Thanks. Now, the OB has me interested in a chamber sealer. I think it would take too long for large amounts of meat at once for a regular sealer.

I have a Food Saver 2244. I've done 3 deer per year for the last 5 years with it. Including the time to time use for brisket/pulled pork leftovers. It's adeqaute.

How long would it take to seal 100 or 150 lbs of sausage?

I trimmed / butchered an elk one night and vacuum packed the entire bull (excluding the smoked sausage and pan sausage I had made) after dinner with help from my wife. Did all the sausage in an evening after dinner once I got it back.

Just get all your meat sorted and bags ready to go. We used a laundry basket to shuttle similar cuts of meat from the outside fridge to freeze pack it.

I would think trying to cut / butcher while vacuum packing would be a mess.

KW02 said:

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Thanks. Now, the OB has me interested in a chamber sealer. I think it would take too long for large amounts of meat at once for a regular sealer.

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I quartered and processed my elk 2 years ago. Granted, a lot of what I vacuum sealed was cuts that will be going into my attempt at sausage, so I used the expandable game bags for those and saved myself a lot of work. But for normal processing, the sealing part isn't that big of a deal with a Food Saver. You get in a rhythm with how you package it up so that you have adequate time between seals to let the element cool. But all of the steaks, some roasts, backstrap, etc. was all individually sealed. I do a few deer a year, plus other things (bulk purchases at the store that I break up and individually seal throughout the year) without any issue.

If you just have money to burn and want a hoity toity piece of equipment, more power to you. But rest assured - it's not necessary and much less expensive equipment can do the job just the same.

When in doubt, double seal. Winners double seal.

Food saver "Gane Saver" for me. I've put entire tiny pigs in a bag and they were fine a year later.

KW02 said:

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How long would it take to seal 100 or 150 lbs of sausage?

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That's very subjective. I do all of my processing on my own, and it's typically just steaks and hams.

It takes roughly 45 seconds to vacuum and seal one package.

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but for best results on fish or anything that is really wet, lay the meat on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for an hour out so. Then vacuum seal. That way all the moisture in the meat won't run out and screw up the melted seal!