First Sous Vide cook. Fail!

[FLHX]

placed a couple lbs of peeled and sliced thin taters, butter, milk, rosemary and garlic in a one gallon freezer bag. got most of the air out and dropped it into the water at 194 degrees. all was well until the bag split and created a mess. I was able to salvage the dish by simmering the water off in a pan. It was just edible, not great by any measure. I don't have a vacuum sealer. has anyone had luck cooking Sous Vide with ziploc bags, or do i need to spring for the sealer?

[pharp]

I have never had that happen but I have never gone above 150F.

[TravelingJ]

Wow, that's cookin. The only time I had my Anova that high...I broke it.

I've used ziploc bags plenty of times, but never at that temp.

[FLHX]

Wow, that's cookin. The only time I had my Anova that high...I broke it.

I've used ziploc bags plenty of times, but never at that temp.

interesting. followed the mashed potato recipe on the anova site to the letter...calls for 194 degrees for 90 minutes...Hmmmmm.

[Smokie185]

placed a couple lbs of peeled and sliced thin taters, butter, milk, rosemary and garlic in a one gallon freezer bag. got most of the air out and dropped it into the water at 194 degrees. all was well until the bag split and created a mess. I was able to salvage the dish by simmering the water off in a pan. It was just edible, not great by any measure. I don't have a vacuum sealer. has anyone had luck cooking Sous Vide with ziploc bags, or do i need to spring for the sealer?

From the following article.

Will they melt?

Well, yeah, if you subject them to high temperatures. Polyethylene plastic, which is typically used to make these bags, will start to soften at about 195 degrees Fahrenheit (90.6 degrees Celsius). If you put them in boiling water (around 212 degrees F or 100 degrees C), they will melt. Most sous vide cooking temperatures are below 190 degrees F (87.8 degrees C), so you shouldn't need to worry about melting.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/why-ziploc-bags-are-perfectly-safe-to-use-for-sous-vide-cooking/

[drunkenmeatfist]

Highest I've ever done is 183 on corn on the cob. Bag seemed fine and the corn was some of the best ever.

[TravelingJ]

interesting. followed the mashed potato recipe on the anova site to the letter...calls for 194 degrees for 90 minutes...Hmmmmm.

Yep, so was the one I was following. I haven't looked recently, but I believe the recipes on that site can be user submitted, and aren't necessarily supported or tested by Anova.

[OlyQ]

ziplock bags dont do well in high heat, better to use vacuum bags

[mchar69]

I'd get the sealer, just because it is so useful -

the bags are thicker, as well.
vacuumsealersunlimited.com or a million other sites are cheap places to get bags.
I use mine all the time.

[Demosthenes9]

From what I understand, it's not the bag per se, but rather it's that the zipper gets soft at higher Temps and doesn't always stay zipped.

Simplest solution is to use clamps to hold zipper and the bag opening above the water line.

If it was the bag itself, was it a regular zip lock? Or the thicker freezer bag?

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[luke duke]

Every BBQer should have a vacuum sealer.

[Nuco59]

Vacuum sealers ARE nice to have - but lots of Sous Vide has been done in good old freezer bags. I'd cross check that recipe vs some other web searches for the same dish.

I do a lot of recipe searches on Google. I NEVER write one down (regardless of great ratings) based on a solid wall of "that looks so good- I have to try it" BUT has almost zero "followed it to the letter and it turned out GREAT" reviews.

[FLHX]

From what I understand, it's not the bag per se, but rather it's that the zipper gets soft at higher Temps and doesn't always stay zipped.

Simplest solution is to use clamps to hold zipper and the bag opening above the water line.

If it was the bag itself, was it a regular zip lock? Or the thicker freezer bag?

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

yes, freezer bag with the seal clipped above the water. it was the seam on the side about half way down that let go.

[mike243]

I have had vac bag seal fail and ruin brisket so i dont use that method anymore

[boggie]

Some videos I have watched they double bagged even with a vacuum sealer.

[CakeM1x]

Everyone who BBQs should have some type of sealer imo. But as others suggested get a clip and clip the top of the opening above the water so it doesn't get submerged and possibly leak.

[Gadragonfly]

I wonder if it was simply a faulty bag? It might be worth it to try again.

[Dmakkk]

This is a pretty good site and very helpful.

When not to use: At temperatures above around 158 °F / 70 °C, the seams of ziplock-style bags can fail, exposing your food to the water in the bath. Obviously, nobody wants that. Instead, opt for some heavy-duty sous vide bags. In a pinch, you can double-bag with two ziplock-style bags, but sous vide bags are preferable. Read on for more on those.

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-packaging-safety-sustainability-and-sourcing

[BillN]

My experience is ziplocs will fail at temps above 160 and lower temps for extended cooking times. I have had ziploc bags fail even with the seal bar clipped above the water line. Vac sealer bags handle boiling temps just fine.

[LYU370]

If you don't want to buy a sealer, but want better bags, Cabela's has zippered vac bags that you can re-seal.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/home-cabin/food-processing/vacuum-sealers/pc/104798880/c/104723280/sc/104668380/cabelas-zippered-vacuum-bags/1595373.uts