Sous Vide Within Reach

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Ross Goldenberg

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May 8, 2011, 7:48:11 PM5/8/11
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For those of you who are weekend warriors and want an immersion circulator without the expense, Make Magazine recently published a great "do it yourself" article with directions and plans on making your own immersion circulator for around $75 USD.

Check out: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Cooker/471/1

--Ross

Grif

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May 11, 2011, 2:05:05 PM5/11/11
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Perfect!!! I'm an old electronic tech, been looking at type K
thermocouples for a while for a different project, didn't even
consider this, and it's almost the same thing.

Sending more money to Asia now.... :-(

><http://makeprojects.com/Project/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Cooker/471/1>http://makeprojects.com/Project/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Cooker/471/1
>
>--Ross
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Grif

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May 12, 2011, 11:04:10 AM5/12/11
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Any idea how long an aquarium pump will handle 165 F ? I'm sure,
because of some similar things I've done they will do 140 F for quite
a while, just wondering about the higher tempatures.

Ross Goldenberg

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May 12, 2011, 12:32:06 PM5/12/11
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>>Any idea how long an aquarium pump will handle 165 F ?
>>I'm sure, because of some similar things I've done they will
>>do 140 F for quite a while, just wondering about the higher tempatures.

There's only one way to find out and if you do, please let us know.

That said, this article appeared in make magazine and written by someone with a lot of "street cred." I gotta presume that they wouldn't publish this unless they tested it at high temperatures first as there could be a lot of liability associated with an accident.

(International readers - here's where you insert a quip in your head how us Americans love to sue each other.)

--Ross

Scott Garrison

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May 12, 2011, 12:36:51 PM5/12/11
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A dishwasher/washing machine pump can handle the heat and isn't too
difficult to find used or new. One can also use an air pump to
circulate water...no you don't submerge the whole pump. Hard to
explain unless you've seen it...place the air tube at the bottom of a
larger tube, when the bubbles rise they move water with them...thus
circulating your water.

Grif

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May 12, 2011, 12:53:11 PM5/12/11
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Dishwasher pump is a bit bigger than I was thinking,,, and yes, I'm
also an aquarium guy with grey hair, I'm very familiar with the old
air lift "pump" process for filters. Except for the evaporative heat
losses, it'd likely work good. Of course, oil would work as the
circulating fluid as well, with no evaporative losses.

I think I'll just sacrifice one of my small aquarium pumps to a pot
of hot water on the stove to see how well it'll work.

So,,,, Rib Eye steak with garlic butter, salt and pepper at
125F? Chill to store, and rocket hot broiler or grill just before
serving? That'd make perfect steak as a fast food

Linh Dang Vu Phan

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May 13, 2011, 9:17:30 AM5/13/11
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We've been using an aquarium pump in our sous vide set up (http://
www.rauom.com/blog/2010/11/03/our-equipment-for-sous-vide-and-low-temperature-cooking/
- same idea as the Makeblog one, just not as nice looking and before
the cheap PID became mail-order available) for close to 2 years,
without problems. We haven't circulated oil though, only water so far.

Andreas Schild

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May 12, 2011, 1:24:59 PM5/12/11
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I have been using two aquarium pumps so far. The first one gave up after a couple (like 3) of 80 C (176 F) runs. The one I use know is holding up well, even after ca. 10 uses at those high temperatures and much more at 60 C.
With our tap water, calcium carbonate is much more of a problem.
Both were priced at ca. USD 15. I do not remember the bad brand, but the (so far) good one is a TetraTec (literally had to scrape off the calcium carbonate to read the label...)

Andreas

Grif

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May 13, 2011, 10:47:00 AM5/13/11
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Thanks to you and Andreas, I'll move forward on the project. We also
have hard water, and my aquarium equipment has all spend time in
either a marine reef tank, or a very hard water rift lake
cichlids tank, so yes, they're all crusted up with any amount of
mineral deposits, some of which don't even come loose with a dilute
HCL solution.

Good catch on the stock tank heater, I was planning on using a
regular hot water heater element at our normal 120 VAC instead of the
design voltage of 240. They're about 1700 watts normal, so should be
right in the correct wattage area running on 120. My buddy and I
have used them for several projects over the years,,, they're cheap,
available at any of the big box stores, and all seem to have a common
threaded fitting. I think the last project was a wet heat box to
bend thin strips of wood.

We already have a food saver system, with the vacuum pump/sealer
unit. Also several of the various containers and Mason jar lids.

I really need to just get off my backside and go get weird in the kitchen ;-)

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