Oxygen Absorbers
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Does anyone put oxygen absorbers in the vac bag when preparing to put up large quantities of jerky and snack sticks? Or is that a non factor since I will be freezing most of the final product?
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lkrfletcher Sous Vide Canning PK100 Team Blue Power User Colorado Military Veterans Veteranreplied to txoutdoorsman on last edited by lkrfletcher
txoutdoorsman I never have. I used a chamber vacuum and seal them up pretty tight, then into the freezer, never had an issue.
I actually just finished some snack sticks
I think as long as they are sealed up tight. You should be good to go. Mine never last long anyways.
Hope this helps.
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Chef Canning Dry Cured Sausage Primo Grills Team Blue Sous Vide Power User Cast Ironreplied to lkrfletcher on last edited by Chef
txoutdoorsman lkrfletcher I was just researching oxygen absorbers, and after seeing the price began looking into the chamber vacuum bag specification. Apparently they are design to minimize oxygen absorption, 5 mil being very good, 3 mil fairly good. I’m trying to figure out if they would be shelf stable and for just how long if not frozen.
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lkrfletcher that looks great!
Less concerned using the OAs with the snack sticks. I do not have a chamber sealer but I am always very particular about having everything very flat with the sticks so that I get a really good vac and seal.
Chef I am planning on smoking the jerky to dry and temp it. In my experience it is always a little tougher to get that nice “air pocketless” vac and seal with jerky due to the rigidity in the meat sometimes.
I also saw the OAs on the Walton’s website and thought that may be a good thing to have for these things.
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Chef lkrfletcher also, I am planning on doing close to 25 lbs. of jerky next weekend, so if anyone thought it would be a good additive, I have this week to get it in from Walton’s.
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Chef Canning Dry Cured Sausage Primo Grills Team Blue Sous Vide Power User Cast Ironreplied to txoutdoorsman on last edited by
txoutdoorsman lkrfletcher Would love to have some opinions with people that use them or those who don’t and why.
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Chef Shelf Stability is a Matter of Water Activity On Jerky (Needs to Be under 0.85) And a Combination Of PH and Water Activity on Snack Sticks and Summer sausage. I would not recommend keeping any product shelf stable with out being able to test both of those things.
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txoutdoorsman They are not needed for Frozen product only really useful in a shelf stable product in a modified atmosphere pack.
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txoutdoorsman What Cabelas90 says is right, he is an excellent commercial processor so you can take his word on things such as this! It is also a good point he made on the pH and Water activity, I try to be careful any time I make a post about shelf stability, without the ability to test both of those I recommend you treat it as you would a normal cured product.
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Chef Canning Dry Cured Sausage Primo Grills Team Blue Sous Vide Power User Cast Ironreplied to Cabelas90 on last edited by
Cabelas90 Thank you. At my level of production, water activity level is not a reality, equipment is just not justifiable. I so appreciate your input. Thank you. I’ll just chamber vacuum seal them and freeze them.
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I don’t see any reason at all to worry about oxygen absorbers for anything that’s vac-packed and frozen. As long as your seal stays intact, you should be good to go.
I’ve found stuff in the back of the deep freeze that was several years old but still in good shape
