sous vide immersion circulator ?

[BGKYSmoker]

Not rocket science. Smoke your chubs as normal to an IT of 148. Put in a ziplock, roll all the air out, zip it, Anova SV at 165* and Wallah 152-153 in no time. No need to probe, just squeeze, you will know.

 

[ddrian]

 
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.

13344495_10154374626099369_3130874536651743230_n.j

• williamzanzinger
• Jan 5, 2017

no inside shot on file unfortunately

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 about $40.00 all in plus an hour to wire and build a box for the controller. Very simple wiring and box! A Dremal tool, an old computer 110v cable for the wall plug, a few wire nuts and some stripped out wire from an old extension cord is all it takes!! Yes I keep this stuff to feed my madness!  The controller will work on any element up to 1200 watts. The coffee pots are about 1000 watts.  If this works out properly ill buy a 40 cup pot and have a little bigger tank.

BTW after research, The vac master circulator was my choice. It was about 200.00 delivered plus a bath tub is needed of some type. They are about 40.00. So the idea again is to try this method and unit size before a big investment. If I need a bigger unit (smile) for water bath cooking , ill move on up! This is an excellent way to get into cooking with a water bath for a small investment.

Ill post the unit when completed in a week or so. My first cook is some bacon I have curing, and a brisket that is curing for corned beef that will be pastrami in the end game!

Ill smoke them both first and then sous vide them for the first attempt! Then next time sous vide first and smoke second them to compare results!

DDR

.

 

[johnmeyer]

 
I am going to do the same thing with an old West Bend 32 cup coffee pot and an aquarium heater. <snip>

DDR

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.

 

[shyzabrau]

 
[...] 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'm continually irritated that I can't find my NIST-traceable thermometer (that I bought for brewing)...

I think I just have to cut bait and buy a new one. Sigh.

 

[ddrian]

I'll do that and monitor the situation
I have a big ole crock pot also
I may hook it up!
Thanks for the words of wisdom!
I have several probes and units
I'll check there qualifications and make sure we are good to go!
DDR

 

[ddrian]

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. 

Thanks to johnmeyer  for the tip!

DDR

 
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.

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. 

Thanks to johnmeyer  for the tip!

DDR

 

[worktogthr]

I 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

 

[shyzabrau]

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?

 

[worktogthr]

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 only opened and grilled one package of them but the texture of the casing was as it always is with more traditional methods. I could be wrong but I always thought the blooming was more for appearance than the texture of the casing. Blooming gives smoked sausage that familiar mahagony color. These maintained their color pretty well however.

 

[shyzabrau]

Thanks. I'll definitely try it that way next time...

 

[wild west]

I 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

 

[worktogthr]

I use the sous vide to finish also but I do let them bloom over night. What temp and time did you use

I did 145 degrees for an hour and 45 minutes which is conservative as it's the time and temp for 40 mm sausages(my casings were 32-38mm) also conservative because they were partially cooked already during the smoking process

 

[ddrian]

Are there recommended times for these sausages to be fully homogenized?

 

[johnnyb54]

I recently did a batch of smoked Kielbasa combining smoking and Sous Vide. I smoked them for 3 1/2 hrs. I'm my MES 40 using a AMPS.

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

When I was happy with the color I pulled them and placed them in a 160 water bath controlled by my Joule Sous Vide. I did not place them in a ziplock or Foodsaver bag. I monitored the temp using a Thermoworks Chef Alarm with a water proof needle probe. When the internal temp reached 158 I took them out of the water bath and placed them in ice water to drop the internal temp to 90 deg.

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

Once the temp of the Kielbasa dropped I dried them off and let them bloom for 3 hrs. There was no lose of smoke flavor and total time to cook was 1/3 of the time it normally takes me to smoke Kielbasa. This is now my go to process for making smoked sausage. I hope this helps answer your question.

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• johnnyb54
• Apr 26, 2017

 

[shyzabrau]

[...] placed them in a 160 water bath controlled by my Joule Sous Vide. I did not place them in a ziplock or Foodsaver bag.

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.

 

[johnnyb54]

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.

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.

 

[shyzabrau]

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.

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...

 

[johnnyb54]

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.

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 sou

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...

Here is the link to ChefSteps cleaning article
https://support.chefsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/214090878-How-do-I-clean-Joule-

 

[shyzabrau]

Here is the link to ChefSteps cleaning article
https://support.chefsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/214090878-How-do-I-clean-Joule-

Simple enough! Thanks!

 

[worktogthr]

Here's the result of my smoked and sous vide finished jalapeño bacon cheddar sausage:

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• worktogthr
• May 2, 2017

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• worktogthr
• May 2, 2017

As you can see they kept there color and I can report that their smokiness was perfect. Easily the best texture I've achieved on any sausage I've made