I’m 17 and my dad trusted me to start the sous vide while he’s at work so we can have tri tip for dinner. He told me the vacuum seal doesn’t need to be perfect as long as it is totally submerged. however, I’ve noticed over the course of a few hours that a bubble at the top is getting a little bit bigger. It can’t be an air leak because the bag is completely under the water but I’m just curious if I messed it up.
by Eurus34
27 Comments
You are overthinking it. Should be fine
As long as there’s a seal and no water can get in, you’re fine.
Meat shrinks as it cooks, so the air inside can be totally normal, especially if it wasn’t 100% sucked out. Now if water is leaking INTO the bag that’s a different story.
Should be fine
It’s fine, if the bubble grows more it may start making the bag float, be ready to throw a plate or some kind of weight on the bag to keep it fully submerged.
If the bag is sealed you’re fine. Everything will reach temperature as expected if it’s submerged.
You’re all good young man, that small bubble is normal. If you want to be double sure, simply flip the bag over half way through cooking.
Your dad is right, the most important thing is that it remains fully submerged.
It happens. If it starts to float you can put a heavy bowl or something on top to hold it down.
A small air bubble is OK. It just means some air is trapped in there. Heat will still transfer from the bath. It is just less efficient so the cook might take longer.
Large air bubbles and pockets are a different story because the meat may never get to temperature. Then bacteria can be a concern.
I see a bar code on that. Did you seal that yourself
Happens all the time. Don’t worry at all. It’ll be perfect.
Its fine, just normal off gassing. Its worse with bone in cuts btw. If you used a bigger bag you would have less ballooning, but it still is cooking.
The great thing about sous vide is that it is awfully hard to ruin the meat. Just keep it submerged as others have suggested. Sous vide meat does not look very good until you finish it out of the water. Air bubbles are inevitable and fine as long as you use clips or weights to submerge and ensure the meat cooks evenly.
Just make sure it stays submerged. Big bubbles can cause floating. Worst case you could take it out and revacuum it and put it back in
Completely ruined, finish the sous vide and sear. Let me know when I can come over to help throw it(hazmat) away.
I regularly have a little air inside and am still alive. Even on a 24hr carnjtas sous vide (which includes oranges, onion, pork, etc) there is a significant amount of air. No problems, foos is great, am alive. You are fine, it is fine. Dinner will be fine.
As long as water doesn’t go in the bag you’re fine. Meat looks too big to float but if it starts moving just weigh it down with something
What kind of meat is it?
In my experience, pork very frequently generates quite a bit of air, and I have to take precautions to keep it submerged.
If the air pocket is fully underwater the air inside the pocket is also the same temp as the water. Off gassing is normal and fine just make sure the meat stays under
That’s what she said
Ahhh yeeeee God’s, my roast is ruined!
As others have said — you’re fine.
The gas that’s in there expands as it heats. You should have learned about this in physics class. Ideally you’d have a better seal, but this is perfectly good enough.
Your dad’s trust was well placed, its gonna come out great 🙂
All that has happened is the smaller bubbles that were throughout the bag have all risen to the top of the bag and joined into one location.
You’re fine assuming you’re doing a short sousvide and not like 24+ hours. Sometimes when you’re doing a long sous vide, it causes CO2 to be released and give it an odd scent. I’ve been dunking my sealed meat in boiling water for like 20-30 seconds to sterilize the surface of the meat and it seemed to decrease the occurrence
So as the bag goes underwater all available air goes upwards in the bag because air is less dense than water. What’s happening here is air that is trapped within the meat itself is being released because the meat is contracting and releasing some of its juices. I think you will be fine but if it concerns maybe just agitate the bag.
Why is it looking at me?