dscheidt

There's nothing new or monster about the torch. It's a Bernzomatic BZ4500HS; the HS is "heat shrink" -- it's got a spread out flame to make shrinking heat shrink tubing and film easier. Heat shrinking is much the same problem as searing food, and so a spread flame makes sense for both. It's basically a TS4000, with a different nozzle and tip. Actual heat output isn't any higher than a 4000 or 8000, so it wouldn't get you anything attached to a Searzall.

Economies of scale. The customers who really use these things, really use them, and use lots of bags. So buying a thousand bags isn't a hardship, it's just a few (days/weeks/months) supply. Splitting cases for relatively small number of home users doesn't make sense. Doesn't mean you can't find someone to split a case with.

I bought 7X9 and 10X15 bags when I bought my vp215. I use the 7X9 a lot, they're the right size for about a pound of ground meat for freezing, a serving or so of soup or chili, hold a chicken breast or chop for the sous vide They'd be the right size for many left overs, were I allowed to keep the machine somewhere that was practical. I use the 10X15 bags (which is bigger than Vacmaster says fits in the machine, but as noted above, a three dimensional object in the bag makes them effectively shorter, and they work fine.) for anything too big for the 7x9, or where I want a single layer for sous videing. I cut them to length for things like steaks or roasts, where I need the width, but not the whole length. I might see if I can find an 8X9 bag next time, the 7 is just a touch too narrow for easy loading. 8X10 is too big, and cutting an inch or two off the bag is a pain.

I've watched the power use of my Anova with a kill-a-watt a few times. (it's a pain, I don't have enough outlets in my kitchen. Sigh.) I did a 48 hour cook this summer, at about 140 F, in the above mentioned pot, with a plastic wrap cover. Average power was 50W. Just the pump is about 15. Higher temperatures (and lower ambient kitchen temperatures, it was hot) will have higher power draws. 185 F was about 150w recently, if I remember right. The things are designed to cope with heat loss, and maintain the proper temp. on the kill-a-watt, you can see the heater come on for a few seconds, then off for a few, and come back on, etc. The biggest source of heat loss is evaporation, so a simple cover takes care of that. AT 150 W, it costs me about 1.25 cents an hour to run; if a cooler saved 2/3 of that, it would take a long time to pay for a cooler! (Something like 3000 hours to pay for the cooler linked above) 1.25 cents is rather less than it costs to run my oven, or a stove burner, so I'm not terribly worried about it.

The claimed water capacity of the various models (I forget which one you bought) average around 5 gallons, 20 quarts. In a cooler, you'll be able to do more than that, but probably not twice as much. And you don't need a cooler. You can use any container you can clip your circulator to. I do most of my cooks in a 20 quart enameled steel stock pot, because I have it. Works fine, and with a piece of plastic wrap as a cover, it doesn't lose much to evaporation.

Since the gas that comes out of the cylinder is the same, regardless of the format of the tank, the only reason to use a squat tank is so the combination of torch, tank, and searzall are less tippy. Not using a hotter fuel (Map-pro) is probably to protect the elements of the searzall from burning out.

So, some general information about chamber bags. They're usually made of multiple layers of plastic, which are co-extruded at manufacture time. That lets the manufacturer produce bags with different properties to suit different purposes. The typical bag sold for chamber use has two layers. The inner (food-side) is polyethylene (PE), which is entirely food safe, water proof, but not terribly oxygen impermeable. The other layer is a polyamide (PA, nylon); it's got desirable mechanical properties (strong, tough, puncture resistant) and is oxygen impermeable. Fancier bags add additional layers, or substitute one plastic for another. "high barrier" bags add a layer of PVC or ehylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) between the nylon and the PE. EVOH is super oxygen impermeable, but expensive. A thin layer in the middle keeps the cost reasonable, and still has very good storage performance. Mylar bags add aluminum laminated to something (it could be a number of things, and probably is, depending on the bag) "high temp" bags substitute polypropylene (PP) for the PE. PP is food safe, but it's got higher temperature range (It's used for things like diary products that get pasteurized in the tub). A standard PA/PE bag will take boiling temperatures, but not for very long. (15 minutes is the typical spec, I think.) a PP bag will go rather longer. PE will take more typical sous vide temperatures for a longer time, well in excess of what anyone is likely to cook for. Food processors pick bags (or get them developed) that match the product they're packing, and how long they expect it to be stored for, and the price point. Small users don't have that luxury, but at the rate most of us use them at, buying a bag that's 50% more expensive than the correct bag isn't a big expense, and is vastly easier than stocking too many different kinds.

They certainly have always broken if you dropped them. There's been something of a panic over exploding pyrex dishes (or was, a few years ago, I haven't heard as much about it lately). Pyrex is made of tempered soda lime glass (ordinary window glass, with a heat treatment to make it stronger and tougher, and change how it breaks). It's been like that for some time, since at least the mid 1990s, when Corning spun off the business. One of the properties of tempered glass is that any chip or crack will eventually cause a failure, and it's likely to be a dramatic failure. And, of course, once the pan is in 10,000 pieces, its impossible to tell whether there was existing damage or not. it's also possible they didn't the heat treating as well as it should have been done (cheaper to do it fast, takes less energy....). Older stuff might be made of borosilicate glass (or might not: I have corning made pie plates that are soda glass based on color and density), which doesn't rely on tempering for heat resistance. Chipped borosilicate glass can still fail unexpectedly, and it's likely to do that when under stress (like putting a cold pan in a hot oven.)

The little propane burners used in restaurants for omelet stations and what not are about 10K to 15K BTU/hr burners. They use, typically, 8oz butane cartridges. A pound of butane is 21K BTU. Depending on where you buy the cartridges, and in what quantities, the cost from about a buck a piece to a few bucks. (I've never seen a bigger butane burner, and would be surprised if they're available. There are limits on fast you can draw butane out of the can before it freezes.) Also, you can get an adapter hose that allows you to run your coleman propane stove and lantern from a 20lb (grill size) propane tank. Much more economical than little tanks, particularly if you have a local source that fills them rather than just swapping them out. An even larger tank is more economical (as there is usually a labor fee built into the pricing, and price of the propane is a small fraction of the cost. At today's propane spot price ($0.56 gallon), there's about $2 worth of propane in a grill tank.)

No one has told Ateco that. They sell at lest two different versions of that tool. it's a cutting tool, so the unevent pressure matters very little. As long as the cutter with the lightest pressure is pressed hard enough to cut, they'll all work.

Handily skips the "find phone. Unlock phone. Find app. Launch app. Wait for app to start." steps, which will take quite a bit longer.

You'll be able to be an annova from the apple store soon.

A picture I took this weekend at out picnic lunch, of an apple slice. Apple was cored with an apple corer (a pretty new one, so as sharp as it will ever get.). The slice was made with a sharp knife. Pretty clear difference after about four hours in zip lock bag.

Two points: 1) you can get a hose for any torch. attach one end to the cylinder, the other to the torch, and you get the same thing. 2) better torches have a regulator in them, which keeps them from drawing out liquid from the propane tank, which is what puts the torch out when inverted. I fail to see what the sansaire gives anyone over a flame spreader.

Some are whole eggs, some are just whites. If they say "no cholesterol" or "low fat", they have no yolks! Without yolks, they won't work for choux. If they're whole eggs, they're almost certainly pasturized, which may change how they cook. (I've only used them for scrambed eggs, omlets, and in baked stuff, where they behave normally, but choux might be different.)

Consider using a different flour for putting on the peel, as well. I use semolina for pizza, and have used rice flour. Both work very well, and are generally inoffensive tasting. The semolina doesn't burn as badly as corn meal, at least the stuff that stays on the stone. Stuff that makes it to the foor smokes. I can't remember how the rice flour smoked or not.

apparently, there enough people who use sweetened condensed milk everyday that trader joe's sells it in a plastic squeeze bottle. Haven't tried it, but I saw it in the fridge at work today.

My results are in the same ballpark as yours. I haven't timed (or measured the volume of water, for that matter, I use a large soup pot most of the time). You will get much faster temperature rise if you cover your water, as a substantial amount of heat is lost to evaporation. Ambient temperature also makes a difference in how much heat is lost, as does the amount of insulation in the container.

AN8 male fittings are 3/4 X 16tpi. Should be able to get one that will work in this application. Also, there filters that use metric threads, might be easier to deal with. Not all fiters are equipped with anti-drainback valve, so you might pick one of those. (They're not required in applications where the filter is pointed down, like yours, since it can't drain when the engine is off.)

In the summer, I drink a cocktail, unamed as far as I know, but related to the Presbyterian. It is 1 part rye 2 parts orange juice, preferably fresh squezed 4 parts ginger ale all over ice I also make a variation where the orange juice is replaced with the juice of a lime. Either variation can stand some fiddling with ratios, depending on your taste and the ginge ale. A stonger ginger beer could by watered down a bit without losing too much, i think.