sv circulation?

fishlessman

for small quantities or a small system like a crock pot size is the circulation necessary

nolaegghead

No.  The Sous Vide Supreme Demi doesn't circulate and it works fine.  I've used it many times and haven't noticed any difference in results from my PolyScience that does circulate.

fishlessman

thanks nola, carolinaq posted this last week to use with the old style crocks(non digital), should get me in the game for cheap.  would probably work with an insulated bucket and barrel heater as well
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

nolaegghead

Wow, that's cheap.  Should work just fine.  Let us know how it functions, you might just get another wave of people in the sous vide camp.

Raymont

@fishlessman. I did the PID controller crockpot thing for a while but soon became dissatisfied. The crockpot, which has all that stone to heat, and the less than ideal heating element is just not very good at "on/off" switches to control tempurature. I wish you the best but IMO, I would advise you to save the $28 and put it towards the ANOVA. You should have it for a long time and it will pay for itself. If not, no biggy, it only costs you $28 to try it. 

SmokeyPitt

I have a "dorkfood" controller that is basically the same thing.  It works fine and I haven't noticed too much variance in temp.  The heating elements on a crock pot surround the pot so it is pretty even.  

This $27 option looks like it does the exact same thing as the dorkfood.  

One thing I noticed is my crock pot is painfully slow at getting the water up to temp.  I heat the water on the stove to about 30 degrees hotter than my target temp and dump it in.  

If you happen to have one of those roaster ovens like a nesco I have read they work great.  They have more horsepower than most crock pots and they are bigger.  

fishlessman

SmokeyPitt said:

I have a "dorkfood" controller that is basically the same thing.  It works fine and I haven't noticed too much variance in temp.  The heating elements on a crock pot surround the pot so it is pretty even.  

This $27 option looks like it does the exact same thing as the dorkfood.  

One thing I noticed is my crock pot is painfully slow at getting the water up to temp.  I heat the water on the stove to about 30 degrees hotter than my target temp and dump it in.  

If you happen to have one of those roaster ovens like a nesco I have read they work great.  They have more horsepower than most crock pots and they are bigger.  

ordered and we shall see   my roaster is from maybe the 40's or older, round black cotton frayed cord, im not sure about putting water in it do have several crocks though

Carolina Q

SmokeyPitt said:

One thing I noticed is my crock pot is painfully slow at getting the water up to temp.  I heat the water on the stove to about 30 degrees hotter than my target temp and dump it in.

This. My crock pot will get me there, but by then, I'm out of the mood.  The controller has been very accurate so far.

Little Steven

I see the relay contact rating is 5 amps. You may be a little bit over that with your roaster. May need to add a relay/contactor to it.

Edit: I was being a bit facetious with the "little bit" over thing. You are probably looking at 10 to 12 amps on a crock pot or roaster. Sorry.

gdenby

The biggest problem I've had with a PID controller running a crockpot has been that I forget to turn the crockpot on,

As far as circulation goes, I think that is more for setups where many packets are being cooked w. minimum attention. For my home use, I just flip a the 1 or 2 packets during the cook.

My PID is only good to 1C. As a result, the food often is a little too warm or cold, and typically the crockpot has so much heat inertia up that the temp goes over what is desired by as much as 2.5C at first.

I've learned to pre-heat the pots for an hour or 2 extra so that when the food goes in, it comes to safe temp quickly enough.

I notice the controller you ordered doesn't have a time setting. Not a big deal if you have some other sort of kitchen timer.

Carolina Q

I did two good sized chicken breasts last night, at 150°. Of course, when I put the chicken in, the temp dropped. Rather than wait for it, I removed some water with a ladle and replaced it with hotter. Got it close and let the controller take over. +/- a couple of tenths° for about 2.5 hours.

I had vac sealed and frozen the breasts before I bought the controller. Therefore, they were unseasoned. Rather than unseal, season and reseal, I just cooked them without seasoning. I won't do that again! I seasoned before I seared in a CI pan, but frankly, that was some of the worst chicken I've had in a long while. Juicy enough, but nothing extraordinary. Then again, my chicken breasts always are juicy enough, no matter how I cook them. Also, the chicken was not particularly tender. All in all, a disappointment to say the least.

I will try again with chicken, but this sure wasn't worth the time it took! The controller works great, unseasoned 150° SV chicken, not so much. I am assuming my fault. We'll see.

nolaegghead

@Carolina_Q - Season the breasts agressively, if you want to cut down on the salt use some sugar.  Sous vide at 146 for about 2 hours.  2.5 hours if frozen.   Take out of the bag and quench in cold water for a couple of minutes, take out of the bag and season again, then sear in a pan, broil or use a creme brulee torch.

theyolksonyou

@fishlessman I did the bucket heater route. Worked well, except I way over did the time. Need to drag that back out. 

henapple

Is this an egg or sv forum? 

fishlessman

well looks interesting, maybe next weekend some short ribs, then jump up to brisket

Carolina Q

nolaegghead said:

@Carolina_Q - Season the breasts agressively, if you want to cut down on the salt use some sugar.  Sous vide at 146 for about 2 hours.  2.5 hours if frozen.   Take out of the bag and quench in cold water for a couple of minutes, take out of the bag and season again, then sear in a pan, broil or use a creme brulee torch.

Thanks. I do use salt, but sparingly. I rarely use sugar in anything. Don't understand why sugar would replace salt??

I did 150° for 2.5 because I read that 140° for 1.5-4hrs was good (Kenji, I think) and 165° is the old standby. I figured I'd split the difference. I did not quench. Don't have a creme brûlée torch, just my map head with propane.

DMW

Carolina Q said:

nolaegghead said:

@Carolina_Q - Season the breasts agressively, if you want to cut down on the salt use some sugar.  Sous vide at 146 for about 2 hours.  2.5 hours if frozen.   Take out of the bag and quench in cold water for a couple of minutes, take out of the bag and season again, then sear in a pan, broil or use a creme brulee torch.

Thanks. I do use salt, but sparingly. I rarely use sugar in anything. Don't understand why sugar would replace salt??

I did 150° for 2.5 because I read that 140° for 1.5-4hrs was good (Kenji, I think) and 165° is the old standby. I figured I'd split the difference. I did not quench. Don't have a creme brûlée torch, just my map head with propane.

That will work just fine, better than most creme brûlée butane torches in fact.
http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-equipment/more/best-sous-vide-torch-reviews

nolaegghead

I use a weed burner.  Don't take long!

Carolina Q

Thanks for the link. I do have the ts8000 and use propane. In the comments (there's only one) at the end of the article, the guy says he has a searzall and is very disappointed that it's so slow. For 75 bucks, I'd be disappointed too!

Carolina Q

BTW, I just had a chicken sandwich for lunch, from last night's sv leftovers. I mixed up some wasabi mayo which added some MUCH needed flavor! Will probably make chicken salad with the rest. Even bad sv won't go to waste around here.

Dondgc

Little Steven said:

I see the relay contact rating is 5 amps. You may be a little bit over that with your roaster. May need to add a relay/contactor to it.

Edit: I was being a bit facetious with the "little bit" over thing. You are probably looking at 10 to 12 amps on a crock pot or roaster. Sorry.

Any thoughts on the amperage issue @Little Steven    raised regarding the 5 amp capacity of that controller versus crock pot amp draw? $28 is cheap; a fire from an overloaded appliance is not...I would have to think a crock pot on high pulls significantly more than 5 amps.

Any controllers out there with higher capacity and reasonable prices?

fishlessman

Dondgc said:

Little Steven said:

I see the relay contact rating is 5 amps. You may be a little bit over that with your roaster. May need to add a relay/contactor to it.

Edit: I was being a bit facetious with the "little bit" over thing. You are probably looking at 10 to 12 amps on a crock pot or roaster. Sorry.

Any thoughts on the amperage issue @Little Steven    raised regarding the 5 amp capacity of that controller versus crock pot amp draw? $28 is cheap; a fire from an overloaded appliance is not...I would have to think a crock pot on high pulls significantly more than 5 amps.

Any controllers out there with higher capacity and reasonable prices?

the crock should be fine, especiallly on the low setting. little steven was refering to a roaster which looks like a big crock but is designed for countertop roasting of things like turkey, a much bigger draw

Dondgc

fishlessman said:

the crock should be fine, especiallly on the low setting. little steven was refering to a roaster which looks like a big crock but is designed for countertop roasting of things like turkey, a much bigger draw

Thanks @fishlessman - I was doing a little online research and it does seem the crock pot draw is very much on the low end.  I will give that little controller a try.  Measuring water temp and turning the crock pot on and off manually has not been an ideal solution!

Little Steven

fishlessman said:

Dondgc said:

Little Steven said:

I see the relay contact rating is 5 amps. You may be a little bit over that with your roaster. May need to add a relay/contactor to it.

Edit: I was being a bit facetious with the "little bit" over thing. You are probably looking at 10 to 12 amps on a crock pot or roaster. Sorry.

Any thoughts on the amperage issue @Little Steven    raised regarding the 5 amp capacity of that controller versus crock pot amp draw? $28 is cheap; a fire from an overloaded appliance is not...I would have to think a crock pot on high pulls significantly more than 5 amps.

Any controllers out there with higher capacity and reasonable prices?

the crock should be fine, especiallly on the low setting. little steven was refering to a roaster which looks like a big crock but is designed for countertop roasting of things like turkey, a much bigger draw

Yes I was talking about a roaster. I looked at the wattage of crockpots online and it appears that the high side is like 350 watts, which is about 2 1/2 amps. Those old roasters had a heating element that looked like an oven unit.