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Anova Sous Vide Circulator (Part 1)

Beusho

By Beusho
in Kitchen Consumer

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EMG

EMG

Posted
Posted (edited)

I placed an order by phone yesterday morning. The estimated arrival time on the FedEx website is tomorrow! That's 2 day shipping to Canada. BTW, they only had the blue model available when I called. Black and red were back-ordered. Blue is the better model anyways :raz:

BTW, I think I read somehwere that they only ship twice a week. Not sure though.

Edited by EMG (log)
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goodgood

goodgood

Posted
Posted (edited)

I placed an order by phone yesterday morning. The estimated arrival time on the FedEx website is tomorrow! That's 2 day shipping to Canada. BTW, they only had the blue model available when I called. Black and red were back-ordered. Blue is the better model anyways :raz:

BTW, I think I read somehwere that they only ship twice a week. Not sure though.

You probably paid $75 for international shipping - that is FedEx 2-day.

Anova Jeff wrote somewhere in this thread that they used to assemble the Sous Vide only after they received an order (took one week) and shipped out twice a week. That is no longer the case.

I am surprised that the Black is back ordered. That was the only color available when I got my first one.

Yes, I cancelled my Sansaire order and got a second Anova.

I was doing eggs and thought that the timer was really useful and the Sansaire doesn't have one. I also like stainless steel more than plastic. I needed a second one because I was SV'ing a Porchetta (30 hours) and I wanted to have a steak in the meantime...Hopefully, that is it.

Edited by goodgood (log)
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lesliec

lesliec

Posted
Posted

Ooooooo maybe there will develop and 'aftermarket' for colored 'sleeves'

i doubt it. but ....

Yes! Somebody do it!!

I want a bright green one to match bits of my kitchen.

AnovaJeff - maybe you could do special green ones for 220v buyers.

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forums - lcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

eGullet Ethics Code signatory

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wangjt

wangjt

Posted
Posted

I sent mine in to get updated to v2. For those that did this, how long was your turnaround time?

Sent mine back on a Monday and had new unit by Friday. To and from Canada

Nice. That's fast. Do they send you a tracking number when they ship the v2's back to you?

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EMG

EMG

Posted
Posted (edited)

I received the Anova Circulator yesterday. Here are my first impressions:

Out of the box

Right out of the box I could feel that this unit is solid. The materials (plastic housing and Stainless steel skirt) feel like top quality gauge. The touch screen is quite responsive too. Nothing about the build of the unit made it feel flimsy. Excellent quality!

Some heat control tests

I mainly bought the Anova circulator for making cheese... Not sous-vide cooking! (I'll admit that I had my first sous-vide steak today and it was awesome). For cheese making, temp control is even more demanding than sous-vide cooking. Here's why ( and here's where you'll see how powerful the Anova unit is...): Typically, when making cheese, you need to raise the temp by 1C every 5 minutes for a period of about 40 minutes. The 1kw heater and the 12L/m empeller made this task quite easy for the first time in my 4 years of making cheese at home. On top of that, the raised temp is inside the cheese vat (where the milk is), not the water bath. So the Anova circulator raises the temp of an indirect liquid quite fast! I included a pic to show the water bath (plastic container) and the cheese vat (stainless pan) setup. So the Anova's 1kw and 12L/m combination are quite impressive for the temp control of an indirect liquid. Making cheese at home has never been this easy! I'm making some mozz next week and a 2lbs wheel of caerphilly (similar to an old cheddar) the week after.

My first sous-vide experience

Lets put it this way. After the meal, I immediatly threw out my George Foreman grill. Sous-vide all the way!

anova-cheese.jpg

Edited by EMG (log)
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Shalmanese

Shalmanese

Posted
Posted (edited)

I had a chance to test the Anova and Nomiku side by side yesterday:

* Nomiku oddly does not have an off switch, you turn it off by unplugging it which is annoying. Even more annoying, if the low water sensor trips, you have to unplug the device to reset it.

* Nomiku was much easier to attach/detach from a pot but much less securely attached. If you want your device permanently mounted, Anova is better, if you're attaching and detaching for every cook, Nomiku is better.

* Nomiku's circulation was noticably weaker than the Anova's which I actually like better since too strong a circulation causes more problems than it solves.

* Nomiku, out of the box, was 0.6F low. My Anova out of the box was 3F high, apparently due to a manufacturing mistake. In any case, it looks like calibration is recommended for any of these devices.

* Nomiku was noticably slower than the Anova to heat up a bath, despite both nominally having 1000W ratings. This is in line with another poster over in the Nomiku thread who seems to have measured 800W actual heating power.

* The Nomiku is much lighter and sleeker than the Anova, but has a breakout box.

* The Nomiku dial based UI for setting temperatures is much better than the touchscreen for the Anova but lacks features like timers.

* The Nokimu had a weird problem when attempting to cook some chicken at 61C where, after the food was dropped in, the temp dropped to 58C and then slowly climbed to 60.5C but never went above that.

* Overall, the lower power is annoying but nothing else was a deal breaker for either device which makes it hard to justify the $100+ premium of the Nomiku over the Anova.

Edited by Shalmanese (log)

PS: I am a guy.

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piyoman

piyoman

Posted
Posted

If you haven't followed the process to check the temperature as outlined in the Anova manual you may want to give that a try for both units.

• Cover your tank wait 15 minutes and recheck the temperature. Most of the read errors come from
evaporative loss or not waiting long enough for complete stabilization.
• It is not appropriate to use an analog thermometer period. Sous vide temperatures should not be
approximated
• Make sure you are accurately taking the temperature read – generally you want to put the thermometer tip
near the outflow of the circulator. If the thermometer is touching the cooking tank or not in the water you will
read an incorrect value and your adjustments will be incorrect.

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Beusho

Beusho

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

There is a post on here by Anova Jeff about how to calibrate the Anova, the first couple runs had the temp 3 degrees off, mine did initially then I followed his instructions to recalibrate it

“...no one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.”

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goodgood

goodgood

Posted
Posted

If you haven't followed the process to check the temperature as outlined in the Anova manual you may want to give that a try for both units.

• Cover your tank wait 15 minutes and recheck the temperature. Most of the read errors come from

evaporative loss or not waiting long enough for complete stabilization.

• It is not appropriate to use an analog thermometer period. Sous vide temperatures should not be

approximated

• Make sure you are accurately taking the temperature read – generally you want to put the thermometer tip

near the outflow of the circulator. If the thermometer is touching the cooking tank or not in the water you will

read an incorrect value and your adjustments will be incorrect.

Did that for both units multiple times before I posted, thank you very much. Why, do you own one and is yours off?

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goodgood

goodgood

Posted
Posted

My guess is no. When it doesn't even have a switch to turn off, doesn't have a timer and is underpowered, The touch screen on the Anova is another reason why I bought it. You can do a lot more with a screen. If you put a lid on as one usually does to prevent evaporation and heat loss, the screen is not exposed at all to moisture or heat and should last a long time. You also know which version of the firmware is running.

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Robenco15

Robenco15

Posted
Posted

Weird thing just happened with the Anova unit. Nothing bad, but weird. I turned it on and at the same time I was wiping water off of the touch screen with a paper towel. A white screen "rolled" down and there was a dot in the upper right corner. I went to touch the dot and then a little bit after I touched it the dot moved to the lower right. It eventually went all the way around. I couldn't get out of the screen so I just turned it off and turned it back on and it was all good. I did the paper towel thing again because I was curious and sure enough if happened again. Weird...but all good now.

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ojisan

ojisan

Posted
Posted

Weird thing just happened with the Anova unit. Nothing bad, but weird. I turned it on and at the same time I was wiping water off of the touch screen with a paper towel. A white screen "rolled" down and there was a dot in the upper right corner. I went to touch the dot and then a little bit after I touched it the dot moved to the lower right. It eventually went all the way around. I couldn't get out of the screen so I just turned it off and turned it back on and it was all good. I did the paper towel thing again because I was curious and sure enough if happened again. Weird...but all good now.

I believe the Anova touch screens are made from recycled Pacman Game Boys.

Monterey Bay area

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