Polyscience Sous Vide Toolbox (formerly known as SousVide Dash)

[Ranz]

Hi Vengroff. Any news on an Android version?

[Marius]

I'm a bit late to the party, and just recently discovered this gem of an app. I see from the above that I am not the first to post this, - but will there be support for frozen food (and/or is the app still being supported/updated?)

[PedroG]

Hi Vengroff. Any news on an Android version?

Still no Android version?

[hattermad]

Hi All,

I am pleased to report that We have licensed the technology behind SousVide Dash to PolyScience. They have just released an app called PolyScience Sous Vide Toolbox based on this technology.

SousVide Dash will continue to exist alongside the new app, and will continue to be updated and supported.

If the UK App store is anything to go by, it looks like this isn't the case unfortunately - the last update was in May 2012.

Also the Polyscience Sous Vide Toolbox hasn't been updated since August 2012.

Shame as I thought this would be a good accompaniment to my new circulator, but I'm always reluctant to buy something that isn't being regularly updated, even just for iOS compatibility / look & feel.

[pep.]

It is still a great app, though. The best SV app, actually.

[devehf]

What "Food Shape" would you recommend for pork belly? Chop? Seems to be the closest approximation. And measure the thickness of the belly. Right? I calculate 2:34 for my 60MM thick belly to reach doneness at the core @77C. But I will probably go longer to better convert more gel.

[KennethT]

The time to reach temp for pork belly is practically irrelevant since it needs much more time to get tender than it needs to come to temp/pasteurize.

[Tjex]

Well, too lazy to wait any longer for the Android version, so got the iOS version instead. GREAT app, thank you for all that great work.

Though has the developer abandoned this project? Would be great to have some times for veggies, etc.. And settings for the new machines such as the Anova.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Tjex (log)

[lesliec]

As a confirmed Android user I haven't seen SV Dash other than the odd screenshot, but my impression was it showed time to cook and/or pasteurise at a given temperature for different foods. Why does the type of equipment (eg Anova) matter?

[Chris Hennes]

Sous Vide Dash has a setting in it where you can specify the type of device you are using: according to the app's documentation, it affects how the app calculates how efficiently heat is transferred due to water circulation rate. In my experience the "generic circulator" setting works fine for the Anova, and probably for the whole generation of related circulators (Sansaire, etc.).

[Tjex]

Is it me or the temps for oily fish (ie: salmon) are way off compared to anything else out there (such as the modernist cuisine tables). Is this app abandonware, or will we have eventually the ability to set pre-set temperatures?

[nickrey]

My suspicion is that the temperatures were set conservatively to avoid being sued. If you are an advanced user, you can change the temperatures to whatever you want if you know what you want to achieve. Why would you abandon an app which tracks thermal conductivity and lets you know what is happening to your food?

[Tjex]

My suspicion is that the temperatures were set conservatively to avoid being sued. If you are an advanced user, you can change the temperatures to whatever you want if you know what you want to achieve. Why would you abandon an app which tracks thermal conductivity and lets you know what is happening to your food?

 

The ability to have presets would be really handy, saying this, I never said I would abandon the app, it's highly useful. Abandonware refers to software that is no longer supported by the developer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware).

[nickrey]

The ability to have presets would be really handy, saying this, I never said I would abandon the app, it's highly useful. Abandonware refers to software that is no longer supported by the developer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware).

My experience is with Microsoft who put out revisions that necessitate revisions to meet their updated standards which is a pain in the a.. It all depends on the author and the frustration level.  Maybe you should ask Vengroff if he's abandoning it.

[vengroff]

Hi All,

 

First, let me apologize for the lack of updates to the app. I'm truly sorry for that. My day job has kept me on the road so much of the last two years that I have not devoted adequate time to maintaining the app. So the abandonware label is not too far fetched.

 

Second, let me share a bit of hopefully good news. The app is in the process of being taken over by a new startup. I can't share too many details at this point, but I'm confident a new version 4.0 designed for more modern versions of iOS will be out in a matter of weeks. Longer range there will be more announcements that I think will interest SVD users as well.

 

Thanks for your ongoing support and suggestions.

[vengroff]

SVD 4.0 is now available on the App Store. This is mainly a cosmetic release for new iOS devices and new versions of iOS. It also adds support for some new sous-vide equipment.

We are considering going back to some of the older temperature labeling we had, e.g. medium rare beef is 54.4C, as opposed to the more conservative values presently in the app. This does not affect the thermodynamic simulation in any way. It only affects the values entered by the shortcut buttons.

Thanks again for you patience.

[gfweb]

How about android?

[mgaretz]

SVD 4.0 is now available on the App Store. This is mainly a cosmetic release for new iOS devices and new versions of iOS. It also adds support for some new sous-vide equipment.

We are considering going back to some of the older temperature labeling we had, e.g. medium rare beef is 54.4C, as opposed to the more conservative values presently in the app. This does not affect the thermodynamic simulation in any way. It only affects the values entered by the shortcut buttons.

Thanks again for you patience.

Why not make them programmable rather than fixed. It can start off with fixed values but let the user change the preset to reflect their own idea of what medium rare (for example) should be.

[vengroff]

Why not make them programmable rather than fixed. It can start off with fixed values but let the user change the preset to reflect their own idea of what medium rare (for example) should be.

That's a good question. The problem is that that's the kind of feature only a tiny fraction of uses of mobile apps tend to use. Often, their presence in the app then confuses the other 98% of users.

Back in the early days of SVD, we didn't give any advice on subjective descriptions like doneness. We just focused on temperature and writing code that could numerically solve partial differential equations in a second or two on a device that fits in your pocket. The result was an app that gave you access to millions of scenarios, where tables gave at most hundreds.

Having solved that problem, we were asked by users to give more advice on what temperature to choose. That's where the shortcut buttons on the temperature selection screens came from. Those tested extremely well across users, and have this been an integral part if the app for years now. We got some advice to be conservative with the numbers, which is where the values currently in the shortcuts came from. We're now wondering whether we should undo that change.

Personally, I have my favorite temperatures, like 54.4C for ribeye. I can always select that even if it's not one of the shortcuts.

I also personally like the idea of user-modifiable definitions for advanced users. But I struggle with the question of whether it will be worth it for the vast majority of users.

[nickrey]

New icon too, yellow background SVD, easy to spot.

[Tjex]

Horray! Welcome back, your app is the best I've found and used.

This might be a long shot, but any chance you can get SVD to work with the new Anova that is coming out?

[vengroff]

Horray! Welcome back, your app is the best I've found and used.

This might be a long shot, but any chance you can get SVD to work with the new Anova that is coming out?

 

We have the hacker version on pre-order, so we're going to give it a shot.

[Tjex]

We have the hacker version on pre-order, so we're going to give it a shot.

 

 

Good to hear! If you ever get your external thermometer (assuming that's what your facebook points to) and tie it in with the new Anova, you have over 10K new anova (as per their kickstarter) users that would jump all over it!

[TdeV]

I got the SousVideDash app working; it calculated 6 hours 20 minutes at 140 C.

 

I notice it has a place for "extra time for tenderness". Anyone know where I can find out what that means? (I mean other than "add 2 days for tough cuts"?)

[scubadoo97]

It's obviously where you set the extra time needed to break down collagen in a tough cut of meat but it would be good to have some more guidelines on low long to cook pork belly or short ribs as an example to get them tender at a given set temp

I usually search EG for this info