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Sous-vide is amazing but I can't believe how expensive they typically are. Because I couldn't believe it, I built my own for $45 using weird things from amazon

Sous-vide is amazing but I can't believe how expensive they typically are. Because I couldn't believe it, I built my own for $45 using weird things from amazon. It didn't even take any electrical work or programming and can be setup in about a minute: Cheap fish tank pump: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EWENKXO http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EWENKXO Cheap hot plate: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T0SN0K http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T0SN0K And the star of the show, a temperature modulator with a standard plug: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 Put a pot of water on the hot plate, insert fish tank pump, plug hot plate into the Willhi. Put your meat into a regular ziplock bag, leaving it open, dip it into the water. The pressure of the water will cause the air to leave the bag, creating a vacuum (you can find many demonstrations of this technique on youtube). Clip the bag to the side of the pot using some clothes pins. Bam! DYI sous vide. Generally it maintains the temperature within +/- 1 degree Fahrenheit, which is good enough for a rare steak. I had this incredibly dangerous coffee heating element at first, which could keep the temperature within 0.1 degree, but decided it was too dangerous to be worth it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 I then use a $25 Iwatani torch to char the surface: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BBJC1CY http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BBJC1CY As opposed to most butane cooking torches, this one seems to produce a large hot flame about 20 centimeters long and the diameter of a quarter. Not to take away from this griddle or anything, but I'm pretty psyched about my sous vide machine and it was too easy to make just to not tell everyone that will listen.

xivzgrev 11y ago
Some units now are only $100ish, especially on sale :D If you have the tinkering aptitude DYI is definitely way to go. These sous vide machines are really basic components. But most people want something that works outta the box and looks pretty. Ha ha, business!
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  That's an improvement, but I still don't see why they should cost more than a decent crock pot. Hell, my crock pot cost $50 and it actually came with a thermometer probe that plugs into the base and reads out on the front panel. You could practically turn it into a sous-vide cooker with a factory firmware swap.
legohead 11y ago
That's awesome :) Chef Steps on YouTube show some examples of them just using ziplock baggies and a simple thermometer, so I tried that and it worked fine. Took some fiddling with my stovetop -- I had to use the weakest burner on the lowest setting to get one of the temperatures I needed, but it worked!
- lifekaizen 11y ago
  That can totally work. I also cooked salmon with nothing but hot tap water at the office, it turns out most taps are around 118F which is low temp salmon! (of course you should decide for yourself if you're ok eating food cooked below USDA guidelines)
reverend_gonzo 11y ago
The main thing the DIY version doesn't have is a circulator, so in a larger pot for a bigger cook, you'll have a temperature gradient across the water bath. But it definitely works. I've even reheated precooked frozen food while camping buy heating water to some temperature, pouring it into a cooler to prevent too much temperature drop, and putting in the precooked, still vacuum sealed bags into the cooler, and letting it sit there for an hour or two. The temperature change was maybe five degrees over those two hours, but it was for reheating, and would have been fine for some foods as well. Kenji also has an article about sous vide in your kitchen sink, where you don't have to buy anything at all, though it only really works for shorter cooks and you won't have precise temperature control. http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-steak-sous-vide-in-a-cooler.html http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-st...
- CoolGuySteve 11y ago
  This design uses an $8 fish tank pump as a circulator.
  - reverend_gonzo 11y ago
    Good catch. I missed that.
justifier 11y ago
so simple diy setup.. some questions: first two links: And the star of the show, a temperature modulator with a standard plug: http://.. and but decided it was too dangerous to be worth it: http://.. were the same: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 ; was this intentional? second, does that little water pump handle the heat? lastly, did you just bend up the heating element and place it directly in the water?
- alexhawdon 11y ago
  I assume he's using the hotplate as-is with a large pan of water on top and the thermostat controlling power to the hotplate and the temperature probe in the water. If Steve could continue to be a Cool Guy (sorry!) and confirm that would be wonderful because I've just been to Amazon to try and create a similar set-up. Another implementation question: does the pump need a pipe connected to it, or is it sufficient as-is? For those in the UK, here's what I ordered: Pump - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVK966C http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVK966C Thermostat - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVYCZ84 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVYCZ84 Hot plate - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A4DE35G http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A4DE35G Yes, it is all frighteningly cheap and I'm not going to leave it running unattended!
  - CoolGuySteve 11y ago
    Yes that's it, the hot plate is being used as a normal hot plate, but its power is being controlled by the thermocouple. The pump is used as is, fully submersed in the water with no tubes. All it does is agitate the water to make the heating more evenly dispersed. Your setup looks good, I was going to buy a similar control unit to yours until I found the Willhi version that just used regular outlets. The thing with this box is you have to do a little bit of wiring work to set it up. Turned out to be cheaper for me to buy the already assembled outlet version than the components for it. I think you can already find tutorials online about people connecting this non-outlet style of thermocouple to a slow cooker to make a sous vide. That was my original plan until I sleuthed out this cheaper design. So check those tutorials out. The best thing about sous vide is that you can "set it and forget it", you should thoroughly leave it unattended because it's so amazingly convenient.

xivzgrev 11y ago

Some units now are only $100ish, especially on sale :D If you have the tinkering aptitude DYI is definitely way to go. These sous vide machines are really basic components. But most people want something that works outta the box and looks pretty. Ha ha, business!

PhasmaFelis 11y ago
That's an improvement, but I still don't see why they should cost more than a decent crock pot. Hell, my crock pot cost $50 and it actually came with a thermometer probe that plugs into the base and reads out on the front panel. You could practically turn it into a sous-vide cooker with a factory firmware swap.

legohead 11y ago

That's awesome :) Chef Steps on YouTube show some examples of them just using ziplock baggies and a simple thermometer, so I tried that and it worked fine. Took some fiddling with my stovetop -- I had to use the weakest burner on the lowest setting to get one of the temperatures I needed, but it worked!

lifekaizen 11y ago
That can totally work. I also cooked salmon with nothing but hot tap water at the office, it turns out most taps are around 118F which is low temp salmon! (of course you should decide for yourself if you're ok eating food cooked below USDA guidelines)

reverend_gonzo 11y ago

The main thing the DIY version doesn't have is a circulator, so in a larger pot for a bigger cook, you'll have a temperature gradient across the water bath. But it definitely works. I've even reheated precooked frozen food while camping buy heating water to some temperature, pouring it into a cooler to prevent too much temperature drop, and putting in the precooked, still vacuum sealed bags into the cooler, and letting it sit there for an hour or two. The temperature change was maybe five degrees over those two hours, but it was for reheating, and would have been fine for some foods as well. Kenji also has an article about sous vide in your kitchen sink, where you don't have to buy anything at all, though it only really works for shorter cooks and you won't have precise temperature control. http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-steak-sous-vide-in-a-cooler.html http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-st...

CoolGuySteve 11y ago
This design uses an $8 fish tank pump as a circulator.
- reverend_gonzo 11y ago
  Good catch. I missed that.

justifier 11y ago

so simple diy setup.. some questions: first two links: And the star of the show, a temperature modulator with a standard plug: http://.. and but decided it was too dangerous to be worth it: http://.. were the same: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00 ; was this intentional? second, does that little water pump handle the heat? lastly, did you just bend up the heating element and place it directly in the water?

alexhawdon 11y ago
I assume he's using the hotplate as-is with a large pan of water on top and the thermostat controlling power to the hotplate and the temperature probe in the water. If Steve could continue to be a Cool Guy (sorry!) and confirm that would be wonderful because I've just been to Amazon to try and create a similar set-up. Another implementation question: does the pump need a pipe connected to it, or is it sufficient as-is? For those in the UK, here's what I ordered: Pump - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVK966C http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVK966C Thermostat - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVYCZ84 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BVYCZ84 Hot plate - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A4DE35G http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A4DE35G Yes, it is all frighteningly cheap and I'm not going to leave it running unattended!
- CoolGuySteve 11y ago
  Yes that's it, the hot plate is being used as a normal hot plate, but its power is being controlled by the thermocouple. The pump is used as is, fully submersed in the water with no tubes. All it does is agitate the water to make the heating more evenly dispersed. Your setup looks good, I was going to buy a similar control unit to yours until I found the Willhi version that just used regular outlets. The thing with this box is you have to do a little bit of wiring work to set it up. Turned out to be cheaper for me to buy the already assembled outlet version than the components for it. I think you can already find tutorials online about people connecting this non-outlet style of thermocouple to a slow cooker to make a sous vide. That was my original plan until I sleuthed out this cheaper design. So check those tutorials out. The best thing about sous vide is that you can "set it and forget it", you should thoroughly leave it unattended because it's so amazingly convenient.