Homemade sous-vide slow cooker conversion kit: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:36, 15 January 2015

Home made sous-vide bath

Julia first kindled my interest in a sous-vide cooker in January this year, but I have to be honest, the cost and limited space in my already full kitchen has held me back so far. Nevertheless, after only a little reading of Modernist Cuisine The Art and Science of Cooking, I am convinced I need one, and I need it now!

Well I still have a space and cost issue, however, if I can prove its worth with the following undertaking, I may still purchase one. To this end I intend to build an experimental PID thermostat to control my Morphy Richards 6.5 litre slow cooker. There are limitations, firstly, I don't know if will even work. Secondly, although the accuracy of the controller is to .1 ° C, I doubt that control of this accuracy can be realised using a slow cooker and finally I won't be using a pump to circulate the water bath. However, for £27 ($41) for the components, compared to £353 ($568) for a new sous-vide cooker, I'm willing to take a chance.

Primary components

• PID controller (£26.99 with free delivery (Amazon Prime)
  • Thermocouple (included with above item) - Unsuitable (not waterproof)
  • Solid-state relay (included with above item)

I've created this article before even purchasing the above items, let alone building the controller, incase it might be helpful to anyone else attempting to source components for a similar project. I do not intend to create a step-by-step how to. If you are not able to interconnect the components above without help, you should not be contemplating such an undertaking. Building even a simple project such as this requires knowledge of electrical safety procedures and basic electronics engineering experience.

Progress

I will update this article with the final outcome, be it a success or a failure. If you have any thoughts on this, do please get in touch with me by using Contact the Editor link below.

• Update 1:

Maybe it will work. I've just seen a commercial version of the kit I'm building (SousVideMagic controller). Quite expensive though at $169!

• Update 2

The thermocouple supplied with the Amazon controller is unsuitable as it is not waterproof. The screening is stainless steel braiding covering heat-resistant braid (fibreglass?). Neither materials are the least bit waterproof and water ingress to the thermocouple would be immediate.

A waterproof thermocouple is available from Amazon for under £4: ( K Type 20cm Probe Thermocouple Temperature Measurement Sensor 0.63M Amazon uk).

• Update 3

I've assembled a prototype which appears works in theory, but the manual provided is absolutely hopeless and it was starting to look as though it would be impossible to set the PID controller from the information at hand. I've collected together a heap of useful resources that might give some clues, will do some reading and return again.

Useful resources

• Sestos PID controller manual.pdf
• Auber instruments PID controller manual.pdf - A similar product with an English manual
• Has anyone had a Sestos PID controller working ? brewing forum
• Forum post querying Sestos PID
• How do I set up a Sestos D1S temperature controller?
• An excellent article by someone who has completed a similar project from wwwlindens.nu

See also

• PID controllers - Wikipedia
• Our Sous vide recipe category
• SousVide Supreme sous vide cooker
• Vacuum sealer (generic)
• Andrew James Professional Quality Vacuum Food Sealer Machine