Su-view on the knee - v.1

Sous-vide (sous-vide) technology of low-temperature cooking is now written and spoken a lot. Including on the GT. Since I am an ardent adept of the multicooker, it immediately became interesting to try another type of automated cooking. For me, low-temperature cooking is nothing new, somehow indulging in cooking slow roast beef in the oven ...
But the real woman (forgive me Grammar-Nazi for such word formation) is not cheap. Although it is a banal thermostat with minor modifications. Then my paypal was sharply itching and I climbed on my favorite site of Chinese folk crafts.
About a month has passed ...

It was purchased:
- The cheapest aquarium pump (220V);
- Chinese thermostat;
- Russian semi-kilowatt immersion heater;
- socket "on the wire";
- metal stand "hot".
Total spent five hundred rubles.

From the bins of the motherland was extracted:
- pieces of a variety of wires with forks;
- the wonderful power supply unit on 12B;
- tubes, clamps and other fasteners;
- blue electrical tape.
')
I also uncovered a favorite dremel, warmed up a soldering iron and began to create.


All high-voltage wiring ideally fit into the case of the power supply. Were able to do before! :) From the power supply unit on the left there are two wires for powering the thermostat (12V) and switched wires from the load. On the right is the power cord (220V) and the socket for connecting the load (boiler).


About the thermostat should be said separately. At first, he disappointed me with his size. But it turned out to be quite a working device with non-volatile memory and a bunch of settings. In addition to the threshold, there you can switch the mode from NC contacts to HP. And set the hysteresis (i.e., the “gap” of temperature). Particularly nice, as I said, that all the settings do not get off when you turn off the power.


There were doubts about the boiler. But I did not want to overload the Chinese relay (although it says 5A, but the devil knows it). Therefore, the boiler took the weakest, which was on sale - 500W. A monstrous design around it is a tin can with slots. First, that the boiler does not touch the plastic container, and secondly - for optimal mixing of water. A tube comes into the jar from the pump, the water jet washes the boiler and through the holes the hot water is fun and evenly diverges in all directions.

Installation did not take much time. Since the design was originally planned to be quickly dismountable, in fact, the container was borrowed from the child (Ikeevsky, under toys). All the disgrace dismantled in 5 minutes.

He poured water, turned on the pump, checked the level on the boiler, turned on the electronics. Works, the temperature shows, slowly heats up. By the way, I placed the temperature sensor near the pump - at the maximum distance from the boiler. This means that the food itself will be a degree or two more than the thermostat, but this can be corrected by setting the temperature.

I sit, I wait. The device is heated, but very slowly. From the temperature of tap water to +65 reached in an hour. But here I myself tupanul - nothing prevented immediately pour hot water. Or even boiling water from the kettle.

While the water was heating up - I began to think what to cook. I decided to make the most tasteless dish in the world - boiled cabbage. Laid in the package, salted, milk splashed to fill the internal cavity. Pumped out how could the air. Since the package was unspecialized, the bubble still remained. I put the package in the water, and he swims merrily. I had to pin down the yoke.

Cooked as per instructions - 50 minutes at 85 degrees. Then (again, as expected), the package was cooled sharply in ice water. I tried it - cabbage with cabbage, but, of course, juicier, sweeter than if it was cooked in a saucepan. In general, the theory was confirmed.

Now about the rake. There are a lot of them.

1. I am very worried about the pump - it only keeps 30 degrees on the passport, but here it is over 80. For now, let it work, but you need to look for a heat-resistant model.
2. The boiler, according to the passport, is also not designed for long-term work. Of course, it does not work at a temperature maximum (ie, the water around it does not boil), but still. I think - it is necessary to consistently stick a diode to it. KD202 any. Warm up, however, it will be even slower, fully full, but it will last longer. There was an idea to put a “national boiler” of two blades (eternal and not afraid of lack of water), but then electrical safety comes to hell.
3. My protection is not thought out at all. The pump will fail - water will boil out, the boiler will burn. I think it is necessary to stir up the water level sensor, or, at least, put a fuse. Another option is to place the temperature sensor directly around the boiler, so that it turns it off during emergency overheating. But from boiling it is all the same if it does not save, and the temperature of the recipes will have to be adjusted.
4. Heat loss colossal. It is necessary to click on the relay to reach the temperature, as it directly falls on the eyes. The ideal option is to take a foam container for water (in such sometimes vegetables are brought to supermarkets), lay a bag inside for beauty. Well, the lid is required to have less steam. Then it will be faster to go to the working mode, and to spend less electricity.

By the way, about the expense. It is easy to calculate that in two hours I burned about a kilowatt-hour, that is, about 4 rubles. Norm And yes, all this music in the future will be powered through a daily timer. So that at the end of the cooking time, it turns off itself if you forget.


Waiting for comments and advice.
All good and delicious food!

PS The existing factory solutions are divided into two large groups. This can be an apparatus in the form of a large electric pan with a fine temperature control. Ideal, but expensive. The second option is a fig, which is hung on board of any container (even pans, even a basin) and heats water there. I don’t actively like this option because it doesn’t provide uniform temperature (it is warmer around the device, colder at a distance). In this sense, my homemade products are much more advanced, since the temperature difference in different parts of the pelvis does not exceed one degree.

UPD:
Thanks to the comments of caring and personal experience I can give one piece of advice. Suppose you want to get acquainted with SUS technology, but do not want to spend money. Take a look around - maybe there is a slow cooker in your house. In a pinch, you can borrow from friends / relatives.
If there is a “multi-cook” mode in it - grandiosely. This is almost ready sous-vidnitsa. We set the temperature, time, pour water, wait for the warm-up, put the products in packages.
If there is no such mode, we set up an experiment. Pour half a pot of water and turn on the heating mode. Two hours later, we measure the temperature with an accurate thermometer. We remember the number. We look in the table of recipes - what can be cooked at this temperature. We prepare, try, draw conclusions. Those. A simple multi-cooker without a multi-cook can work as a “single dish dish.” What - depends on the temperature of heating in your particular model.