Been doing some hardware hacking…

Sous-Vide Temperature Controller, originally uploaded by Jake Spurlock.

One of the fun things about working at MAKE is having access to some fun tools like laser cutters…

I have wanted a Sous-Vide supreme for a long time, but the $400 price tag has kept it out of the kitchen. Using a few common parts from around the house, and a few from Home Depot, I built a controller that works just as well, and only costs around $35. For the uninitiated, sous-vide cooking, translated is “under vacuum”. Your food is placed in a vacuum sealed bag, and then cooked at a specific temperature. For a perfect medium rare, that temperature is around 130° f. So, what I built here uses a pid temperature controller regulate the power to whatever is plugged into it. In my use case, I have it hooked up to a crock pot, with the thermometer in the water. When the sensor notices a drop in the temperature, it turns the crock pot on, and turns it off again before it gets to hot.

First experiment was eggs, and they were delicious, can’t wait to try the steaks tomorrow night.

If you want to build one, (and hey who doesn’t!) you can get all of the details here. Probably the only difference between my project, and the one that Sean did was he used a saw/drilling to cut the holes out, and I used the laser cutter at work. (Seriously, I need one of these at home…)

Water Bath Thermostat