sous vide water circulator build and brewday use?

I would like to build a circulator with temp control for cheap. Any ideas? Also, could i use this in my brew day somehow (i.e. Mash, boil or post boil)?

Well, I do sousvide straight up in my RIMS mash tun. Is that the kind of thing you had in mind? It's just my pot, my march pump, and my RIMS tube.

If you're looking for something cheaper, you can always use an aquarium pump, though make sure it's good for the temperatures.

MalFet said:

Well, I do sousvide straight up in my RIMS mash tun. Is that the kind of thing you had in mind? It's just my pot, my march pump, and my RIMS tube.

If you're looking for something cheaper, you can always use an aquarium pump, though make sure it's good for the temperatures.

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Thanks. How much did it cost? I have found schematics for one that looks promising for about $75.

Another cheaper, easier (and probably less reliable) way I have done it is to actually sous vide in the spent grain. So if you mash out at 170F, by the time you get done the grain bed is around 150F, at least for me. Take a few room-temp steaks, place in Ziplock bags, push all the air out, add seasoning and bury them in the mash for a few hours (they will bring the temp down a few degrees, you are shooting for 130F), sear and then you have a nice meal by the time you knock out your beer and clean up.

Works well for me and fits my brewday schedule well.

It's my main brew rig, so it's hard to tally. Either $700 or $0, depending on what you want to count. I didn't buy anything specifically for this.

You say you're try build something that you can use for brewing. How do you mean? At simplest, you could just get a temp controller and crockpot. At more complex, you could set up a whole PID and mash recirculator.

Cheapest would be an stc-1000 controlled crock pot with a small pump or bubbler

I sous vide in my HLT, it's electric with a stir motor to move the water around.

I want to build a legit sous vide water circulator. to use with my shiny new cryo-vac machine (legal in my town). I also want to see if i can incorporate it into my brew day. It wouldnt be strong enough to mix my mash. It would be a machine to keep liquid temps within a deg and constantly moving. Poss creating a step between mash out and the boil. Would there be any benefit to keeping wort at a steady temp for a period of time before boiling? I can for see it opening up the poss of keeping my wort steady over night and boiling the next day. But what else? How would proteins and sugars react to such munipulation?