CVAP Score

I came across a warming cabinet last month on Marketplace that was posted around 8-9 PM for $65. I messaged the seller and told him that I'd take it. The cabinet was located about an hour away from me. I didn't want to lose out on the cabinet and I told the seller that I'd be willing to meet him that night if he was interested in moving it right away. The owner mentioned it was in a building he owned but the business was closed and wouldn't be able to meet up until the following day. Which worked better on my end. The owner messaged me with a time and address for the following day. Unfortunately/fortunately the owner never removed the ad on Marketplace. I can't recall at this point if I messaged him or he messaged me the following day. The owner said he forgot to remove the ad for the warming cabinet from the night prior and that he received a $100 offer from someone else the following morning and sold it. I couldn't be mad. He was offered more money than he listed it for and I appreciated him being upfront on the situation. He could have easily stopped replying to my messages or he could have easily made up some other story. He was honest. I appreciate that. Here is the warming cabinet that I was supposed to be picking up. 



I guess it wasn't all bad news. The seller messaged me and says, "I actually have something else for you that you might like. I wasn't going to sell it but I'm in a cleaning mood and wanted to offer this to you since I sold the other one." He sends me a picture of this:



To be completely honest I had no idea what s CVAP machine was at that very moment but it was the perfect size. I told him sold! 

I ended up meeting the owner at the building he owned that afternoon. The building itself was super cool. I was told it's the longest continued bakery in MN dating back to the 1800's. The basement of the building he used for storage. It was what you might imagine a basement might look like from the 1800's. The seller said he picked up the CVAP through his buddy who owned a Chinese restaurant. At some point the handle was removed on the CVAP cabinet. I don't know why the handle was removed or why it wasn't put back on but I was told that they used a bungee cord to keep the door shut. (Possibly used it for catering and the handle stuck out too far for loading/unloading?) The owners buddy told him that corporate came in and said that needs to be replaced. Time is money. Instead of taking the time to order and replace a handle it's just easier to buy a $6K new CVAP machine. His buddy said, "If you leave right now with your truck I'm about to roll the CVAP out next to the dumpster if you can use it in the bakery." He did just that. He said he stored it in the basement with intent to clean it up and use it for the bakery. He said it just ended up getting stored and never got around to using it. I figured it was a cheap enough gamble if it didn't end up working. (He said he plugged it in and it started to warm up.) I took his word. I could still feel the cabinet was warm when we hauled it up the stairs. The seller knew exactly what he had. He even said, "If I had a few hours to clean this thing up I could easily get $1K for it. I unfortunately don't have the time." He wasn't wrong on the price. The cheapest I could find it second hand was $2K and up. I'm glad this never made its way on Marketplace and only came about in a message. That additional $35 he made on the first cabinet I was going to buy would have looked like peanuts for offers he might have received with this one. 

The previous owner probably made the right call with selling it and not having the time to clean it up. It's pretty funny on how deceiving commercial appliances can look when they look, "clean". It's not until you open them up and see what they are truly hiding. I don't even want to admit how many hours I had cleaning up this cabinet. Here's a few pictures of what it was hiding inside the upper housing. 



Here is a quick picture of things after it was cleaned up. 



I did a test run with it last weekend with a couple pork butts. I held them them overnight after pulling from the smoker. I set it for 142 degrees. (CVAP means controlled vapor) I woke up and it was 158 degrees the following morning. I was able to learn a few things. The CVAP has a built in water pan. I only had tested it prior with water in the pan. I decided to try running the cabinet without water with the pork butts.



I learned pretty quick the cabinet needs to run with water in the pan even if you're not using the vapor option. The cabinet has a heating element under the water pan to control the vapor. I shut it off thinking the two side heating elements would control the temperature if not using it for humidity. I can see now how the cabinet would want water in it to hold tighter temperatures. Anytime prior when testing temperatures with water it would hold within a degree or two. Here's a picture of the settings you can use to for different food textures if wanting to use it for humidity. 



Here is a picture of it all cleaned up with a new handle. 



Butts coming off last night for a hold. 



Going into the cabinet for a hold overnight. 



This time with water in the pan I was able to hold the temperature within a couple degrees overnight. I have to admit the last butts a did last weekend were some of the best I've done to date. I'll usually do a couple hours hold before pulling but holding them overnight and let them render really seemed to add a little something special to it. I'm looking forward to using this and resting a packer overnight with it. I'm okay holding off on paying $100+ for a Prime brisket though!