Anova Sous Vide Circulator (Part 2)

[nickrey]

Just bought one. It's my fifth sous vide machine so far. Great for quick cooks and the circulation is strong. I prefer my vac-star sous vide chef II for longer cooks and larger volumes of water but would totally recommend it to someone as a starter unit.

[ChrisZ]

Just bought one. It's my fifth sous vide machine so far. Great for quick cooks and the circulation is strong. I prefer my vac-star sous vide chef II for longer cooks and larger volumes of water but would totally recommend it to someone as a starter unit.

 

I've had mine for a few weeks and really like it.  I'm cooking things sous vide that I wouldn't have bothered with previously, because of the hassle of setting up the rice cooker rig.  Now I have no hesitation.

 

Just wondering what sort of tubs you're using Nick?  Currently I'm using our largest pot (dutch oven) because it's the only thing I have big enough to hold the Anova.  I've started shopping around for a cooler / esky as the many posts here suggest that something insulated is the way to go.  Haven't found anything just the right size yet, that also looks OK sitting on the kitchen bench.  I'm thinking that if you've got 5 sous vide machines then you must have tried a fair few tubs as well...

[nickrey]

For smaller and faster cooks I just use a deep pan - the bottom part of my pressure cooker is ideal.

 

For longer and larger cooks I use a 25 liter food safe container that is temperature rated from -40C to +100C. I use the lid with a cutout for the circulator.

 

 

 

[Dropnbassonu]

So I'm going to buy an Anova but before I do I had some questions for you seasoned veterans. I called the company and they mentioned they might be working on an updated version, but it wouldn't be out for several months. Is there anything you wish the current one had or known problems or issues that could be improved upon with a new version? I read Jeff's question inquiring about led vs lcd, so I'm sure that might be on the table for an upcoming one. I don't HAVE to have one, but I really WANT one. Not sure if I should wait for version 2 or go ahead and satisfy the itch and buy one now.

[paulraphael]

I had the same questions, and even tried to pry answers out of Anova. No luck with that. I just went ahead and bought the thing, and don't have any regrets. The improvements I'd like to see are all firmware based, and are all minor. And Anova has so far been helpful about updating people's firmware, if you're ok with sending the thing on a round trip to Texas. 

[ChrisZ]

So I'm going to buy an Anova but before I do I had some questions for you seasoned veterans. I called the company and they mentioned they might be working on an updated version, but it wouldn't be out for several months. Is there anything you wish the current one had or known problems or issues that could be improved upon with a new version? I read Jeff's question inquiring about led vs lcd, so I'm sure that might be on the table for an upcoming one. I don't HAVE to have one, but I really WANT one. Not sure if I should wait for version 2 or go ahead and satisfy the itch and buy one now.

 

Well a few weeks ago I wondered the same thing.  I did look through the rumours and I think some of them suggested the new version would be a "pro" - which may mean a higher price.  But you're always guessing with rumours.  

So I bought the current model and am very happy with it.  It is so much better than using a rice cooker rig.  I have no concerns at all about new features, I'm really only interested in price.  A new model with more features wouldn't bother me in the slightest.  Reducing the price of the current model would be more frustrating if it happened today, but I'd even forgive that in a few months time.

[lesliec]

Read further back in this topic, Dropnbassonu.  In this post Jeff from Anova asked us what we'd like to see.  So we told him   

 

But the existing version is great.  Don't wait.

[Dropnbassonu]

Read further back in this topic, Dropnbassonu.  In this post Jeff from Anova asked us what we'd like to see.  So we told him   

 

But the existing version is great.  Don't wait.

 

Thanks, I remembered most of the comments, but a few that stood out to me aren't really dealbreakers at this point.  To heck with it, I'm joining the team!

[Chris Hennes]

NOTE: the discussion of the new Anova Precision Cooker and its associated Kickstarter campaign can be found in this topic.

[Adam George]

 

Btw, I couldn't get a peep out of anyone at Anova about new product plans. The people at Studiokitchen are using something that may be a prototype ... it looks like Anova's $900 lab circulator model but with a polished metal finish.

 

Can you link to this?  They haven't posted a new blog in months.

[paulraphael]

My Anova went a little weird on me last night.

 

I was cooking in a cooler at 59°C. I stopped it at one point to change the temp to 58. It had been rock steady at 59, but I looked up and

 noticed it was dipping to 57.9. Then 57.8. When it got down to 57.6, I realized it just wasn't heating at all, even though the circulator was on, and the screen showed everything running.

 

I restarted it, and it almost immediately came up to 58 and stabilized. No issues for the last 2 hours of my cooking.

 

So ... it seems to have crashed when I paused it to reset the temperature. Has anyone else experienced this?

[paulraphael]

I wrote to Anova about this ... they said it's normal behavior. When you adjust the temperature downward, it modulates (or "reloads" as their rep said) by dropping the temperature down and then bringing it back up after a few minutes. He said "it's complicated," (transation: "I don't want to try to describe PID algorithms to clods like you") but basically it's a way to re-stabilize without risking the temperature going too high.

[Chris Hennes]

Interesting to me that they say it's normal: after you mentioned it I paid more attention to my temperatures last night. I was cooking chicken breast in an overheated bath, 64°C, which I then dropped to the target 60°C core temp to pasteurize. It only went down to 59.8°C before rebounding in just a few seconds. I was not using an insulated bath, and it was pretty small, so maybe that accounts for it?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I used to do temperature control algorithms for a living a long, long time ago but I don't claim any special twenty first century knowledge of such things.

 

What I did notice is that last time I used it for some chicken breasts a couple of nights ago my Anova overshot by a tenth of a degree.

[lesliec]

Maybe the Anova gets confused sometimes - as do we all.

I did a lamb rack tonight, starting at 62 then dropping to 58 (because I got confused). Didn't notice any problems, and the lamb was great as always.

[paulraphael]

It seems I only noticed a problem because I happened to look at the screen during the couple of minutes it was adjusting.

I haven't tried duplicating the circumstances.

[pbear]

Houston, we have a problem ...

 

Have had my Anova for a few months and been happy with it, but don't use it often as I mostly do long cooks and prefer my other rigs for those.  Recently, though, I decided to try low temp beans and for that used the Anova.  First round, about a week ago went fine.  Second round, today, I'm getting a whirring sound, like the propeller is hitting the skirt.  After trying various things, the only one that worked was to remove the bottom.  But this was odd as the propeller isn't touching it when at rest.  Turns out, the shaft is pulling out when under load.  Doing it manually, I get about 2 mm play.

 

So, I'm curious whether others have play in the propeller shaft of their Anovas. 

 

By the way, no, I didn't do anything to the darned thing.  No oopsies.  Didn't even have the skirt off between the two rounds.

But I'm not asking anyone to figure out how it happened.  Just trying to figure out what.

[Tjex]

Send it back, that's surely not supposed to happen! Your unit is still under warranty (1 year). 

[pbear]

Well, yes, obviously I can do that.  And will.  But please confirm that you don't get any play when you pull on the propeller shaft.

[nickrey]

Yes it does have around 2-3 mm give.

[spulling]

I found this forum as a result of searching for best battery backup methods for my Anova sous-vide.  I scanned some of the topics, and I think I will be very happy in this forum community.

 

Our lightning season is here, and the power will be fluctuating.  Not all devices work well with an uninterruptible power supply (our copy machine draws too much power and won't work on a UPS).   I will be interested to learn if others have had success with a UPS unit powering a sous-vide during power outages.      

[dcarch]

No battery can power a 1000 watt heater in a sous vide circulator for too long. 

 

dcarch

[scubadoo97]

I use a UPS when doing longer cooks. Here in Tampa Bay we don't get prolonged outages very often but during lighting storms a brief flicker is enough to shut down the Anova and have me resetting the digital clocks on the ovens. The UPS also has surge protection

[dcarch]

I use a UPS when doing longer cooks. Here in Tampa Bay we don't get prolonged outages very often but during lighting storms a brief flicker is enough to shut down the Anova and have me resetting the digital clocks on the ovens. The UPS also has surge protection

 

For that may be you don't need a UPS system, just a very good surge protector. UPS is for power outages and only has enough power to allow you time to properly shut down your computer system. 

 

A UPS can be big and heavy. A good surge protector is not cheap but smaller.

 

dcarch

[scubadoo97]

The UPS battery will not last more than a couple of hours but that will keep the unit running during a brief outage. Since we know the Anova does not restart on its own and will lose all programmed data this is a safeguard to keep it running. A surge protector will not do that. We sometimes get very brief outages like for a few seconds.