My single tier HERMS would be a perfect sous vide sytem, especially considering the circulation aspect of a true immersion circulator. I say go for it.
I did filets tonight this way. They were amazing, tender, and perfectly cooked all the way through. I seared them on a cast iron skillet after cooking. I forgot to take after pics.
Thank you maztec for the idea, I had not heard of this before.
Yeah, I've done this before as well. I thought I posted it somewhere on here, it was probably around a year ago. I don't have a HERMS (yet), I use my Ranco Temperature Controller connected to a small heatstick. I use an aquarium air pump to keep the water circulating. The steaks are delicious. I cook them at 130 for a few hours in the bath, then barely touch them to a rocket hot cast iron skillet to brown the outside which raises the temp another few degrees.
EDIT: Just wanted to throw it out there that you want to be really careful on the seasonings that go into the bag. They are way more powerful than they would be normally. Go light the first couple times.
Finished Steak: NY strip, done to 134˚ as they were not as fresh as the filets but even at that temp they were red, tender and flavorful. I dried them off and seasoned them before searing this time and used a hotter pan. Fantastic.
A recirculating mash system does, indeed, make a fine sous vide solution (with much greater capacity than domestic appliances in the $500 range).
You can also sear the steaks with a propane torch. I also use the torch on the outside of a standing rib roast before roasting in the oven (as per Thomas Keller's recipe in Ad Hoc at Home) and that is a fantastic technique as well.
Keller apparently does sous vide brisket at a fairly low temperature (lower than the 190 or so you would BBQ it to) and cooks it for like 30 or more hours and it breaks down all of the connective tissue but the meat is still pink, kinda freaky. Those are the applications of sous vide that intrigue me, things you just can not do any other way.
I can post the temp and time Keller uses for brisket if anyone is interested, just need to look it up.
Just a thought here ummm, mash temp is ~149ish.... You could just throw the vac-sealed meat in and mash away. When the beer is done so is dinner...... (ok you might need longer than a 30min rest but my current sched uses a 113, 129, and 149 rests for a total of 2.5hrs plus sparge time so....)
![[beer gone to cooking] Mash Tun gone Souse Vide ....](http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/iconimages/f51/beer-gone-cooking-mash-tun-gone-souse-vide_ltr.gif)
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