Cheap Sous Vide Immersion Circulator

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Yes that's the same element as I the ones I use. An IEC power lead will slide  directly on to the prongs, obviously make sure it's rated to 10 amps.

The hole cutter you need for the gasket is 40mm. If you are determined to use a stainles steel gastronorm, I would recommend the qmax hole cutter, but to be honest if it were me I'd just use a food grade plastic container until you are sure it all works how you want it to.

Be aware you may need to make some plastic washers with a 40mm hole to make sure the element fit is totally water tight. Ideally your container will be the exact thickness of the Asda kettle.
 
I have kept the kettle body, just in case I need to cut out the bit where the element went through to pack it out. I'll see what I can get my hands on for a container. If push comes to shove, then I'll buy the one Wade put up, that should do nicely. But if I can come across something without spending, then that would suit better.
Thanks for your input, much appreciated.
 
I think I made my first test using a 98p bucket from B&Q. I'd recommend a 5 or 10 litre fermentation bucket from your local homebrew shop, the plastic should be thick enough to seal round the element without needing a washer, and it's food grade and will be rated to well over boiling pint, should cost about a fiver or so.

Something like this https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/2-gallon-10-litre-fermentatio-bucket-with-lid.html
 
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I have got hold of a Gastronorm pan, which pleases me greatly, went straight down the shed and made a nice hole in it. As Molove rightly predicted I needed the bit of the kettle that held the element originally to get a correct fit, I chopped this out with the Dremmel. The Pan is only 0.44mm thick.
The element was fitted, tested for a correct Earth and filled with water, no leaks so far or I get 25 litres of water all over the shed. I am just waitng for the PID and pump now.



 
Baz

The main problem with an electric hob is that they have a built in thermostat that breaks the direct relationship between the power applied by the PID temperature controller and the amount of heat applied to the water. For instance, there will be times when the electric hob thermostat has turned itself off and the PID thinks it is applying power but the temperature isn't increasing as it should so the PID will start increasing the power etc etc.

You could try removing the thermostat but you would probably need to upgrade all the wiring too. I did this and melted part of the elecric hob.

I didn't use this set up for sous vide but as a heat exchanger to maintain mash temperatures in my brewing setup, see below.




Also the transfer of heat between 2 dry metals is never going to be as efficient as an element heating water directly.

I ditched this method soon after and went for a 5 litre foodsafe plastic bucket with an Asda kettle element installed because of the direct relationship between the power applied and the amount of heat the water received. See below for the mark 2 which uses the kettle element and works much better (for my needs) than the above set up.




Piers

Hi Piers, looks like you are running a "Moonshine" operation!
 
I have got hold of a Gastronorm pan, which pleases me greatly, went straight down the shed and made a nice hole in it. As Molove rightly predicted I needed the bit of the kettle that held the element originally to get a correct fit, I chopped this out with the Dremmel. The Pan is only 0.44mm thick.
The element was fitted, tested for a correct Earth and filled with water, no leaks so far or I get 25 litres of water all over the shed. I am just waitng for the PID and pump now.




Hi Baz that Sous Vide bath is looking good! I would put a wire grill over the element to stop the Sous Vide bags touching it and melting?

If you need any help in future cutting or welding etc give me a PM, back from holidays in a weeks time.
 
I am looking for something to protect the element and pump, what I think I will do is completely section off the end with the pump and element so that nothing makes contact with the pump or element. I thought that if the pump gets knocked it could in a worse case scenario end up squirting the water out of the bath.

Enjoy your hols! I'll catch up with you when you are back.
 
At some point you often have to step back and ask yourself "how much has this 'cheap' project actually cost?" and "how practical is it really?". I am like you and love a challenge and can get quite carried away, but sometimes when you look back in hindsight it would have been cheaper and more practical to just buy one in the first place. Usually the deciding factor is when my wife says something like "You are not keeping that thing in my kitchen!" 
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Beating_A_Dead_Horse_by_livius.gif
 
 
Hi Piers, looks like you are running a "Moonshine" operation!
Haha, I wish! I am a bugger for a bit of geekery. That's my temperature controlled recirculating mash tun, essentially I can maintain constant temperatures to within a couple of tenths of a degree, in my mash tun when I'm making beer. Probably a bit unnecessary but I wanted to see if I could make one. It's also known as HERMS http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/08/11/rims-and-herms-recirculating-infusion-mash-systems-for-beer/
I am looking for something to protect the element and pump, what I think I will do is completely section off the end with the pump and element so that nothing makes contact with the pump or element. I thought that if the pump gets knocked it could in a worse case scenario end up squirting the water out of the bath.
 
You probably won't need to protect the element if you start by filling the tank with hot water from the tap and only put the bags in when the water is up to temperature. The element will, if you've got your PID settings right, only be on for very small amounts of time and will hardly heat up to much above the water temperature. You can always clip the bags to the edge of the gastronome away from the pump and the element. Doesn't the pump have rubber suction pads on it so you can stick it to the base or side of the gastronorm?
 
At some point you often have to step back and ask yourself "how much has this 'cheap' project actually cost?" and "how practical is it really?". I am like you and love a challenge and can get quite carried away, but sometimes when you look back in hindsight it would have been cheaper and more practical to just buy one in the first place. Usually the deciding factor is when my wife says something like "You are not keeping that thing in my kitchen!" 
biggrin.gif


Beating_A_Dead_Horse_by_livius.gif
 
This was why in the end I bought the Circulator. After having used the temperature controlled slow cooker for a couple of years I just wanted something that worked well without any faff.

Trying to set up the PID values in the temperature controller was a nightmare on the slow cooker because the reaction times were so slow that it was impossible to do an autotune, this might not be the case with Baz's set up because the element is a lot more powerful than a slow cooker. I did eventually get a set of values that did kind of work ok, they had a tendency to overshoot whilst coming up to temperature followed by an undershoot before settling.

The homemade version worked ok but when I made it, the cheapest immersion circulators were in the region of £600 which is totally out of my price range. As soon as I saw this circulator for £99+Vat I jumped at it. It is head and shoulders above my homemade version, it gets to temperature very quickly and the temperature is rock solid with no overshoots or undershoots and I can use it with any sized container up to 40 litres. Had this been available at the time I first got interested in sous vide I would have bought it immediately and not bothered with any of the homemade versions.

Piers

PS Does anyone in South East London want a 6 litre slow cooker?
 
£32.27 so far and I can't see me needing to spend any more.
I agree with Wade, but I do enjoy messing about down the shed and I do get a fair amount of failures, some a bit more spectacular and final than others, but that's what RCD's are for right! :biggrin:
But there is a great amount of satisfaction from getting something to work right and produce great food. If it wasn't for guy's like you on the forum starting projects like this, backyard and shed projects wouldn't happen and we would all have to buy stuff off the shelf. This is where idea's begin, on a bench in a shed somewhere.

I think the main problem with the slow cooker is the thick stoneware wall of the pot, although it does transmit heat through, there is a significant time lag which the PID can't cope with. Sure it will get you in the ball park and will produce decent food, but as you say, when you want something a bit more controllable it's not up to it.
 
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Go on then Wade, I am intrigued, I would have said a BBQ temp controller, but the two blue things have thrown me. Are they transmitters?
I would have said one is a set temp display and the other the actual temp, but then you could see the actual temp on just one unit, so are you controlling two outputs?
It looks nice and tidy. Thumbs Up
 
Temperature and humidity controller for a salami curing cabinet. The blue things are just quick connect power couplers so that different plug/socket arrangements can be added as active heating/cooling devices. The left controller is humidity and the right one is temperature.
 
That's a great project, getting the food side right is a challenge, then curing it is another story. I can see the grey probe is the hygro one now, I can't wait to see it working. Nice one Wade.
 
I have opened up the grey probe case and it now contains the hygrometer and both of the thermometer probes - one that is required for the humidity measurement and the other for the temperature.
 
I have now received all the bits and have been down the shed and put them all together. I have just stuck it on to test and it seems to be working fine. I will need another PID, as the one I got was a cheap one and has a lot of the functions missing. I cannot change the input to a PT100 and it doesn't want to auto tune. It looks like it is a basic version. It does have some PID function, as it isn't just an on/off output.
I will probably insulate it with foam, to stop heat loss and try and keep it more stable. I am planning on pan frying a steak tonight, and then in the near future I will sous vide one and see what the difference is. I have got to do a pan fried one as a base line test. That's my excuse anyway. :biggrin:



 
I should have read the PID label better, it works, but doesn't have the fine control needed. I'll give it a whirl and probably upgrade to a better one that I can alter in the future. I will be trying Steak in it to start with. We had a pan fried one last night, this will give us an idea of how this method cooks in comparison. It will certainly take the work out of a family BBQ, SV it and finish on the grill.
 
Will certainly help with BBQ's! I've Sous Vide many events, including sausage, burgers and chicken legs. Pull then straight out and just add Char marks from the Grill!
 
I can see why professional units use them, I am assuming that if you don't use the number you have in the bath, they can be chilled and then reused until the product hits it's use by date. You cannot over cook it. Then as you say for grilling, it's already cooked it just needs colour.
 
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