Weird Sous Vide Occurrence

jimbasara

I just had something strange occur.  I am entering the third day of a 72 hours veal shank braise.  When I came downstairs this morning, the lid of my Sous Vide Supreme had been knocked off.  Because the bones of the shanks were protruding, I double bagged them before I put them in.  The inside bags had completely expanded like some kind of gassing event occurred but the gas was trapped.  They were as hard as a football (the bags, not the shanks).  I cut the outside bags open, poked a hole in the inside bags to release the pressure and then re-sealed the outside bags before putting them in.

I've done many, many multi-day braises and I have never seen this before.  Can someone clue me in on what happened?  It happened identically with both bags (two sets of two shanks).

Thanks.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Sounds like bacterial growth. If you search the forum for "puffy bag" you'll find a good thread on the topic. This can be avoided in the future with a blanch or presear/torching to kill off surface bacteria.