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Checking accuracy of an immersion circulator?

paulraphael

By paulraphael
in Kitchen Consumer

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paulraphael

paulraphael

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Any way to do this without a lab-grade thermometer?

 

I've been getting suspicious lately ... my medium-rare burgers look medium, and I've noticed in a few threads that my temperature recommendations are 1 or 2 degrees C lower than everyone else's (and it's not because I'm advocating for anything unusually bloody).

 

Today I tested my Anova One against a Taylor thermocouple thermometer and a Polder remote probe thermistor thermometer. These are both probably one or two orders of magnitude less precise than the Anova ... at least when the Anova's calibrated right. In my tests, the external thermometers mostly agreed with one another, and gave readings 1 to 1.5°C lower than the Anova.

 

Thoughts on what to do? I'd be tempted to send back to the factory, assuming their out-of-warranty repair charges are reasonable. But I have some big stuff I need to cook real soon.

Edited by Smithy
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Barrytm

Barrytm

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I think that an Anova post said that the most frequent cause that owners thought that the Anova was not calibrated correctly is that they did not allow enough time for the water to stabilize its temp .   I think there is a method to reset the temp readings on the Anova through the startup program for version one  https://support.anovaculinary.com/hc/en-us/articles/201704230-System-Calibration but not sure about version 2 http://community.anovaculinary.com/discussion/105/system-calibration-procedure-for-anova-precision-cooker, but I wouldn't mess with that if I was you.  If you prefer your burgers a little rarer, just subtract 1 to 1.5 C when you set your Anova.  I have had mine for quite some time and find that I often prefer a slightly different temp than I see in a guide. 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

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Any way to do this without a lab-grade thermometer?

 

A Geratherm basal thermometer, accurate to  ~0.00°F at 100°F.

I paid $13 for mine via eBay, shipping included.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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paulraphael

paulraphael

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I'm loving the price of the basal thermometer. The high accuracy digital ones are tempting, but the good ones cost more than the circulator itself ... seems a bit overboard.

 

Since the temperature range of the basal thermometer is so narrow, it forces one to assume any error from the circulator is linear. How safe an assumption is this?

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paulraphael

paulraphael

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Also ... I followed the instructions and allowed the Anova to stabilize for 15 minutes. Totally different story now.

 

My thermocouple now registered just 0.3°C lower, and my remote thermometer registered 0.5°C higher. 

 

Just did it at one temperature, but the results are way different from yesterday when I didn't wait to stabilize. The circulator may be fine. 

 

I'm still interested in the basal thermometer though, as insurance.

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pbear

pbear

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Since the temperature range of the basal thermometer is so narrow, it forces one to assume any error from the circulator is linear. How safe an assumption is this?

 

In the thread Martin links, Pedro mentions an article he wrote addressing this very question: Thermometer calibration.  If I'm reading correctly, he at one point observed a variance at cooking temp of 0.5ºC from straight line.  And that's just one test

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Shalmanese

Shalmanese

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The minimum the Anova can be set to is 5C and there's a weird bug (at least with mine) where the temperature display is inaccurate below 10C. Probably the easiest way to calibrate is with eggs. Egg chemistry is very sensitive to temperature and you can use reference charts available on the internet to check.

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PS: I am a guy.

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paulraphael

paulraphael

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based on that thread, I got a basal thermometer. It says my circulator's fine ... within 0.06°C at 30°C. 

 

The assumptions are that 1) the basal thermometer is accurate and 2) the circulator's calibration is linear. Without fancier tools I can't know, but this test is at least encouraging.

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paulraphael

paulraphael

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unless you are into ultra precise egg yolks, I can't see needing any more accuracy than what you have w the basal thermometer or a thermapen.

 

I'm not after ultra precision ... but had some experiences that had me wondering if it could be off by a degree or two. Which I don't want.

 

So now  I'm pretty sure it's accurate at one temperature, but no idea if it could have a non-linear error (or how likely a problem that is).

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