Vacuum bagger question

[Al Bundy]

Just busted out my vacuum bagger and tried to seal up my venison cuts. I used this quite a bit for smoked salmon and it worked great, no air remained, no leaks later. But it seems to not have gotten out some amount of air, on just about every bag. Not sure this is ok or not really. Does not seem so good?

Kind of hard to see but there are air pockets.

[518BowSlayer]

looks like you just need to dry off your cuts of meat first. sometimes if there is liquid in the bag it won't pump out all the air. tough to tell from the pic but that's my best guess

[wolc123]

Sometimes you can get a little piece of something stuck on the diaphragm of the pump. They are pretty easy to take apart and clean. I had already got a new one when mine was acting up, but just before I thru away the old one (about 10 years old), I took

apart the pump and found one tiny spec on the diaphragm. I cleaned it off, put it

back together and now it works like a charm.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

It happens to me a lot when I really stuff the bags with multiple cuts. Like bulk bags of stew or cuts for sausage making. Try reducing the size of the bags and leaving in more of a single layer. if you are doing stew, once the meat is put into the bag, hold by the end that needs to be sealed. and bounce the bag on the table a few times to force the meat down and remove some trapped air. Seems to minimize the trapped air.

[fishuntrapper]

make sure there is no liquid along the area that is being sealed. the pump may suck liquid from the meat or fish into the vacuum chamber. as has already been stated, make sure meat is dry, but watch for liquid traveling towards sealing area. a larger bag helps as the seal will be made before the liquid will get there. I also sometimes use a piece of paper towel across the opening to catch the liquid.