@baqui63 My brother and I were just talking about this the other day, and I told him it probably wouldn’t work well with the immersion-type one that I got here a few months back. But this one seems like it would be great for specialty grains, or a small partial mash.

Edit: Unless it sucks at holding temperature, of course, like somebody says further down.

@baqui63 I think you could easily use an immersion type heater if you simply devise a “bladder” or “container within a container” set-up. You could put a 20 quart storage container inside a larger cooler and you’d be all set. More volume in the water portion would mean more stable temps once you reach “equilibrium” - but this should not be hard at all if you select the vessels appropriately.

@baqui63 @Dweezle The problem isn’t the mashing, it’s the sparging—no drain outlet. We made a mash tun out of a 54qt rectangular cooler, pulled the drain and replaced it with a faucet valve connected to a SS mesh tube (the exterior sheath of an old “burst-proof” washer hose). We’ve got $60 in the thing, it holds temp within 1F for an hr, size adequate for 11G of 10% ABV beer (~30lbs grain) and has been perfect for the last 5 yrs.
If you went with a 10G round Igloo type cooler, you could drop in a commercial false bottom for sparging—less work, but you’d be limited to 5G batches.

@baqui63 @cole103 @Dweezle Embrace the brew-bag sparge! Use that igloo water cooler, pull bag after time, drain bag, transfer to boil kettle. Never stick your sparge again!

@gatesboy23 nothing

@Ovlovian Zeus?

@Ovlovian @thechinglish hey_zeus!

“My name is Sous. How do you dous?”

@bruhaha a circulator is not essential but it does help with consistency quite a bit.

Accurate temperature, otoh, is a must.

@djslack Convection speeds heat transfer quite a bit and most recipe timing assumes you’re using a circulator. No big deal if you’re leaving things in there for several hours though.

@bruhaha I agree with all that. A circulator is definitely better.
There are several circulators available around this price point, as well (arranged by price, the middle one has a coupon attached and the last one much cheaper, but limited in supply).

Here’s another
And another
And another for just $40
Moar
Again
Continuing
Still clicking?
And this interesting looking departure from the stick form

@djslack That last link makes me feel uncomfortable.

@djslack I’m seeing $80 for the ‘just $40’ one. (I paid $75 for my 1200W unit, a year and a half ago.)

@rpstrong they must have seen an uptick in interest and raised the price. Boo hiss.

@djslack I was wondering if you still saw $40 -Amazon is known for experimenting with showing different prices for different users.

But half the price is rather extreme!

@rpstrong no, I saw $80 too today.

I want to be the guy they show half price offers to, though!

@djslack @rpstrong $80 for me too. Sold by a third party. I wonder if Amazon had some but sold out (at $40.)

@djslack my husband gave me a joule for Christmas a couple of years ago. It’s pretty cool but i forget to use it! Worked great on fish

@djslack Coulda bought one here, even (I did).

@djslack Me too! My first foray into the sous vide life. Now I want a vacuum sealer contraption.

@alacrity Just add ice!

@alacrity hot but not boiling hot!

@alacrity hot margaritas? there’s a circle of hell for people who make those

@alacrity @wcanyon You haven’t lived till you’ve tried my famous Molotov Margarita with fresh jalapenos.

@rpstrong @wcanyon ok, “Molotov margaritas” are 2 words that should never be combined in a sentence… That’s alcohol abuse!

@rmeden Brisket in a cooler is awesome. Whether it’s worth getting shot over is a value judgement.

@rmeden Just have an empty smoker next to the cooler. Your secret is safe with us!

@rmeden Get a few hours of smoke on your brisket, then finish in the sous vide overnight. The most moist, succulent beef you’ve ever had…

@DavidChurchRN But each baby’s arm should be clutching an apple.

Presentation is everything.

@DavidChurchRN so I’m wondering what sides would be served with that- fava beans are for liver, but I’m thinkin’ those should be bbq’d and served with corn on the cob or potato salad- to sous-vide them wouldn’t really bring out the inherent fatty-richness. Maybe baby-arm confit?

@alacrity @DavidChurchRN Mint Jelly, but of course.

@BillLehecka Yeah. It’s like boiling your food, but much slower…
/youtube boiled goose

@BillLehecka Yeah—the best steak you’ll ever have…

Also… BATH!

@Rueki So that’s what he was trying to tell us all this time. I thought he was singing gibberish.

@chienfou only a sense of common decency, my friend. What kind of maniac would disregard the rules like that?

@djslack this one!
(some people’s lot in life is to be a bad example…)

@MrNews I own an Anova, and bought the Strata at $50. I still use my Anova the most but the Strata is identical in function and form save the bluetooth/wifi.

I love sous vide cooking, and wanted to do an entire slabs of ribs in a cooler and figured an extra would be helpful. Or those times when you have fish at 120 and need veggies at 180+.

I have never done 72 hours, but I have done a few 48 hour cooks just to see the possibilities. I haven’t been won over by any of those long cooks, but they are fun. You have to realize that 72 hours would be used on a very collagen/connective tissue heavy roast or large hunk of meat. You want all that to be broken down and rendered, but not to change the meat from a steak like consistency to a shreddable braised consistency.

TL;DR Get a circulator, not this. And 72 hours is not something many will need, but it does have some utility if you want to explore the bounds of what this method of cooking can do.

@MrNews Tough cuts with a lot of connective tissue can take a long time to tenderize.

I routinely do brisket for 36 hours and I’ve read that short ribs need even more time.

@medz mmm, dirty water dogs.

Aren’t the ones with tan lines where they sit half out of the water the best?

@Brasssong yeah, I had concerns too…so I bought plastic bags that are bpa free and safe to heat food in (most are).

@Brasssong I recently heard BPAs weren’t really all that bad.

@Brasssong Everything I’ve read says to either use Freezer-grade zip-closure bags, or Vacuum Sealer bag; the material is thicker and the construction is better than ordinary plastic bags, so no leaks and totally food-safe.

@Brasssong most plastic bags “leach” a bit- but typically at temperatures far higher than a sous-vide will provide (somewhere in the mid 180’s for the cheap stuff, 230+ for better ones). I’ve been using a wide variety of bags- including generic “food bags” with a twist-tie closure that run $3 for a box of 75 without noticeable issues for years. A secret I learned many decades ago: We’re going to die, no matter how hard we try not to- enjoy the ride and don’t fret the small stuff. This is small stuff.

@sdundas66 I have been told one could use Ball Mason or some other type of water tight oven proof glass jars or containers instead of plastics. I would do it that way, but then again, that would create a lot of extra clean-up of dishes and increase the prep time

@alacrity @Brasssong or as someone once said:

“Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.”

― George Carlin

@Brasssong @sdundas66 kinda defeats the method- sous-vide uses contact heat transference to cook, applying even and consistent temperature though the walls of the bag. If you really want to be proactive, use an oven-safe turkey bag or similar. To use a jar just ups the potential bacterial pathogen thingy as the thickness & air in the jar takes a great deal longer to heat up and transfer the energy. Food poisoning is a lousy diet strategy.

“Do chemicals migrate from the plastic during SV cooking? This answer to this question is unable to be confirmed due to lack of data and studies on migration of chemicals from plastics in simulated SV cooking conditions (e.g., 120 to 180 dF for an hour or more).”

@clarion47 Or mehbe we know exactly what it is.

@clarion47 @therealjrn And just as important, we know what this isn’t.

@clarion47 or they know it’s a 6 quart crock pot with a built in but seemingly less accurate dorkfood controller and a metal crock. A compromise between SV and slow cooker.

It’s an ok price for what it is but a lot of people who have heard of sous vide are convinced a circulator is superior and/or already have one.

@Brasssong also harder to get “sous vide” (aka under vacuum) in a glass jar, so they will tend to float.

@Brasssong An evacuated plastic bag clings to the food, allowing excellent heat transfer. A mason jar would have to be solid packed, and even then, the time it takes for the food to head would be higher than it would be for a plastic bag.

And how would you pack a steak - one of the SV classics - into a jar?

[BTW, Pyrex wouldn’t be needed - an ordinary mayo jar would do fine. Remember, we’re dealing with temperatures well below boiling.]

@Brasssong this is a widely used practice to cook things like yogurt, creme brulee, and cheesecake sous vide.

@Brasssong Not for OG VMP’s. We still have HOURS AND HOURS to not buy this thing.