# Best vacuum sealer for sous vide, must be able to wet seal



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Pretty much as the title says. For home use. Will also do some general storage duties too. Good availability of replacement parts for the sealing heads. 

I've read about re-usable bags for sous vide and cheaper bag alternatives to Food Saver. Looking for the voices of trusted experience.


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## jimyra (Jun 23, 2015)

I use a Food Saver for storage.  I have used them for boiling also.  I have had three in the past 10-12 years.  They go bad and are pretty much disposable.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

That's sort of what I've been reading. And the bags are pricy without good support for third party bags.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I have a food saver and it tends to pull the liquid to the top of the bag and sometimes out of the bag if you have too much.  Works great for dry stuff.  I always do a second seal just in case one fails.  I bought it at costco along with extra rolls (cut your own  bags).  I didn't think it was too much for the combo deal.  When I cut my own bags, I cut them big on purpose.  You lose a few inches opening and resealing but you can do it.   About re-using:  depends on what's inside.  If it's fish or meat the plastic picks up some smells and it will never be right again even after soap and water.  I just toss em.  If I sealed spices or dry goods maybe I'll re-use.  

If you have the budget, get a vacmaster chamber vacuum sealer.  That's what my butcher friend has in his shop and they handle liquid much better just because of the design of the pressure chamber it doesn't pull out liquids.  It can burn bags though so you have to choose the right bag/roll material for the machine.


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## happyhound (May 19, 2014)

I use a VacmasterPro140. It's a bit of a pia and quite frankly, I probably wont replace it with the same when the time comes. Awkward as you must keep a lot of pressure on the machine to get a good vacuum. The seals fail from time to time (true with most machines however...), you must use bags with a pleated side to them and customer service is almost nonexistent. Just my experience. That being said, I have a buddy who just got one of their chamber machines and uses it commercially all day and loves it... Good luck in your search.


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## geofn (Aug 27, 2016)

Hi everyone; first post from a new member. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

I have an ARY VacMaster VP215 chamber sealer that I use for both sous-vide and packaging meats for freezer storage. It's very easy to use, and is much quieter than I expected. Bags are inexpensive at between 3 an 10 cents each, depending on size (but you have to buy them in lots of 1000) and whether you get 3 mil or 4 mil thickness. I use the 3 mil bags, and have never had a bag failure in sous-vide, and only one leak in the freezer (and that one was punctured by the shell on a lobster tail, so not really the fault of the bag). The only downside is that this is a fairly big machine for home use, and it's quite heavy (around 80 pounds), so you'll want to find a permanent location for it. Mine's in the utility room around the corner from the kitchen. At almost $700 it is a bit pricey, but mine has just about paid for itself with the money we've saved by buying meats on sale (or whole cuts) and freezing it in individual serving sized packages. Meat won't freezer burn when vacuum sealed (at least not for a very long time).

I bought it from Webstaurantstore.com a couple of years ago - here's a link (the price has actually come down a bit since I bought mine!):

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ary...achine-with-10-1-4-seal-bar/120VMASVP215.html

Good luck!


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## wedward (Nov 7, 2016)

German brand Caso has reusable bags that are heavy duty and last a good while. Handheld gun vacuum that does a good job on wet items - I lift the top of the bag up to get it sealed before much if any of the juices get sucked out.

I picked up a discounted one at Williams & Sonoma, but Amazon still sells online.


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