I made this setup about 10 years ago, surplus 90s Omron industrial controller, rice cooker and thermocouple. The rice cooker has some thermal insulation, low energy input. The bad side is that Im limited to about 2kg due to the rice cooker size, and no water recirculation, but that is not a big issue. Cheers
by warpedhead
14 Comments
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That’s some top tier /r/redneckengineering
You are missing circulation. The bottom of that meat isn‘t going to experience the same temperature as the top.
I did this exact thing years ago, and it was just okay. The price of sous vide sticks has dropped so much that it’s really not worth trying to DIY.
When I first got into sous vide around 20 years ago I made a setup similar to this (I used a variac with a PID controller and a hot plate but this is close enough). It gets the job done but without circulation you can get some slightly uneven cooking. Honestly, the commercially available units do a better job and can be cheaper than the components I used in my set up.
I did something similar about 15 years ago so that I could use the crock pot I already had. Did not work well.
The heating element in the crock pot was slow to heat up and slow to cool down, so it could not maintain a consistent temperature. It would shut off at the set point, but the water would gradually continue heating another 5-10°F before plateauing and slowly dropping again. Same thing on the other end – heating element would come on, but it took a while to heat up while the water temp dropped 5-10°F below the set point. So it was gradually oscillating within a 15-20°F range during the entire cook. Eventually bought the first gen Anova and never looked back.
Hopefully you can account for this imprecision, or your rice cooker works better than my cheap crockpot. Best of luck!
Edit for lack of my reading comprehension: Apparently you did this years ago as well. Nice!
If it was free and it did the same job, I could understand the benefit. There is no benefit here, especially when this setup does not accomplish the same thing an already inexpensive sous-vide machine does.
Seems like a good way to get food poisoning on longer cooks
I do something similar. My pid has 3 temp ports so I monitor different areas which are usually within 1degree f. I’ve even used an electric turkey roaster before for larger items. Disregard all these Reddit chefs and scientists, I use what is available that I’ve already paid for, it may not be the best way in their “OPINION” but I have enough stuff don’t need to buy more. Just you do you…
” opinions are like 🍩 everyone has one”
With some engineering background, I like the approach! But if I’d build this today, I’d use a AC relay, probably a couple of ds1820 or similar sensors, something for water flow/circulation, and bind it together with an arduino/Atmel or ESP based controller.
The heating elements are my biggest wonder, but probably easy to figer out. I’ve mostly controlled peltier elements and heating/cooling appliances through relays only.
Can you tell a bit more about the thought, and coding, behind the setup? Sorry if this post is out of place/hard to read.
Sous vide machines aren’t really that expensive. Many of them are cheaper than a few steaks. Cheaper than the most basic charcoal grill. Cheaper than many cast iron pans. Just buy one
Outlet next to the setup is diabolical
My first SV used a similar PID with a cheap aquarium pump and immersion “coffee warmer” coils. My vessel was a cambro with a rigid foam insulation sleeve
Man that is funny. great work.