VP112 vs VP210 vs VP215C, advice?

[Anonymous Modernist 15900]

I'd like to finally take the plunge and get a chamber sealer, but I'm struggling with the tradeoffs between this set of machines. The 215 apparently can pull a 29.5hg, while the 210 and 112 can pull 28.0hg.

For purposes of sous vide/modernist cuisine and food preservation, does the difference between 29.5 and 28.0 matter?

Also, the 210 and 215 can both seal retort bags while the 112 cannot. Same question: What does using retort bags offer that 'regular' bags do not?

Any input on this would be much appreciated.

[Anonymous Modernist 15454]

Retort bags are used as an alternative to canning jars. You see them all over now in the grocery store.

I picked up the 215 recently and went through your process. The 112 is a nice affordable model with pros and cons size-wize. It's lower, so it may fit under cabinets better, but it's a bigger footprint. I keep my 215 on a kitchen cart, and at 85# it stays there. To me, the biggest difference is the 215 has an oil pump. That should result in longer life and better performance over time, although the downside is some extra maintenance. My decisions was really just decide between the 112 or 215. To me $100 or whatever is worth the more industrial model once I decided to make that jump.

The 112 also has a wider bag seal (12" vs 10") so that may be something else to consider if you intend to seal longer/wider items without portioning.

Anyway, so far I'm very happy with the 215 and chamber sealers in general. I love packing up sauces and juicy stuff for freezing, and sous vide stuff with liquid. Plus the lower cost of bags and general improved seals. I use it almost daily.

[Anonymous Modernist 16622]

Hi Joem,

For Sous Vide, The VP112 offers one distinct advantage, the depth (as measured from the top of the seal bar to the bottom of the chamber) is much deeper (2-1/2" deep for the VP112 vs. 1-1/4" deep for the VP210), meaning that you can put much larger quantities of liquid in the bag for that purpose with the VP112.

The VP112 and the VP210 have the same pump. Besides the overall appearance and the chamber/sealbar dimensions, the main differences between the VP112 and the VP210 are the power supplies and controls. The VP210 is designed for commercial use which means that the internal controls are built to withstand hundreds, if not thousands of cycles per day while the VP112 is designed for home use. It's a very durable machine, but it's not recommended for restaurants or commercial users that need to be able to run hundreds of cycles per day. But for normal home use, it's perfect and will last a very long time. Please give me a yell if you have any other questions about any of these machines.

Thanks,

Doug

(full disclosure - I service Vacmaster vacuum sealers and our company sells them).

[Anonymous Modernist 17003]

I've been looking at these models as well and was wondering if the VP112 can pull a strong enough vacuum to compress watermelon or pineapple. Also curious if it gets good results doing rapid infusions / pickling. The allure of homemade pickles in an instant is very tempting.

[Anonymous Modernist 9821]

I have a VP112 and it compresses watermelon and pineapple well - but as well as the "better" models I can't say - and the normal rules do apply in that putting them through the compression/infusion cycle more than once seems to improve the process.

Flash pickling is a snap and liquids at room temperature (of a cold kitchen in winter) will quite happily boil in the chamber if given the chance). The extra height means that it's great for quite large vacuum boxes, there's no need to use the hose! I just put food to infuse in the box with the marinade, put the box in the chamber and let it work its magic - the air gets sucked out of the box through the one way valve which snaps shut when air goes back into the chamber.

It's not as controllable as more advanced sealers and the vacuum is defined by time rather than pressure so it's useful to have one eye on the pressure gauge and another on the stop button for manual intervention. Another problem is that thicker liquids (like chowder) have a tendency to out-gas after the bag has sealed so I usually give them an initial cycle without the bag being over the sealing bar to free as much trapped air as possible before doing a proper vacuum and seal, I assume that this can be a problem with any chamber sealer not just the VP112.

I'm quite happy with my VP112, and it's just about portable so I occasionally use it at different sites - something that's much harder to do with the bigger models due to the weight and in most cases the need to drain the oil from the lubricated pump models before transport.

[Anonymous Modernist 17003]

PipzUK: Thanks for the detailed feedback! I've scoured the web quite a bit, but that's the most in-depth discussion I've found of using the VP112 for anything besides "vanilla" sealing duties. I'm glad to hear that flash pickling works well. I've done rapid infusions before using an iSi Gourmet Whip but the texture of foods infused under vacuum appears to be much, much better. I like the idea of boozing up fruit (or vegetables, like a martini infused cucumber -

). And I was really turned on by the quick pickling results achieved by Scott @ Seattle Food Geek ( http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2011/12/quick-pickling-vegetables-with-a-chamber-vacuum-sealer/ ).

Before reading your post, I hadn't heard the "normal rules" about cycling through the infusion process more than once. When you compress, do you also use the longer cycle times to get a stronger vacuum? Does letting it run the full 90 seconds (or whatever the max time is) really get a stronger vac or does it just max out at the pressure the pump is capable of generating?

And it's awesome that you can just stick the containers in there and they'll seal themselves.

Thanks again for the feedback!

[Anonymous Modernist 10160]

I also own a VP 112, do you have any issues with seal integrity for long sous vide cooking (more than 24 hour cook times)?

I use a 9 second seal time and 3 mil bags, but i almost always notice some sort of seepage or slow leak from the bags into the bath. I've read that some organic volatiles (from smoking for example) may travel from inside through the plastic, but I am wondering whether you have had any issues such as what I've seen. I've tried two seal bars and have seen the same result. This only happens for long cook times however..

Also, what brand of containers do you use? can you send me a link to where you buy them?

Thanks!