Sous Vide Bags bursting

[perry green]

For Father’s Day my wife bought me super fancy PolyScience Circulator. It works great but I’ve had some problems with the bags opening. I’m using Food Saver Brand.

It doesn’t happen all the time though. I put an uncooked tomahawk steak at 140 for 4 hours and it came out great BUT…


Made some octopus at 170 and the bag burst after a few hours.

I made 4 beef shanks for Pho in separate bags at 161.6 for 24 hours. One bag burst. The rest were fine

The other day I smoked a beef chuck roast for 4 hours at 225 then put it in the sous vide bath for 19 hours at 165. The bag had burst even though I had wrapped it in a zip lock bag water still got in and I lost all the juices.

I’ve been wrapping everything in zip lock bags in addition to sealing first but water still seems to penetrate.
Kind of frustrated. I heard that a brand called FOOD VAC bags works well so I just ordered some.
Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Jerod Broussard]

Is it busting at the seal?

[STEbbq]

Those are very high temps for sous vide. I don’t think I have ever cooked more than 137 or so in mine. It hasn’t happened to me but I have read that temps above 160 are more prone to unsealing. My suggestion would be to consider lower temps in the 130-150 range and you should avoid the issue.

[shify]

Its not temp that it the issue. Those temps arent even that high. I cook carrots at 183 and never had a burst bag.

If it’s opening at the seal, it’s not the bag, it’s the seal. Not sure if the OP is getting the bag wet where it seals or needs a new vacuum sealer but I wouldn’t bother changing bags without checking on the seal first.

[Skinsfan1311]

Using only lower temps in the 130-150 range really limits the potential of a sous-vide. I use temps as high as 184 and have never had an issue. It sounds like he got a batch of sub-par bags.

[acorgihouse]

I'm on my 2nd or 3rd Food Saver (they last about 10-12 years in my house), and a good 8 years with sous vide, and never had that happen. I also don't go to temps that high, chicken maybe 160F, beef generally no more than mid 130s. Def not for that kind of time. @STEbbp may be right, that may be the problem, but also double check to make sure you are getting good seal. I would double seal, one alongside the next, to see if that helps. Also make sure you really suck out the air, so no expansion inside the bag to pop the seal.

[Jerod Broussard]

I've done 183 sous vide without problems. Vegetables for one hour.

[STEbbq]

I can see the bags holding for 1 hour above 160 but not for hours and hours like he is doing.

[perry green]

Thanks for the responses. Sometimes it busts at the seal other times it just busts. Wondering if since the zip lock is not tight enough it sometimes floats toward the circulator. Can that get hotter that the water? What does it mean to double seal?
Seal twice the same bag? Place sealed bag in another sealed bag? Thanks.
All my high temps came from cook books and Q guys like Matt Pittman. Also the Poly Science Circulator has a very cool /precise function that tells you the exact temp / time for a given protein.

Thanks again everyone

[STEbbq]

Double seal is usually 2 bags.

[STEbbq]

Closeness to the circulator is a non issue.

[shify]

Couple things:
Double seal is just that. Once you seal, just run it through the machine again to add another seal to the same bag.

If it’s floating to the top, you didn’t get out all the air out when vacuuming in. That wouldn’t be a reason the seal won’t hold.

Maybe the bags are garbage, maybe you need a new vacuum sealer, maybe both. Def not a time/temp thing if you are using actual vacuum seal bags (vs regular ziploc bags)

[GolfGeezer]

I think the FS bags are not very good. I use these from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1BMR42L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I have done long SV for brisket at 160* for 36 hours with no issue. I also double seal many times at both ends of the bag. And when in doubt, double vac bag. Doesn’t hurt .

[Davek8282]

Never had a bag burst even when doing veggies. Quite often I find that veggies will give off gas during cooking and the bags will inflate. I have some stainless steel weights covered in food grade silicone that I add to the bag to keep them submerged when I'm doing veggies.

[fzxdoc]

Conventional wisdom is the ZipLoc bags can be used up to 158°, but not beyond that temp. That may be where you got the idea, STEbbq , that temps above that make the bag prone to unsealing.

I've never had a vacuum-sealed bag (or ZipLoc, for that matter) unseal while sous vide-ing, and I sous vide veggies at 185° all the time. I do double seal the bags before dunking them in the sous vide unit, whether they are bags from a chamber sealer or they're the textured bags used with vacuum sealers.

Sounds like you may have a bad set of bags, as someone else mentioned earlier.

Kathryn

[STEbbq]

Yeah, I always use Ziplocks and I have yet to use my Joule above 137. I didn’t realize veggies and sous vide were so popular here.

[johnec00]

I "steam" pastrami sous vide at 185º, my daughter renders tallow from brisket fat trim at 190º. The pastrami runs 3 hours, the tallow 6+. I use these rolls https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

Double seal both ends of bag. Never had a problem.

[fzxdoc]

Good idea about the tallow in the sous vide bath. Talk about set/forget.

Do you have a FoodSaver sealer?

Kathryn

[johnec00]

fzxdoc Some years ago, I had several high$ foodsavers that crapped out. I thought about the $3-400 ones high end sealers but we have limited kitchen space, so I went with the cheapest food saver available figuring that when it crapped out I would just pitch it a get another. I got the FM2435 almost 5 years ago and its used up over 800 feet of bag material and still going strong. Go figure.

[perry green]

Thanks everyone!

[bmillin]

If I read this correctly, it sounds like you vacuum sealed a bag that probably had air in in - the inner ziploc. Heating that up might be an issue leading to bursting the vacuum bag.

[FireMan]

Every time I read this title to this post I chuckle. I wanna see pics, yessir, a bursting, I mean blowin up!

[perry green]

chuckle chuckle til it happens to you. I'm sure as a founding member you've never had a Winnebago bottom out.

hah hah yessir!

[perry green]

People are just trying to learn dude. From anyone. Even from a "charter member"