Sansaire heat exchanger experiences?

[cdh]

I've recently got myself a Sansaire sous vide widget, one of the new generation of lower priced precise temperature gadgets for cooking. It is essentially a PID controller attached to a heating element and a circulator. As it happens, the circulator's output allows for a 3/8" OD hose to be connected and it will push hot water through whatever is connected to it.

I'm looking at the idea of hooking up a copper wort chiller to the Sansaire and using that in a Igloo cooler mash tun for temp control and more precise mashing.

Was wondering if anybody here has already tried this and has any thoughts. Will report back with results.

In initial experiments with just two pots of water, it seems that thermometer in the primary water bath ends up about 15F above the temp that the heated vessel gets to. Will be interesting to see what effect adding an insulated environment and a heap of grain does to those results.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

You still have to recirculate in the mlt as well, but the idea should work.

How is it for sous vide? I'm thinking about getting one.

 

[cdh]

It's all I could ask for in a sous vide widget. Quiet, precise, easy to set the temp, fast to heat up a couple of gallons, and it stands on the countertop by the stove when it is not in use. It's main competition seems to be from the Anova folks. I've heard lots of happy people talking about the Anova product's performance. I still prefer the Sansaire for its heat exchanger extensibility, and for its design where it doesn't need to lay down in a drawer or such for storage, it just stands there.

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

I'm trying to decide if the ranco and crock pot method isn't good enough. Aside from being a pain to set up, I'm unsure if the better performance actually translates to the food. Could be a good experiment

 

[mcbar]

Bump!

I thought I was the first person to think of this - but of course I wasn't!

On a whim I used my friend's sansaire to get the water to temperature for a partial mash batch. Easy and very preceise - really nice for those of use using electric stoves.

It also makes a great steak if you're diligent about squeezing all the air out of the bag and sealing it tight.

I don't know that I'd pay $200 or whatever they're selling for just for heating your mash water, but if you like to eat perfectly cooked steak then it might be worth picking one up.