Robin G

In my experience so far, this is highly dependent on the oven temp. While incubating yogurt at ~43-44C, I ran the oven all night and most of the next day, and observed no steam escaping through that vent. The level of the reservoir did not appear to change. However, when "sauteeing" mushrooms SV at 87C for an hour, I saw a fair amount of steam escaping, and the water level dropped noticeably. I also ended up with water in the drip tray, and on the bottom of the oven (I was using the rear element). I imagine baking bread will really pump out the steam.

I made a plain popover in the style of @curls from the CSO thread, using bacon fat. 400F (205C) for 22 min, rear element, fan high, no steam. This hernia formed on the side facing the fan. Maybe reducing the fan speed would produce a better form? Or perhaps some steam. Anybody have advice on this? It tasted fine regardless, with a bit of butter.

Perhaps due to the extra-long heat treatment, I got a nice surprise with my yogurt experiment. It turned into labneh! All I had to do was pour off the whey. I had intended to make Greek yogurt out of it anyway, so no harm done and something to try again some day.

I got lucky and my oven arrived yesterday ahead of it's originally scheduled Monday. I was able to pick it up unaided, and with no pain, but I did modify the suggested technique a bit by tilting it onto its left side so I didn't have to splay my arms out quite so widely. I can confirm I saw the flickering light for a while, although when I checked just now it seemed not to be flickering. I got one of those and it is indeed virtually identical in size to the racks that come with the oven (428mm largest dimension), and it seems just as sturdy. As a bonus, the corners are slightly more rounded such that it fits perfectly into the sheet pans I got many years ago at Costco. Temperature control is interesting to watch. During the burn-in setup period (180C/rear/no steam) I observed a relatively large temperature swing at first, between 177-182C, then after 2-3 minutes it seemed to settle down, e.g. 179.9-181C. My first experiment, overnight yogurt incubation, was a dismal failure. After scalding the milk, letting it cool, and adding culture, I put it in the oven set to 45C, SV mode, bottom element, no steam, no fan. Because I am super frugal, it seemed like "low and slow" was what was required. The initial temp swings were alarming but it was past my bedtime so I crossed my fingers and let it rip, hoping it would equilibrate like during the burn-in. Got up this morning to find jars of hot milk at 53.5C, with no culture activity whatsoever. Cooled the milk, re-inoculated, and started over using the recommended settings of rear element and 100% steam/high fan. This time I set the temp to 44C (still in SV mode). The temp is fluctuating between ~44.1 and 45.9C. In a few hours we shall see what develops. It seems the element, fan, and steam settings make a big difference in temperature stability, even at relatively low temps.

Yes, rotuts, if I already had a Brita pitcher I'd use it. I've read lots of your posts about it. But I don't, and distilled water is in jugs at the grocery stores around here. Maybe if/when my expensive drinking water filter bites the dust I'll reconsider all this.

The on-line Quick Start Guide does say "Fill with distilled water." I am planning to follow that guidance, especially since folks have repeatedly commented on how well the oven conserves water. I hate descaling stuff. I will agree the aforementioned manual does not explain what descaling solution to use, which I found rather annoying. Yeah, I can figure that out myself, but why be so vague??

It's a beautiful portrait of a biological specimen with interesting geometry and nicely contrasting colors.

That's a really lovely photo!

Regarding introducing pathogens by inserting a probe... you could sear first, and also sanitize the probe before inserting it (e.g. with an alcohol wipe). It wouldn't be the same as pasteurizing but is a reasonable precaution.

I'm green with jealousy. Why is there no corresponding reaction emoticon?

Alas, he's too busy playing with sausages.

@JoNorvelleWalker, so sorry about your back. I will take naproxen before I pick mine up and hope to avoid your fate.

sigh, why....

My "batch 1" order of Sept 3 finally has a tracking number, is expected to be shipped Mon (10/12) from PA, and is expected here in California Mon 10/19. Sigh. Seems like forever.