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Built structures · Incubators and warm holds

Sous-vide bath with an open-topped inner pot

circulator-jacketed pot · stirrable inner pot

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A small open metal pot held on a rack or bridge inside a circulator bath, so food can be stirred, added to or cut while bath water heats it from outside.

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Illustration of Sous-vide bath with an open-topped inner pot.

Overview

A small open pot is held on a rack or bridge inside a circulator bath, so the food can be stirred, added to or cut while the bath water heats it from outside. The food stays separate from the bath water, as the circulator makers require.

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How it works

Heat enters through the pot wall in proportion to the gap between the bath and the food. The open surface loses heat by evaporation and to the air, so the food settles below the bath temperature, and waiting does not close the gap once temperatures are steady.

A bath limited to 194 °F (90 °C) cannot bring an open pot of milk to 90 °C. The documented yogurt recipes for circulators and steam ovens heat their milk on a stove for this reason and use the appliance only for the low hold. A thin metal pot responds faster than a thick ceramic bowl.

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Documented use

Amazake: an open pot held at 50 to 60 °C and stirred. This mirrors Marukome's open-lid rice-cooker hold. The circulator version is an adaptation.

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Measuring

Probe the food at the pot's centre and compare it with the circulator display. Record the steady gap.

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Limits

This assembly is untested, and no temperature record of it was found. The food stays below the bath temperature, so high-temperature steps belong on a stove.

A floating or tipping pot changes depth and stability, so it needs a fixed support.

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History

The circulator and the open-pot assembly are proposed. No source shows this exact assembly, and the manufacturer's material covers water-only use and separation of food from the water.

Site

SettingA kitchen counter: a sous-vide circulator clamped to a tank of water, with a small open metal pot held above the bath water on a rack or bridge.
ClimateBath water at the circulator's set temperature. The open pot's surface loses heat to the air.
NotesNo source shows this exact assembly. The sources give no tank or pot dimensions.

A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.

How it is built

Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Water used in the circulator with food in it

The manufacturer says the immersion circulator is for water only, and food must be kept in a container separated from the water.

Hazard source

Keep the food in a container separated from the water, with the pot's rim above the bath water.

Control source

This is an untested, proposed assembly. Check the steady gap with a probe before using it for food.

Materials

  • 1 Immersion circulator — Clamped in the tank. The pump inlet and outlet stay clear.
  • 1 Tank or container of water — Lidded where possible.
  • 1 Small stainless pot — Open-topped. Held at a fixed height on a rack or bridge, with its rim above the bath water.
  • 1 Rack or bridge — Sets the pot at a fixed height, with water paths beneath and around it.
  • 1 Probe — In the food at the pot's centre.
  1. Clamp the circulator in the tank and set the target temperature.
  2. Set the small stainless pot on a rack or bridge at a fixed height, with water paths beneath and around it.
  3. Keep the pot's rim above the bath water, and the pump inlet and outlet clear.
  4. Put the probe in the food at the pot's centre, and compare it with the circulator display.
  5. Record the steady gap between the food and the bath.

Places

Documented for international use, with no single place of origin assigned.

Related

Used for

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