Sous Vide with your Brew Rig

[Mat]

Hey Guys,

Does anyone here use their brew rig to cook steaks and alike sous vide style?
I saw a video on youtube by Clawhammer brewing and it looks pretty interesting.

Figured a lot of us home brewers have the temperature control and vacuum sealers. Surely someone has had a crack.

I'm thinking about giving it a go next week, just wondering if anyone has any tips/tricks/recommendations or what have you.

Cheers.

 

[Mat]

If anyone's interested.

 

[Lowie]

You know what, that's a great idea mate. I bought myself a top end sous vide and the streak it produces is superb (I always wondered how Hogs breath did it). Problem with our brewerys (mine) I have to heat up a lot of water in the HLT to achieve the same effect.

 

[paulyg]

Yep, I have done it. It worked really well.

I used a 37-litre brew pot which I completely filled and heated on a standalone induction cooker to about 50 - 60 degrees (i can't remember exactly) I just used sandwich bags and pegged them to the side of the pot, the pressure of the water was enough to push out all the air.

I have since purchased one of the Anova sous vide cookers which is a bit easier to use.

 

[stevodevo]

Yep it works. I've done it in my Braumeister couple of times but it's a bit of a hassle dragging that out for a couple of steaks. As you say, a lot of us have the equipment to control water temp, so it was good to use the BM to try out Sous Vide without spending any more money, but like paulyg above, I bought an Anova and love it.

 

[altone]

Yes I've used the Guten to cook sous vide salmon a few times now.
I like it cooked at around 45C time varied from 30 min to 50 depending on size of fish.

 

[Mat]

Thanks for the replies guys. I like how it'll be a try before i buy deal as stevodevo said.
Anyone tried doing something pretty big like a leg of lamb or butt of beef?

 

[altone]

Thanks for the replies guys. I like how it'll be a try before i buy deal as stevodevo said.
Anyone tried doing something pretty big like a leg of lamb or butt of beef?

Not lamb or beef but did do a 2Kg boneless pork leg at 60c for 20 hours.
Turned out juicy and tender but not sure it was worth the effort.

I will be trying to do an Ox tongue via sous vide after initial brining but haven't as yet.

edit: by 'effort" I meant the wait.
Things that are awesome this way are salmon, chicken thigh and breast (can't dry out)
Beef cheeks - absolutely awesome.
Skirt steak - falls apart and has great flavour
Oh and barramundi.
I think that's all I've tried and thought was worthwhile oh except a sous vide egg but can't remember what temp/time. I was following a recipe.

 

[stevonz]

I have the Anova and use my 30l kettle with it. Pre cooked pulled pork and brisket before smoking. Amazing results. Only need a few hours on smoker

 

[Engibeer]

Not lamb or beef but did do a 2Kg boneless pork leg at 60c for 20 hours.
Turned out juicy and tender but not sure it was worth the effort.

I will be trying to do an Ox tongue via sous vide after initial brining but haven't as yet.

edit: by 'effort" I meant the wait.
Things that are awesome this way are salmon, chicken thigh and breast (can't dry out)
Beef cheeks - absolutely awesome.
Skirt steak - falls apart and has great flavour
Oh and barramundi.
I think that's all I've tried and thought was worthwhile oh except a sous vide egg but can't remember what temp/time. I was following a recipe.

Need to go a bit higher/longer for pork leg. I do pork neck/shoulder at 65C for 48hrs.

Eggs cold from the fridge are perfectly poached, in their shell, at 75C for 13mins. I've tried lower temps for longer but the whites don't congeal properly.

Lamb shanks are incredible, 65C 48 hrs.

Another INCREDIBLE cook is oxtail... think I did that at a slightly higher temp... maybe ~70c for 24...

The app you should get is Joule. It's made by ChefSteps, predominantly for their own sous vide probe, but it has awesome videos of the consistency of each item - e.g. being cut with a knife or pulled apart with a fork, for each time/temp combination that you can slide back and forth between and decide what texture looks most delicious to you.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I've done pork belly and blade steak (I think it was blade). .

Both were cooked at around low 60's for about 48 hours, then crackled up in a hot frying pan.

Incredibly tender.

 

[altone]

Need to go a bit higher/longer for pork leg. I do pork neck/shoulder at 65C for 48hrs.

Eggs cold from the fridge are perfectly poached, in their shell, at 75C for 13mins. I've tried lower temps for longer but the whites don't congeal properly.

Lamb shanks are incredible, 65C 48 hrs.

Another INCREDIBLE cook is oxtail... think I did that at a slightly higher temp... maybe ~70c for 24...

The app you should get is Joule. It's made by ChefSteps, predominantly for their own sous vide probe, but it has awesome videos of the consistency of each item - e.g. being cut with a knife or pulled apart with a fork, for each time/temp combination that you can slide back and forth between and decide what texture looks most delicious to you.

The leg was boneless so didn't want to go too far.
Damn Oxtail! I remember when the butcher would give you that for free not charge you like it was a delicacy
Only ever used it in soups and stocks tbh

 

[ShonkytonkBrewer]

Its been a few years since I had my "Steak Night" - which involves a bunch of us eating 1kg steaks.

I did 15 of them in my mash tun using my hex to circulate water and maintain temp.

Worked great - for memory I did them in the sous vide (mash tun) for about 4 hours at rare temp (cant remember what that was). Took them out of the bags. Patted dry - rubbed garlic butter on both sides. Then onto a really hot BBQ to char up some colour on the outside. A minute or two on both sides gets you a pretty perfectly mouth watering medium rare steak.

 

[peteru]

My biggest cook was a bit over 7kg of brisket in Grainfather for about 60 hours. It worked out better than I expected. Two years later and I'm still being encouraged to do it again.

 

[Ronwales]

My biggest cook was a bit over 7kg of brisket in Grainfather for about 60 hours. It worked out better than I expected. Two years later and I'm still being encouraged to do it again.

60hrs in the grainfather and than just seared?