6 QT CROCKPOT + WS-1510ELPM PID

[dr k]

Took handle off Crockpot lid for PID temp sensor to go through and set PID to autotune this cooker. You can use rice cookers and roasters but need a water agitator (aquarium air pump bubbler) to eliminate temp differences in water bath. My 6 qt. analog Crockpot is small, round and wall heated so no agitator is needed. It took 3 hours to auto tune because of hysteresis of being slow and the ceramic insert is naturally insulating.

Dry brined a 1.75" ribeye for an hour on the counter from cutting Bear's Dino ribs, leaving an inch of meat on the ribs for the smoker (another thread in the future.) Heavily kosher salted the steak for an hour then rinsed, dried and vac sealed with very little POG.

Took an hour to preheat 127* starting with cold tap water. Folded the extra vac bag under the steak to keep it off the bottom. The table knife is exactly the diameter of the Crockpot for weight to keep it submerged without it being able to fall off the steak. Being in a sou vide without being pasteurized (<131* ) it was cooked in the sou vide 3.5 hours and consumed in under 4 hours.

Thoroughly dried steak (spend time on this with paper towels to eliminate steaming and the over cooked grey band between the sear and doneness you want.) Seared the steak one minute eack side and the edges.

First cook was a success.

 

[weedeater]

Dr K,
Ribeye looks really delicious. Good job on the cook and mod of the crockpot.
Weedeater

 

[Rings Я Us]

Pretty darn cool. I was thinking of doing that also but didn't want to limit myself to a Crock pot.
Nice hunk of steak man.. Looks good.

 

[idahopz]

Nicely done! There is a commercial device produced by a company called Dorkfood that controls an analog crock pot like you've done with the Auber. It was a cost effective solution back in the day when traditional sous vide units cost updards of $300.

Using a temperature control unit like you have done is a very good solution.

 

[dr k]

Thank you for the kind remarks. There's a lot of folks with this PID on SMF that I'll put a link to this thread on Electric Smokers forum. As long as people are wise to food safety sou vide cooking it is great because when buying a dedicated sou vide the unit may have guidelines. I spent a few hours learning heating vs. pasturizing vs. sterilizing in the http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
It'll be a great yogurt making setup and analog smoker controller.

 

[dr k]

Thank you for the kind remarks. There's a lot of folks with this PID on SMF that I'll put a link to this thread on Electric Smokers forum. As long as people are wise to food safety sou vide cooking, it is great because when buying a dedicated sou vide the unit may have guidelines. I spent a few hours learning heating vs. pasturizing vs. sterilizing in the http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html It'll be a great yogurt making setup and analog smoker controller.

 

[SmokinAl]

Fantastic looking steak!
Great mod for the crock pot!
Congrats on making the carousel!
Al