My thermometer and my sous vide one temperature display are always about 1 1/2 to 2° different. Do I have to just live with that variance or miss something wrong with my circulator’s thermostat. And do you trust the instant read thermometer or the unit?
by AgileReality9275
16 Comments
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I would trust the circulator over the instant read. Look at what the +/- is on the accuracy of the thermometer is
What brand of circulator do you have?
All tools have a margin of error.
A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure
Stick the instant read into a glass of ice water and see how close to 32 degrees it is. Do the same with boiling water and 212 degrees (at sea level anyways).
Easiest way to confirm your thermometer is accurate.
You’re gonna need a third thermometer as a tiebreaker lol
It’s also possible they’re both right. There’s gonna be some variance, one heat source isn’t going to heat a big tub of water perfectly evenly.
What do they both say in ice water?
Get a Thermoworks thermapen and never guess again. It leaves the factory with a calibration certificate. The same cannot be said for either of your devices.
Boil water and test that
2 degrees isn’t enough to stress over. Id split the difference and set your Sous Vide 1 degree towards the reading on the instant read.
My annova runs about a degree or two over.
If this is after only 29 minutes, I wouldn’t be surprised if the interior center temp was lower than the water.
Mine is actually 16°F degrees off. The probe is dead on. You should always test your probe in both ice water and boiling unsalted water. Then calibrate your machine after 15-20 mins after it says it’s at the set temperature without anything cooking in it with your probe.
I test mine every cook and then calibrate the unit if necessary. Some units have bad factory calibration.
Mine was off by 3 degrees. I calibrated with a fluke.
I would trust the anova more than I would a javelin thermometer. I also wouldn’t be terribly concerned about a 2.1° difference