Sous vide

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bwarbiany
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Sous vide

Post by bwarbiany »

So this isn't necessarily a brewing-related question, but I'm wondering if any of you guys have repurposed any brewing equipment for use doing sous vide? I've been thinking of it...

It seems like it should be pretty easy. Take a boil kettle, an electric heat element, a submersible pump, and a controller like the Johnson I've already got, and it's pretty well all done. I worry I'll need a better controller as the Johnson is only +/- 1 deg, and I might want tighter control, but even so I'm not sure a degree makes that big of a difference.

Thoughts?
Brad
dhempy
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Re: Sous vide

Post by dhempy »

Interesting notion ... keep us posted on what you discover ...
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jward
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Re: Sous vide

Post by jward »

I thought about it. I did a limited test. I used a Ranco controller to run an electric skillet full of water. It was limited in that I was trying to pasteurize an egg without cooking it and no pump was used. It seemed to work. I just use a raw egg for making mayo now. I was going to use a hot plate and sauce pan but thought the skillet would be more direct.
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3rdto1st
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Re: Sous vide

Post by 3rdto1st »

+/-1deg is just fine for all but the most picky recipes when it comes to sous vide. Its a fun thing to do, especially for 100% perfect eggs for breakfast. I built a ghetto one a while ago with some pretty simple stuff, but I never thought of brewing equipment, that would be a good setup.

Let me know if you have any questions when it comes to actually cooking, i've been doing sous vide for a while and it can be a ton of fun.
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bwarbiany
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Re: Sous vide

Post by bwarbiany »

3rdto1st wrote:+/-1deg is just fine for all but the most picky recipes when it comes to sous vide. Its a fun thing to do, especially for 100% perfect eggs for breakfast. I built a ghetto one a while ago with some pretty simple stuff, but I never thought of brewing equipment, that would be a good setup.

Let me know if you have any questions when it comes to actually cooking, i've been doing sous vide for a while and it can be a ton of fun.
One of these days we'll have you and the wife over for some culinary excellence...
Brad
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bwarbiany
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Re: Sous vide

Post by bwarbiany »

Success!

https://plus.google.com/photos/11521665 ... 8837053057

I cooked 3.5# tri-tip at ~134 degrees for 6.5 hours. I had to transport it to my in-laws in Glendora, so I warmed water in a crock pot and took it up there, and the crock pot maintained temp during that time (included in the 6.5 hrs). For some reason their grill wasn't getting hot, so I ended up searing it in a pan rather than on the grill, but it still came out pretty decently.

As for the texture and doneness of the meat, it was perfect. Edge to edge medium rare, absolutely moist and delicious, and even my in-laws who usually want their meat burnt to a crisp were raving about it.

I definitely recommend the method, but if anything it's made me think that my brew gear may not be the ideal way to do it. It's going to be fine for short cooks, but I wouldn't necessarily want to have this thing running for short ribs or brisket that need to go 48 hours or more. In addition, it's a pain in the ass to pull all this stuff out and set it up. So when my research on sous vide revealed that there are commercial circulators in the $200 range (rather than $450-1000 as I previously thought), I might just have to get one of those.
Brad
dhempy
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Re: Sous vide

Post by dhempy »

This just appeared on Yahoo news ...
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bwarbiany
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Re: Sous vide

Post by bwarbiany »

dhempy wrote:This just appeared on Yahoo news ...
Yeah, Anova got the jump on them with their kickstarter earlier this year for their v2 model:

http://anovaculinary.com/products/anova ... ion-cooker

The Anova is available Nov 2014, where the first Nomiku won't be around until Mar 2015. Not only that, the Anova is $179 and the projected retail of the Nomiku is $249.
Brad
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