I do most of my sous-vide in stock pots. I have two of them and they fit on my counter and work fine. Trouble is, for a big cook, they're just not quite enough. I've been looking into getting one of those fancy polycarbonate containers for a while but... the price. I certainly don't mind paying for cookware, but I feel like a lot of the specialized sous-vide containers with the specific size cutouts are way overpriced for what they are.
I have a big cooler already. I use it weekly when I make my runs to Costco. It's big. It's well insulated. In most cases it's exactly what I need for a big, long, cook. Trouble is, if I were to mount my water circulator the way it is supposed to be mounted, I'd have to fill the cooler pretty full and potentially make some modifications. No thanks. I want the cooler to remain a working cooler.
So, while browsing around the other day, I saw a fancy picture on Reddit and adapted it to my own cooler. What's especially nice is that I already had everything I needed on hand to do it and free is my favorite price. Basically, I cut a piece of foam insulation so it fit close to perfect in the cooler and then cut a notch out for my hand when I need to pull it up and another hole to balance the water circulator. It works like a charm and I now have a brisket ready for a 48-hour cook at 140ºF cook before it goes in the smoker.
I have a big cooler already. I use it weekly when I make my runs to Costco. It's big. It's well insulated. In most cases it's exactly what I need for a big, long, cook. Trouble is, if I were to mount my water circulator the way it is supposed to be mounted, I'd have to fill the cooler pretty full and potentially make some modifications. No thanks. I want the cooler to remain a working cooler.
So, while browsing around the other day, I saw a fancy picture on Reddit and adapted it to my own cooler. What's especially nice is that I already had everything I needed on hand to do it and free is my favorite price. Basically, I cut a piece of foam insulation so it fit close to perfect in the cooler and then cut a notch out for my hand when I need to pull it up and another hole to balance the water circulator. It works like a charm and I now have a brisket ready for a 48-hour cook at 140ºF cook before it goes in the smoker.
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