Vacuum Sealer

[smokewood]

The instructions are rubbish, but I think it works better with adding a bit of moisture to the seals.

 

[sotv]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, But hooked on making my own bacon and smoked cheese now. Thinking of getting the    Luvelle Supreme (direct rather than Amazon though) for keeping fresh or freezing after smoking. Anyone have any experience of this machine on here? Seems very well reviewed and the little video in the reviews, seems to show it to be an easy to use machine. Famous last words....

One other question, I dry cure my bacon in ziploc bags at the moment, Would it be better to cure for 7 days in these vacuum packed bags or continue with the ziploc? as I would imagine the size of the bacon joint would be the most prohibitive thing in doing this.

 

[wade]

I have not used the Luvele Supreme however I have used the Andrew James Professional, which worked very well and is a similar price. With these side pump sealers you do need to use the textured bags/rolls as they ares requited to allow the air to be pumped out of the bag from one side. This isn't a problem as there are a lot of suppliers of these bags out there.

The things to look for is vacuum pressure, cycle time/rating and the availability of spare parts.

• The higher the vacuum the better but it is also good to be able to vary the vacuum for different foods.
• Cycle time/rating becomes more important if you are looking to pack in volume. Some units need time to cool down after a certain number of seal cycles
• The main spares you will need are the soft vacuum sealing ring and the heat sealing element. Depending on how much vac packing you are doing these would normally be expected to be replaced every 12-24 months.

I do all my bacon curing in vac packed bags. It helps to keep the cure and any resulting brine in intimate contact with the meat. It is also good for applying rubs on joints and ribs overnight. The meat size should not be a problem providing it will fit width wise into 30 cm. The length of the bag can be as long as a roll of bag tube. Cost here may be more the issue if you are doing large amounts of lards pieces of meat.

I started out with a side seal vacuum unit and used it successfully for several years before I moved to a chamber vacuum.

 

[sotv]

Thanks for the reply

It has an 85 KPA rating, which seems to be towards the higher end of the scale for these type of machines in the £50-100 price bracket. It has variable vacuum pressure settings as well.

Good point about the spares have emailed the company to ask about this. If they are, then I think this is the one I am going to get.

 

[wade]

You may find this video interesting as it shows how to use a side suck vacuum packer with standard commercial pouches - which are much cheaper. This shows the Andre James machine but the same principle should apply to the Luvele too.

 

[sotv]

That looks a really useful video, thanks for posting Do you think these are the type of bags used in your video http://www.ebay.co.uk  item number 182494177973 (tried posting a direct link up but it defaults to some other merchant on here?

I have ordered the Luvele and hopefully it will be delivered today or tomorrow. Looking at this video, it seems very similar to the Andrew James one in the video, so this cheat will work also?

 

 

[smokin monkey]

Another great tip Wade!

 

[molove]

 
You may find this video interesting as it shows how to use a side suck vacuum packer with standard commercial pouches - which are much cheaper.

Great vid Wade. This will be useful for dry aging bags too.

So where do you get commercial vac pac pouches from?

 

[wade]

I have used several suppliers but this is one I have found is good value and they are very helpful. The also do the embossed bags too.

https://www.thevacuumpouch.co.uk/

 

[homeruk]

I have the luvele one but its called something different same machine tho, bought it about 8 years ago and have really hammered it and it is still going strong, purchased a spare set of neoprene seals but are still on the first set, just remember to give them a clean if any liquid gets sucked up by mistake especially when using curing salts

I always use this place for the bags https://www.bagsoffreshness.co.uk/

tried using different brands of bags a little cheaper off fleabay and the likes and there just not as good

nisbets do some decent well made vacuum canisters on the cheap which are good for marinating meat etc and also use them when making a Texas slaw although you will need to make up a vacuum hose with 2 different ends on to interface the luvele to them.

found nisbets rolls of bags to be pretty useless

girlfriend got one for her birthday too 

 

 

[sotv]

Thanks for the info, mine came yesterday, very simple to use and sealing and vacuuming seemed very easy, quick and efficient on the few things I tried it out on.

I saw the original canisters on the Luvele site, where I got the machine from, but unsure what they did. Will have to look into them further, as my wife also makes a lot of her own soups. But the quantity she makes up, means there is usually some leftover for the next few days and these canisters would be useful for that. How long does food and liquids stay fresh in the canisters for in your experience?

 

[wade]

 
I saw the original canisters on the Luvele site, where I got the machine from, but unsure what they did. Will have to look into them further, as my wife also makes a lot of her own soups. But the quantity she makes up, means there is usually some leftover for the next few days and these canisters would be useful for that. How long does food and liquids stay fresh in the canisters for in your experience?

I did try these when I first got my side sealer and to be honest I found that they are a waste of money. I quickly learned that the bags were much better for freezing/chilling left over soups and stews. Here are a couple of methods to try. I have used them both and they both work well. All of my soups are now frozen and stored in flat pouches.

Fold back the top of a bag and spoon/pour in the soup. The bag is folded back to keep the part that is going to be sealed clean from food. Raise the vac packer slightly by placing it on a thick cutting board and lay down the bag slowly so that all of the air is displaced as you place the edge of the bag in the vac packer. Gently press on the bag so that the soup rises to almost touch the vac packer before clipping it shut and then just press seal - no vacuum required. You can then label and freeze the soup on a flat tray which then makes them easy to store in stacks. Below is a YouTube clip I found of something similar however she does make a bit of a mess at the top of the bags.



Alternatively you can pour the soup into a plastic bowl and freeze it. Press it out of the bowl as an ice lump and place this in a pouch and vac pack. There is a YouTube clip here that I have found which shows this being done.

 

[martyn c]

 
You may find this video interesting as it shows how to use a side suck vacuum packer with standard commercial pouches - which are much cheaper. This shows the Andre James machine but the same principle should apply to the Luvele too.

I have this model, it's a good little unit, does the job (for me) perfectly