DIY Sous Vide Revisited Again [General]
2015 May 16
You can get a 110v 300W submersible aquarium heater on ebay for < $10. The temperature control doesn't let it go to 90C, but it's easy enough to hack. The control know has a plastic stop. Cut it off with a blade so you can turn it higher, and turn it as far as it will go. The temperature will be controlled by the bang-bang controller.
www.ebay.ca
www.ebay.ca
2015 May 16
You need a 110v digital temperature controller (used for aquariums mostly). It's <$10. Make sure you get one that works for 110v.
www.ebay.ca
www.ebay.ca
2015 May 16
You need some 1/2" plastic pipe (almost as deep as the inside of the cooler) a 90 elbow coupler (or a T coupler - even better I suppose), and some high temperature silicone tubing. The tubing will connect to your aquarium air pump, and go through a small hole in the lid to an airstone sitting in the bottom of the vertical plastic pipe. The bubbles will make the water in the pipe less dense than the water outside and drive a circulation loop from the bottom of the picnic cooler to the top (otherwise the water will heat in layers, hotter at the top and cooler at the bottom).
The cord for the heater goes through another hole in the lid and is connected to a relay built into the temperature controller.
The third hole in the lid is for the temperature sensor from the controller.
That's pretty much it.
It will take several hours to heat up the water to 55C with the 300W heater, so you might want to start with hot water from the tap, which should be close to 50C. Once it's at cooking temperature 300W is sufficient to maintain that temperature in the picnic cooler.
The cord for the heater goes through another hole in the lid and is connected to a relay built into the temperature controller.
The third hole in the lid is for the temperature sensor from the controller.
That's pretty much it.
It will take several hours to heat up the water to 55C with the 300W heater, so you might want to start with hot water from the tap, which should be close to 50C. Once it's at cooking temperature 300W is sufficient to maintain that temperature in the picnic cooler.
Francis
Old thread here: ottawafoodies.com
1. For cooking things like ribs, steaks, chicken, pork tenderloin, pulled pork you don't really need the temperature control of a PID. A bang-bang controller will do.
2. You can use a picnic cooler as for the cooker. Drill holes in the lid for the heater, temperature sensonr and air stone line.
3. Using an airstone and 1/2" plumbing plastic makes a cheap, effective and reliable water circulator.\
4. In a picnic cooler you can get to 90C with a 300W submersible aquarium heater.
Most of the time you cook between 54C and 60C for meats.