horseflesh
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Posts posted by horseflesh
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On 9/10/2020 at 4:19 PM, JasonsCookingAdventures said:
As a note, I'm measuring the temperature using a no-name (cheap) IR thermometer. Perhaps that could be off calibration by 20 degrees (or issues with emissivity)?
If you have not set the emissivity specifically for the kind of surface you're measuring, it can be way off.
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On 12/17/2020 at 2:43 PM, jbates said:
If anyone needs (another) ControlFreak, subscribers to ChefSteps' StudioPass are having a 15% off sale (save $225!) until December 23, 2020 when purchasing through polyscienceculinary.com
I'm here because I have that opportunity and I am trying to figure out if it is worth it. I am a super serious home cook with other crazy appliances, so I am definitely interested in the Control Freak. I can't yet tell if it's merely very cool, or life changing like sous vide was. If any fans or haters want to weigh in I am really interested in what you have to say!
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I'd expect to need more time for a 4 mil bag, yep, though I don't know how much.
(FWIW I decided against stocking thicker bags. I have learned what kind of uncommon foods benefit from a thicker bag to resist punctures, and for those items, I just double up 3 mil bags. That's been working out well for me.)
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@m61376 can you post a seal photo? Hard to say if you are over or under, but my guess is your seal time needs to be longer. I would seal 3-4 ice water test bags each at + 0.1 second. Check the seal bar each time and look for discoloration, because if you go way over where you need to be, you can scorch it.
I think these machines are all different. My Minipack came preset to 2.2 sec but I found that was too long for my 3 mil bags. It overcooked and weakened the seal, and scorched the Teflon tape. 1.8 is what I use now.
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I will also vouch for https://vacuumsealersunlimited.com/.
My daily drivers are the 3 mil pint and quart bags. I don't use gallon bags as often, but when you need one, you need one.
As @rotuts said, you can use a big bag, cut off a strip on the end, then reseal it when you are done. I'll do that many times for an item like a big block of cheese.
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I missed that @md8232! That seems like a hell of a deal.
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56 minutes ago, md8232 said:
I bought this Unit and it arrived Saturday. Only 8 years of dithering!
An oil pump machine for $800? Beautiful, congrats! Looks great.
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I don't know THIS unit, but I have a different Minipack in this price range, and it's awesome.
I'd buy from Minipack directly if that's still possible.
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2 hours ago, paulraphael said:
I use a freezer bowl at home, and suspect I'd need to spend a couple of thousand bucks on a compressor machine that would outperform it.
Every time I look that seems to be the answer ... but I keep hoping for something to change.
56 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:I've had three compressor ice cream makers. I recommend the Cuisinart ICE-100. I spin my ice cream in the ICE-100 for 15-20 minutes.
Hmmm.... Not bad. 15-20 minutes is in the same ballpark as my pre-frozen cylinder.
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Since this thread has come back to life...
Does anyone have new input on ice cream machines? Are any of the less-expensive refrigerated units worth having?
I currently have one of the pre-frozen cylinder style. Reviews usually say that they make ice cream which is often better than that from refrigerated units, as the pre-frozen cylinder may still freeze faster than a cheap freezer does. This makes them a great value... but so inconvenient.
If someone has a refrigerated unit they love (not a full commercial model) I would like to hear about it. Obviously what I need in my life is the ability to make several batches of ice cream in a day.
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I noticed Costco has a $600 chamber sealer.
https://www.costco.com/maxvac-pro-chamber-vacuum-sealer.product.100536866.html
Anyone know anything about this model? I know people who are interested in a chamber sealer but the expense is a deterrent. A good option at $600 would be pretty cool.
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Last I looked the 112 was hard to find. Maybe this is intended to replace it. It looks like a good option at its price.
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Looks like a good thread, thanks!
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Thanks all. Consensus seems pretty clear so far. I appreciate the posts.
I am still hoping a fervent defender of the home freeze dryer will arrive to defend their honor and tell the other delicious side of the story, but maybe that ain't happening. 😁
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10 minutes ago, socrates8300 said:
I found the resulting food products to be at best serviceable. Unless you have a specific purpose in mind or buy a very large amount of freeze dried goods then I would skip it.
That's exactly the kind of feedback I needed.
I hoped, if there was some amazing culinary use, I would have heard about it by now--just trying to make sure.
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I love to cook and love gadgets like my sous vide gear and chamber vac sealer. So, I’ve been looking at freeze dryers too, and while it looks fun... I have a hard time seeing myself using one often.
I do manage a lot of leftovers, but vacuum sealing + freezing works great for that. I find it hard to believe that reconstituted freeze dried foods would come out as well—but I could be wrong! I’m also just not sure how many freeze dried berries I can eat, you know?
I would really like to know why you love your freeze dryer and how it impacts your regular meals, especially if you’re also a vacuum sealer fan. If it unlocks a bunch of kooky “modernist” techniques, that would be good to know, too.
Thanks in advance for putting something expensive on my shopping list!
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9 minutes ago, Nowayout said:
Who makes the Polyscience 300? I don’t think they make it themselves.
How old is the machine? How many cycles?
Have you pulled the cover and looked at the sealing plungers and the bellows? It sounds like a mechanical issue, maybe a split tube, or they plungers need to be lubed.
I agree a mechanical issue seems likely and worth a closer look.
Need to be careful about lubricant, some kinds of pistons are made to operate dry.
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The oil-filled pump is the difference between being able to seal anything you want, even if it is hot and steamy, and having to be careful and cool everything first. I absolutely love the freedom to never worry about anything.
> The other thing is I wonder if the issue could just be with the seal bar- can a defective seal bar cause the issues I’m experiencing?
In my unit and I think most others, the seal bar lifts under vacuum power. It does seem like your problem could be as simple as a sticky piston, broken bushing, or other mechanical issue. The machine surely has switches inside that tell it if the bar is up or down, hence your error code. It might be easy to fix, if you could get to the problem... but it also might require a specific Polyscience part that they won't sell you. -
A $500 repair on a ~$1000 gadget is hard to swallow without knowing more about what needs to be repaired.
Since a new Vacmaster unit with an oil-filled pump is "only" twice the repair cost, I too think that this looks like a good opportunity to upgrade.
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I think @lemniscate nailed it. If that cabinet is truly the only place to store the sealer, then I think rolling it out to a better work area is the way to go.
The ways I use my sealer, I cannot imagine carrying bags from the kitchen counters into some other room, and then using it in a cramped space.
Just my 0.02 American dollars.
4 minutes ago, EsaK said:Sadly no, it's not on wheels
Finding one the same size that is on wheels might be worth the effort.
This is a pickle, good luck.
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My Minipack says it will work with textured bags. They even support using it as an edge sealer. I bet you do have to mess with the seal time to get it to work.
But like @rotuts says I've never used anything but 3 mil bags because they are cheap, convenient, and reliable.
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I can't believe you found a Minipack with 212 cycles on Craigslist!! Wow.
I bought a 35XP at full price... It stung, but no regrets. Such a cool machine.
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On mine the air return can make things flap around and if I am doing multiple bags, they'll bonk in to each other. So again, I guess it is about punctures.
But, I guess everyone else is getting by without so maybe I am too worried about that.
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4 hours ago, EsaK said:
Actually just now realized that the Jumbo series doesn't have the soft air release.
IMHO soft air release is a valuable feature.
Or, let me say, I would not want a machine that always slammed the air back in at top speed. Even if your release isn't adjustable, you don't want it to be as fast as possible at all times. Slamming the bags increases the chance of a puncture if the contents is borderline.
(Some say that fast release is ideal if you're doing something like storing meat in marinade but I don't know if it really helps.)
New Toy: Breville/Polyscience Control Freak!
in Kitchen Consumer
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Man, I am gonna have to get a CF, aren't I?
One of my interests is making candy sugar syrup in various grades of darkness, as it is an important ingredient in some kinds of beer... and I am an avid homebrewer too. The CF looks ideal for that.