I am going to do the same thing with an old West Bend 32 cup coffee pot and an aquarium heater. Vertical baths are called convection sous vide units and are common if you want a mid size tank. The circulation comes in when you have a large tank making big amounts of product. I should be able to do a brisket in this one in 2 pieces. I bought a butterfly steamer for the bottom of the pot to insulate from the heat portion of the unit. I was watching this fellow on you tube and tripped over this approach.
I have jury rigged a 3 gallon pot with a hanging probe (and hanging ziplocks not contacting pot obviously) and no circulation but me stirring the water every now and again to avoid hot spots along the perimeter. Found the sweet spot on dial that help my pot where I wanted and have sous vided for up to 48 hours with fantastic results. Don't need all the equipment to try it once. Keep in mind I never did more than 4 portions at a time so never overcrowded.
These steaks were sous vide then finished on hardwood fire.
no inside shot on file unfortunately
Make sure you have a very accurate temperature controller. You absolutely need to be able to maintain the exact temperature, and it needs to be calibrated. If your home-build is off by even 2-3 degrees, you will not get good results, and on some things, like low-temperature chicken breasts, you could even get into safety issues (cooking at too low a temp).
I am going to do the same thing with an old West Bend 32 cup coffee pot and an aquarium heater. <snip>
DDR
I'm continually irritated that I can't find my NIST-traceable thermometer (that I bought for brewing)...
[...] the only way you know that is by having a device that has been calibrated by a reference standard that can trace its calibration back to the reference standard maintained by NBS.
I checked for a NIST-traceable certified thermometer today and got this from THS-231-277 Thermal Pen. Michael Romney at Thermal Works helped me find what I needed. It is within .7 degrees +/-. That should be a good reference to test all of my other Equipment.
Make sure you have a very accurate temperature controller. You absolutely need to be able to maintain the exact temperature, and it needs to be calibrated. If your home-build is off by even 2-3 degrees, you will not get good results, and on some things, like low-temperature chicken breasts, you could even get into safety issues (cooking at too low a temp).
Don't get me wrong, I am all for the home-build approach and, for my very occasional sous vide meals, I too rely on a home-build (a crock pot that is controlled by a temperature controller of my own design). I used a Thermapen to calibrate it, and that Thermapen has itself been calibrated, traceable to the National Bureau of Standards. That last sentence may seem like overkill, but as someone who got his start at one of Hewlett-Packard's test and measurement divisions, I can tell you that it is actually incredibly important to know that 140 degrees is really 140 degrees and not 135 or 145, and the only way you know that is by having a device that has been calibrated by a reference standard that can trace its calibration back to the reference standard maintained by NBS.
Chris,
My only concern with this process is that you don't have a chance to let the sausages bloom. Has that been an issue for you? How about the texture/tautness of the casings? Bite-through?
I use the sous vide to finish also but I do let them bloom over night. What temp and time did you useI am very late to this party but I recently made a batch of cheddar kiebasa and smoked for a 3-4 hours until they got the color I wanted. Then I vac sealed and placed in the sous vide for the time and temp according to douglas baldwin's chart that was sited above. The internal temp when I pulled them out of the smoker was only between 110-120 degrees but that is irrelevant as the Sous Vide process cooked them to the doneness I was looking for without me having to fidget with getting a pot of the water to the right temp and constantly temping them for doneness. The other great part of this is that the links you are not going to eat right away, can get cooled, kept in the same vac bag and popped in the freezer.
So my process was basically this:
Grind
Stuff
Smoke for color
vac seal
Sous Vide to finish
Ice bath
Dry off and into the fridge or freezer
I use the sous vide to finish also but I do let them bloom over night. What temp and time did you use
How clean was the water when you were done? I've done the same and got some gunk in my water. I'm concerned about that building up in the Joule. I ran it in clean water afterwards, but don't know if that is good enough.[...] placed them in a 160 water bath controlled by my Joule Sous Vide. I did not place them in a ziplock or Foodsaver bag.
My water was a little oily and had a slight smoke smell to it. To clean the Joule I removed the propeller and cleaned both the propeller and the body of the Joule with a mild water and dawn solution. To clean the inside of the Joule I used a long soft bristle brush with the same mild water dawn mixture. After the Joule was reassembled I ran the Joule at a low temp in the water dawn mixture for a few minutes. I then reran the Joule in plain water to completely flush it.How clean was the water when you were done? I've done the same and got some gunk in my water. I'm concerned about that building up in the Joule. I ran it in clean water afterwards, but don't know if that is good enough.
Sounds like a good cleaning regime. I haven't looked at the directions to figure out how to remove the impeller. Guess I'd best do that...My water was a little oily and had a slight smoke smell to it. To clean the Joule I removed the propeller and cleaned both the propeller and the body of the Joule with a mild water and dawn solution. To clean the inside of the Joule I used a long soft bristle brush with the same mild water dawn mixture. After the Joule was reassembled I ran the Joule at a low temp in the water dawn mixture for a few minutes. I then reran the Joule in plain water to completely flush it.
My water was did have a slight smoke smell and it did have some oil in it. I cleaned the Joule by removing the propeller blade and cleaning it with some dawn. I flushed the inside with water mixed with a little dawn and I used a long soft bristle brush to clean the cavity. Once I reassembled the Joule I ran the Joule in a mild water dawn souHow clean was the water when you were done? I've done the same and got some gunk in my water. I'm concerned about that building up in the Joule. I ran it in clean water afterwards, but don't know if that is good enough.
Here is the link to ChefSteps cleaning articleSounds like a good cleaning regime. I haven't looked at the directions to figure out how to remove the impeller. Guess I'd best do that...
Simple enough! Thanks!Here is the link to ChefSteps cleaning article
https://support.chefsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/214090878-How-do-I-clean-Joule-