I've been smoking and sous viding meats lately. The end product is fantastic. My issue has been smoke residue , for lack of a better word, that leaches out during the long hot soaks in the water bath. Initially I thought I had bag failure so I triple sealed and triple bagged the meats but the smoke still tainted the water at almost the same rate. Some research and post soak bag autopsies have shown that the bags didn't have punctures and the seals were all fine. It's my understanding that the smoke particles are able to pass through the pores of the bags at higher temperatures. I have tried a couple of different bag manufacturers with really no improvement . Has anyone found a brand that resists this? I wasn't sure of the correct forum to post this. I originally thought the sous vide forum would be a good fit but that is just for device discussion. If there is a better channel to get answers please let me know and I'll remove this post and re-post there. Thanks for the help.
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I don't know about bag brands, but a couple of the guys here (Troutman in particular) have convinced me to use the qvq method. So I smoke the meat first to a temp not to exceed the sv temp, then do the bath thing, them cool the meat and return it to the smoker. I would think the second smoke would take care of the lack of smoke in the finished product.Last edited by klflowers; November 20, 2019, 09:32 AM. -
My experience using different bags is like yours, I don't think it hurts anything. the smell doesn't bother me.Comment
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Mine does the same. I haven't been worried about it since I change out that water. And now, for the most part, I sous vide first then smoke.Comment
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I use the foodsaver bags to qvq chuck roasts and the smoke smell releases from them when i sous vide them after I smoke them. I have just set up the sous vide station in the garage when I qvq.Comment
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It’s not the bag. It’s the size of the smoke particle. It’s tiny enough to penetrate the meat, it’s tiny enough to flow through the bag.
I wouldn’t worry about it.Comment
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I wonder if those teensy smoke particles could get stuck and build up in the sous vide unit as the contaminated water passes through it over the course of several QVQ cooks. That thought alone has prevented me from smoking anything before sous viding, so only VQ for me so far, to eliminate the potential of damaging my Joule down the road. I'd love for someone to convince me that my concern is groundless so I could happily QVQ.
KathrynLast edited by fzxdoc; November 20, 2019, 12:08 PM.Comment
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I have done qvq several times and I haven't noticed any issues with my Anova. But then again, I never thought about smoke deposits on the thing, so I never looked for them. Next time I pull it out (probably this weekend), I'll take it apart and take a look. -
The stuff that escapes from the bag is micro particulate, not the greasy smoke that adheres to your smoker.
Invisible to the human eye, so small they can pass right through you.
I honestly wouldn't worry about it. I don't. And I worry about near everything, up to and including the eventual heat death of the universe. -
Been doing lots of QVQ cooks and this is completely normal. Doesn’t hurt the machine and end product has great smoke flavor.
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Thanks again all. Overall it doesn't bother me much other than not really knowing if there is a leak. For now I'll probably swap out the water for the long cooks. I might even experiment with using a mylar heat sealed bag over my normal bag to see if it helps. Mylar has a much tighter structure, it may be the cure to what likely isn't a problem.
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