine. Fish over 20lbs I leave 4" extra at either end of the filet.
Filet Prep: The most important step.
-I use a piece of plywood to make a flat surface or shelf in my deep freeze. Either put it ontop of the stuff in the chest freezer, or clear a shelf in the standing freezer, depending how many fish I am doing. This is so you have something flat to lay your filets on.
-wrap 1 side of the plywood with tinfoil or wax paper. Heavy Duty tinfoil works best and doesn't tear. The light stuff will. Wax paper is good no matter what.
-lay your filets (skin down) on the plywood/shelf. do not have them touching. Once your filets are laid out, take Saran Wrap (or similar product) and lay it piece by piece covering each filet completely, pressing the Saran onto the filet so as little air as possible is left under the Saran Wrap. I do each piece individually and then put a final layer of Saran, covering all the filets as best I can.
-Let them freeze for 18 to 36 hours depending on freezer strength, OR until the filet has just become frozen solid.
-Remove from freezer by taking plywood/shelf out. Take off all the Saran, it should come off very easily.
-Lift the filets off the board by lifting the Alufoil/wax paper, and peel it carefully off the skin side of the filet.
-Once you have your frozen filet off the board, run the meat side under cold water for a brief second, enough to dampen the meat (a spray bottle works too)
-From there put it immidiately into your pre-made bag.
Sealing:
Once you have your filets in their pre-made bags its time to seal them up.
Although they are damp from the cold water, I use the dry function. And I set the vaccuum to as fast suction as possible.
Instead of using the auto function, I use the pulse function. That way you can vaccuum for as long as you choose.
Prior to sealing, I take a damp cloth and whipe the rubber sealing strips down with water. It seems to create a far better seal when the unit is vaccuuming. Once I do ALL that, I start pulse sealing. Once it has no more air to vaccuum I hit the seal button and finish it up.
One more overkill step I do is double sealing each end of the bag.
Using this method, my foodsaver has kept working away for 3 years now. I have pulled filets out of the deepfreeze a year after they went in (I date the bags) and it was as good as a frozen filet a week old. You could not tell the difference between the two.
If you use the FoodSaver Sealers, give this method a go, and you will be extremely impressed with the quality your little sealer can produce....It just needs a helping hand! Happy Sealing!
-FB-
