Vacuum bag leaks

[pmmpete]

I recently had several vacuum bags which contained smoked fish develop leaks.  Several of the bags contained Kokanee fillets in which the tips of the lateral bones were protruding slightly from the smoked fish, and I think the bones poked through the bag.  So with that kind of fish, I've started rubbing the back of a spoon along the lateral bones to bend them over.  Several other bags contained chunks of smoked lake trout which I think may have had some sharp corners.  On that kind of fish, I've started checking the corners, and nip off any potentially sharp corners with cooking shears.  Do any of you have any suggestions for keeping vacuum bags from leaking?

[Smokeville]

That's a tough one. Even when all seems fine there can be a little sharp edge. I don't have a problem with fish but it can be a challenge with chicken especially when I have cut it into quarters and the bone splinters.

I bought a batch of bags last year (I buy them by the 1000s) and hit a sequence where they all failed after bagging about 40 pieces of salmon. I guess the supplier had had other complaints because he knew it was the bottom seal. He replaced 300 bags no charge.

Right now I have a problem in that the supplier has upgraded his bags and they are thicker than before, and they were already thicker than FoodSaver. So I have to use the moist setting if there is even a hint of moisture.

Rich

[beefmann]

good hint Rich,,,

[watchdog56]

You could lay a piece of freezer paper or even part of a bag over the bones before sealing. You may have to double up the paper.

[Salmonsmoker]

Use a fish bone tweezer to pull the pin bones either pre- or post smoked before vacuum packing. They're tougher to pull pre-smoked ,but harder to find post-smoked. I bought 2 pair from Korin, a square nosed, and an angled nose pair. It's been a while, but I think the square nose was around $5 and the angled one slightly more. The square works great, the angled one's pinching surfaces didn't quite meet so I had to align and "mate" the surfaces. It works better on smaller pin bones as it's not as ridgid as the square nose, which works better for pulling larger pin bones.