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For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

fab.cba.mit.edu

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Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#61

Post by arbesfeld »

nbardy wrote: post #12

I'm curious on some numbers on how this performs compared to the commercial units the expensive food industry models and the new kick starter wave. Something like this could be really neat since it is versatile and you could use it to heat/cool other things. Thinking about food the first time to mind would be temperature control for charcuterie and cheeses.

Exactly. This is really a general purpose temperature-controlling device (as opposed to the hyper-specific commercial hardware). I'm hoping to incorporate the same design into a smoker and refrigeration unit.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#62

Post by spearo77 »

tptacek wrote: post #51
eropple wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Sous Vide Supreme[1] and it's pretty much the secret weapon for making cheap beef tasty. Even cheapo chuck can do really well in one of them if you let them go for a while. What's nerdy-cool about it, I think, is that if you're quick, you can seal a steak with no air bubbles whatsoever and the steak will remain bright red while it cooks. Obviously you sear it after, but watching people's eyes bug out a littl…

Really? You're getting better performance from an SVS than an Anova? My understanding is that for reasonable water baths, the Anova is pretty close to the performance of the Polyscience, which is the gold standard. When Kenji Alt tested the Anova, he found his unit had been miscalibrated; maybe check yours? I donated my unopened Sansaire to Butcher & Larder and the first thing they did with it was set it up in a huge…

I purchased a pre-cut Cambro lid to avoid evap. It's a snug fit around the circulator, and works really well.

I've also noticed some folks using double-tub baths for better insulation.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#63

Post by ghaff »

tptacek wrote: post #52
ghaff wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not really mistaken. You can do some interesting things with eggs--very precisely control the texture of both the white and the yolk (which relates to the coagulation of different proteins). But, for the most part, I use sous vide for meat and, especially, red meat. I'm not sure I'd say you need to eat a "lot" of meat (it's not like I use my sous vide setup every few days) but it is primarily for meat.

It works really well with chicken thighs, too. :)

I must say that I've never tried it with chicken thighs. I do use it with boneless breasts now and then for when I want some cooked chicken for a salad or noodle dish. It really helps keep the meat nice and moist while being cooked just right.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#64

Post by ghaff »

tptacek wrote: post #48
eropple wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Average" is probably not the right word, but maybe the author is referring to full-on water baths, not immersion circulators? the Sous Vide Supreme Demi is between $300 and $350. A Fusionchef water bath is up to $2000.

Why would anyone buy either of these? Serious question.

I guess maybe it's neater and more self-contained? But the reason isn't clear to me today. They may have been reasonable alternatives to $800 Polyscience units a few years back but I don't see why the typical consumer would buy one rather than a $150-$200 immersion circulator.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#65

Post by blhack »

arbesfeld wrote: post #56

Hi! Original poster here. I built this as part of the "How to Make Almost Anything" class at MIT ( http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.14/ ). This was more of a weekend hack for fun than a money-saving project. Thanks for all of the advice and comments!

Cool, man! Oddly, my favorite part of your build was the enclosure, haha. That was a super cool enclosure.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#66

Post by blhack »

tptacek wrote: post #58
arbesfeld wrote: post #56

Hi! Original poster here. I built this as part of the "How to Make Almost Anything" class at MIT ( http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.14/ ). This was more of a weekend hack for fun than a money-saving project. Thanks for all of the advice and comments!

It's a great writeup!

I've seen you comment a lot on sous vide in the past, is there a specific machine that you recommend?

(And then is there one you'd recommend if money was no object)

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#67

Post by tzs »

I have a couple of questions about the schematic.

R4 and R5 are 0K resistors. 0K resistors actually exist, and are typically used in place of short pieces of wire. The advantage of a 0K resistor over a short piece of wire is that they can be picked and placed and soldered using the same equipment that handles resistors, thus saving the need of having a separate machine for short wires.

That is how they are being used here, as you can see from the layout diagram. R5 is used to carry the RST signal over another line on the board, and R4 serves the same function for VCC.

First question: should these even be included on the schematic? They only exist to work around a construction limitation due to the use of a single layer PCB. If the circuit was built on a two layer PCB, or a breadboard, or wire wrapped, there would be no 0K resistors needed. I thought that schematics were supposed to just convey the topology of the circuit, leaving things related to the practical difficulties of construction to other documents (like the layout diagram).

Second question: on the schematic, why is R5 shown as connecting RST to RST, but R4 is shown as connecting VCC to itself? They are both being used to take a line across another line, so why aren't the both drawn the same way on the schematic?

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#68

Post by arbesfeld »

tzs wrote: post #67

I have a couple of questions about the schematic. R4 and R5 are 0K resistors. 0K resistors actually exist, and are typically used in place of short pieces of wire. The advantage of a 0K resistor over a short piece of wire is that they can be picked and placed and soldered using the same equipment that handles resistors, thus saving the need of having a separate machine for short wires. That is how they are being used…

Great questions. As you point out, I'm using the 0K resistors as jumper wires. It's a one-sided board so the 0K resistors basically act as a second layer on the board.

Regarding your first question, I am not sure how to place a component only on the layout diagram. This would be ideal, because the 0K resistors really shouldn't be encoded in the schematic.

I agree with your second point -- it's just an inconsistency in my schematic!

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#69

Post by tptacek »

blhack wrote: post #66
tptacek wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a great writeup!

I've seen you comment a lot on sous vide in the past, is there a specific machine that you recommend? (And then is there one you'd recommend if money was no object)

Whichever of Anova, Sansaire, and Polyscience is cheapest at the time.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#70

Post by nappy-doo »

tptacek wrote: post #45
scott_karana wrote: post #42

> An average sous-vide cooker costs $2000, with low-end cookers going for around $300 Seems a bit exaggerated, and I'm not sure why, when this article was pretty awesome otherwise. The professional-grade, ubiquitous Polyscience MX units are around ~$1000[1][2], and the low-end cookers start at $180-200[1][2]... 1 http://www.amazon.com/MX-Immersion-Circulator-C-Clamp/dp/B00... 2 https://www.instrumart.com/products/370…

It is way, way exaggerated. Even the professional Polyscience (the one I see in restaurant kitchens) only costs ~$800. HN'ers shouldn't pay anything like that: the current price point for consumer home circulators (the only kind you should get, like the Anova or Nomiku or Sansaire) is ~$160.

I was on the design team for the PS machines. (I say design team, I mean it was three people in a room for the whole thing [circuits/software/mechanical design].)

The main advantages of a high end machine are more accurate control (small advantage) and circulation (big advantage). The linked article's control algorithm is primitive (to say the least), and probably only marginally maintains set temp. The PS machines are accurate to < 0.01 degree (which for food doesn't matter), but the control software is the same between the food machines, and high end chemistry equipment.

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