dcarch

I am guessing there is a muffin fan to cool the heat sink for the Peltier device. Typically the fan is extremely quiet. Then there is the bubble maker. It depends, some are very quiet. There are some diaphragm pumps which can be very noisy. I am sure the Mellow is almost noiseless. dcarch

It can't be, if the temperature sensor and the heater is wired to the base, and the air hole opening will be a problem also. dcarch

Mellow has not explored the many other uses, more than just sous vide: Cold soup for the summer. Punch bowl for a party. Wine cooler. dcarch :-)

One of the reasons for the liquid not to come come from the open bag when submerged is because most of the time (not all the time) the liquid inside the bag is heavier (salt, and colder). By gravity it will not tend to float up. but I don't think that is very reliable. I still want to know how do you empty the water from the container. dcarch

In addition, how do you empty the water? If the tank is detachable, what prevents water from leak out thru the air hole? If the thermister is in the tank, is there a wire connected to it? dcarch

zemvpferreira, thanks for coming in to explain things. I hope you don't mind that some of us have a tendency to be critical. we are serious about cooking and sous vide. There is another thread where I posted the following: Shalmanese, on 23 Apr 2014 - 07:33 AM, said: I am not sure. From the looks, the cooling is most likely done by the use of a solid state Peltier thermoelectric module, not by a compressor. Peltier device is very interesting, by changing the polarity of the DC power, it can be a cooler or a heater. If that is what's going on, it can be a problem. A Peltier device is a low power device, a high temperature Peltier module is less than 200 watts. It will take a very long time to heat up or to cool down that much water. It also makes the water container not removable. It will be a pain to clean the thing. dcarch Edit: Just saw it on their WEB site. Apparently the tub is removable. So the heating/cooling is done by metal-to-metal conduction. That makes it less deficient. I also don't see a thermometer/temperature sensor. How does it control accurate temperature if metal-to-metal contact is the only connection between the tub and the main unit? Is it PID controlled? Does it come with a cover?

I am sure a lot of thinking has gone into the conceptualization and implementation of this unit. I am not saying that it is got problems which I have mentioned. Based simply on information I have so far, I would like to know a lot more. It is possible that the temperature swing can be quite a bit, if there is no direct temperature measurement of the bath, and no PID type of feedback compensation of the entire system. dcarch

May be even bigger problem, Does it keep temperature precisely? I don't understand how the water and food temperature is measured and controlled. Sous vide is meaningless without temperature control. I like to see a lot more specifications. dcarch

I am not sure. From the looks, the cooling is most likely done by the use of a solid state Peltier thermoelectric module, not by a compressor. Peltier device is very interesting, by changing the polarity of the DC power, it can be a cooler or a heater. If that is what's going on, it can be a problem. A Peltier device is a low power device, a high temperature Peltier module is less than 200 watts. It will take a very long time to heat up or to cool down that much water. It also makes the water container not removable. It will be a pain to clean the thing. dcarch Edit: Just saw it on their WEB site. Apparently the tub is removable. So the heating/cooling is done by metal-to-metal conduction. That makes it less deficient. I also don't see a thermometer/temperature sensor. How does it control accurate temperature if metal-to-metal contact is the only connection between the tub and the main unit? Is it PID controlled? Does it come with a cover?

I don't feel foam insulating a beer cooler is at all that worthwhile. A double-walled cooler is not loosing a lot of heat. All the heat lost goes to heat your house in the winter anyway. Feel the cooler case, it's barely warm. Evaporation, OTOH, carries away a lot of BTUs, about a 1000 BTU/lb. dcarch

First, I did a test once. I had a lot of beef and pork bones. I scraped off all the meat from the bones, scooped out the marrow. I made stock with just pure bones. The stock had no flavor. Basically I don't think bones contribute anything to flavor. It's the meat, and marrow. When you PC "bones" without water, you get very nice concentrated "stock" from condensation and meat shrinkage. Meat shrinks 30% to 40% under high heat. How much concentrated stock you can get out with no water depend on how much leftover meat on the bones. Again, I have to be clear. When I PC to make stock, there is plenty of water in the cooker. I use a smaller pot inside the cooker to really pressure steam the bones. I get fairly clear stock this way. dcarch

May I suggest you to give this a try just for fun? First - pressure cook without any water, that's right, NO WATER. You will get a 1/2 cup to a cup of pure pure concentrated liquid gold. Save this for special uses. Second - Then add water to make your regular stock. Third - Use the leftovers from the second step, use much less water and PC the third time. You will get some stock with not much taste, Use it for the second step the next time you make stock. Don't bother with this step if you think it's too much trouble. dcarch

The spring type of pressure indicator can be highly inaccurate. Comparing tastes between two PCs without check temperature is meaningless. As far as the food is concerned, it is all about temperature. You can get a pretty good idea as to what temperature your PC can achieve based on the test I suggested above. dcarch

I am with Martin. I can't seem to think of a scientific reason why and how the stocks would taste different, if the food is cooked in identical environment inside the pressure cookers. Assuming of course the rubber gasket material and the metals of the vessels will not impart their tastes to the food. dcarch

Here is an idea to be considered: A remote night vision wireless video camera is inexpensive. It will work fine inside cold smoke temperature. You can see the smoke condition inside the smoke house, as well as a thermometer to make sure you are safe with the temperature. You can even add a thermostatic controlled heater inside if you want to cold smoke in freezing weather. Who wants to keep going outside to check smoke and temperature? Many times cold smoking is done at night. Also you don't want to keep opening the door to the smoker. dcarch

That's a nicely made video; however I would not use his method. There are many food safety issues that are not covered in that video. For instance, you will be crazy to use saw dust from a lumber mill. Plenty of chemicals and preservatives in many woods. Also, salmon can be expensive, you want to be sure that you get predictable quality and end results every time. I would not use a soldering iron to mess up $40 $50 worth of food. dcarch

Very good workmanship! Have you considered a window on the door? So that you don't have to open the door to check? What are you going to cold smoke? How many days you can cold smoke in your location? You may want to provide room for an ice tray. There may be days when the weather is questionable for cold smoking. dcarch

I will take some pictures and post on another thread in a few days. dcarch

"-----My oven has a measurable drop in temperature, as measured by my Sur la Table digital oven thermometer placed on a middle rack, whenever I open the door. I was surprised at how pronounced it was: 10 - 15 degrees F.------ " That is to be expected, because the oven temperature is going from 350F to close to 70F room temperature air. The question is how quickly the oven temperature can recover from the temperature drop back to set temperature. Good temperature control in an electric oven is not easy, because the heating element can only be on 100% and off 100%. There is no in between heating. Combining that with a typical mechanical/hydraulic capillary temperature sensor, which in itself has a resolution of + - 15F, in addition, when the heating element is first on, almost all the heating is done by infrared radiation, which the temperature sensor is not very good in picking up, until the infrared heat is converted to conduction heat. dcarch

I think the book will be extremely popular, if it were written by one of those famous, well established chefs/cooks. Get yourself very famous first in the food world. dcarch

It may be interesting to find out what temperature your pressure cooker can actually go up to. Get a small metal container with may be two cups of oil. Pressure steam the oil inside the PC. Make sure the oil is above the water level inside the PC and cover the oil so no water can drip into it. Give it about 40 minutes after pressure has built up. Immediately run the PC under cold water to release pressure and measure the oil temperature. I found out my Presto PC can only get to 227F, which is not good enough for me. So I machined a new heavier pressure weight valve. With that I am now able to get 267F. I never directly PC stock. I use a separate smaller pot to go inside the PC, kind of pressure steam the stock. The stock comes out less cloudy, and cleanup is easier too. At 267F, even bones get very soft and chew-able. dcarch

The reason for using oil is simple. Oil's boiling point is around 400F. this allows you to test measure high temperature settings. Regarding heat loss when opening the hot oven door. I believe that is a myth. It takes .005 watts to heat 1 cubic foot of DRY air 1 degree F. A typical oven is 5 cu ft. 5 x 0.005 = 0.025 watts to heat up the air in an oven one degree F. Let's say room temperature is 70F, and oven temperature is 350F. 350F- 70F = 280F 280F x 0.025w = 7 watts is the power needed to reheat all the 350F hot oven air. Your oven's electric heating element is capable of putting out from 3,000 watts of power or more. When you open the oven door, you are immediately blasted with 350F of burning air. It gives you the impression that you are loosing a huge amount of heat. dcarch

I have converted a working 4.5 cubic foot refrigerator into a hot/cold indoor smoker. Attached to it is a variable volume motor driven cold pellet smoke generator which can operate with not much attention. It uses very little pellets. The temperature is PID controlled. I can cold smoke cheese, salmon, hot smoke other meats, any season, any weather indoors. I will try to post pictures when I am done with a very projects I am working on now. dcarch

"---For recipes that are being tried for the first time, it seems that having an idea of the rack height may be important to getting good results. Comments?----" It is not easy to be sure. There are two main types of oven, each with two variations. There is electric and electric convection, and there is gas, and gas convection, each with different heating characteristics. Given the same type, each oven has it's personalities depending on the location of thermostat and insulation of the walls, etc. etc. The best is to get to know your own oven. You can do an easy test: Get a few (10?) small metal containers, and fill them with cooking oil. Place them in the oven, top front, left, right, top back, left right, bottom front, back left, right, middle center, -----. Set the oven temperature at low, measure each container oil's temperature, then set the temperature at medium, measure again, and finally set the temperature at high and measure. You will be surprised at the variations between the oven's set temperature and the measured temperature and the temperature differences at each location inside the oven. dcarch

I pass by the USGM every other day. I have to check it out. It will cost me $5.50 just for the subway. Last year I bought ramps, Whole Foods at $16.00 a lb. I ate only the tops and I planted the bulbs. They are all coming up now in my garden. I may have enough for one serving. :-) dcarch