How to Build Your Own Sous Vide Machine

From Ohmypuddin.wordpress.com
Read all of my sous vide posts

Editor’s Note: This is the beginning in a series of posts that my husband wrote about building our sous vide machine. It
took 4 tries to get it right. He used some blog posts, an article in MAKE magazine, and bevy of engineers to get this
done. He’s culled down everything he learned and added some great additions to things he’s seen to create what will
(hopefully) be the ultimate sous vide machine. (Read about the benefits and purpose of sous vide.)

Now, before I let John take over, you should know that this is technical stuff. Super technical. Involves splicing wires,
and bending metal, and purchasing electrical equipment. Using a heat gun. That sort of thing. Our office was covered in
plastic and metal shavings for awhile.

If you’d rather not read this, that’s cool. This is going to be a multiple part series. This post is about where John got his
instructions and how he deviated. He also includes a helpful tip on how to NOT burn your house down (useful!), what
parts he used and where he got those parts.

So what I’m saying is, this series will be awesome if you want to build a sous vide machine or are a big fan of John
(who isn’t?). But if that’s not your thing, hang tight. We’ve got more recipes and stories about dogs coming up too.

Homemade Immersion Circulator: Version 4

I modeled my immersion circulator after
Seattlefoodgeek’s blog post:
http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-
heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/

First off, don’t be sucked in by the $75 price tag. You

should make this for the pleasure of making
something useful. If you’re lucky enough to have all
the tools you need, which is a big if, then the first one
might cost you around $75. But, after your house.

A Word of Caution: when you finish your

immersion circulator (and let’s face it with awesome
directions like these, how couldn’t you?) always
make sure that your water is up to temperature and
holding constant before you walk away from it. Some
sous vide recipes can call for meat to be cooked upwards of 2-3 days, so there will definitely come a time when you
need to leave it alone.

For those times, clear everything out of the way, make sure your circulator is on a GFI outlet, covered, and holding a
constant temperature before you leave or heaven forbid fall asleep in what would sure to be a blazing inferno later.
When dealing with these cheap PIDs, some of them have a tendency to overshoot their temperatures. If this happens
over time all your water can boil away, and if you’re lucky all that happens is that your circulator will melt down and
your heating element will burn out. If you’re unlucky, poof! Your house is on fire.
Now on to the good stuff. I’m not going to do a full set of directions here, as Scott’s blog post does a good job, and if
you pick up Make Magazine, they have a more detailed set of instructions in the latest edition based on the same blog.
Instead, I’m going to focus on the places where my design diverges from the Scott’s version as well as some clarifying
points in the blog instructions that I found confusing. I recommend reading the original instructions all the way through
and then reading my revisions so that you have a complete picture before you start construction.

There are four main areas where I diverged from Scott’s design:

1. The heating element selected (this leads to the construction of a heating element mounting assembly – heat +
plastic = goo)
2. The relay selection and heat sink (see notes on Solid State Relays + 13 amp load = one hot son-of-a-bitch)
3. The addition of a safety float switch
4. Aluminum U clamp instead of acrylic

Parts List
4 x Nylon hex bolts http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100338536/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
¼’’ - 2’’ langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
12 x matching nylon http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100337899/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
bolts ¼’’ langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
4 x matching nylon http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202210245/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
washers ¼’’ langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
4 x rubber grommets should be able to find at home depot
¼’’
3’’x3’’ square of At home depot, comes in much bigger sheets, you’ll need to cut it down
sheet aluminum
1500 watt 120v water You can find this at home depot in the water heater section. It will look like this
heater element http://www.amazon.com/Water-Heater-Element-1500w-
Screw/dp/B000LE89H6/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_2
25A SSR http://www.auberins.com/index.php?
main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=9
25A SSR Heat Sink http://www.auberins.com/index.php?
main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=45
PID Temperature http://www.auberins.com/index.php?
Controller with SSR main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3
output
Thermocouple I’m using a PT100, but any thermocouple supported by your PID will work. The auber
instruments PID above comes preset to work with a K type thermocouple. You want the
probe to be at least 4 inches long, and preferably 6 inches. This one would be a good
choice:
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?
main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=27
Aquarium pump http://www.amazon.com/Hydor-Evolution-All-Purpose-Aquariums-
(Pico Evolution 400) Terrariums/dp/B001AVL8LI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-
garden&qid=1299355380&sr=8-1
On/Off Switch Just needs to be rated at something higher than 13amps:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?
productId=2062531&filterName=Type&filterValue=DPDT
Power Cord (6’ long) Make sure it’s rated for over 13amps. You can find them at home depot.
Flat Bar Aluminum http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202183522/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
2’’ Wide langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Self-Adhesive http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OTNGPQ
Rubber Bumpers
2x Nylon bolts 1 inch Home depot or Lowes
x ¼’’ with matching
washers and nuts
Clear acrylic case I used this one from target. In the store they sell them individually. You want the middle
4’’x4’’x7’’ sized one:
 http://www.target.com/Room-Essentials-3-pc-Canister-
Set/dp/B003YEYGRW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&keywords=room
%20essentials%20canister&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-
2&qid=1299356308&rh=&searchRank=target104545&id=Room%20Essentials
%203-pc%20Canister%20Set&node=1038576|
1287991011&searchSize=30&searchPage=1&searchNodeID=1038576|
1287991011&searchBinNameList=subjectbin,price,target_com_primary_color-
bin,target_com_size-bin,target_com_brand-bin&frombrowse=0
2x Nylon bolts 1/8’’ x Home Depot or Lowes
½’’ with washers and
nuts
1/8’’ x 2’’ brass pipe http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100616569/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
nipple langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
1/8 In. Brass FIP http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100616545/h_d2/ProductDisplay?
Coupling langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
1/8’’ Flowline Float http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00481QECU
Level Switch
Plastic Epoxy For gluing the aquarium pump and the J-clamp
Hot Glue For gluing the power cord and a few other places
Silicone Caulk For sealing the holes on the bottom of the enclosure
16 gauge wire Several feet for all the internal wiring.
Polycarb Food Pan http://www.amazon.com/Excellante-Full-Size-8-Inch-
and Lid Polycarbonate/dp/B003QMLUWQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-
garden&qid=1300759259&sr=8-2
http://www.amazon.com/Excellante-Full-Solid-Cover-
Polycarbonate/dp/B003QMLVLQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-
garden&qid=1300759437&sr=8-2

Heating Element Selection and Assembly

Instead of the three immersion heaters that Scott linked in parallel, I chose to
use a 1500 watt 120v water heater element. This part will set you back less
than $10 at a Home Depot or a Lowes. I know because I bought one at each
throughout the course of this adventure. The one at Lowes is about an inch
longer, but other than that, they’re pretty much the same.

I wanted more power than what was offered by the coffee cup heaters, and I
thought that because the element was threaded I could just screw it into the
bottom of my enclosure. The heating element selection turned out to be the
direct cause of the failures of both versions 1 and 2.

In version 1 I did as I had planned and screwed the heating element into the
bottom of the acrylic enclosure. As I was testing the machine for the first time,
the PID was controlling the element, and the water was heating, but I hadn’t
had the machine on for very long before I smelled melting plastic. I shut the
machine off before there was any damage, but I knew at that point, that I
needed something to mount the element on besides the plastic.

It was back to the hardware store to find some way that I could mount the
element without it touching plastic. At the hardware store I happened upon a
steel floor flange. The flange had a center hole that was threaded for a 1″ pipe.
It also had four bolt holes spaced around the edge. I thought that this would be just what I needed. So in version 2,
instead of mounting the heating element directly against the plastic, I mounted the flange up on rubber grommets
within the enclosure, and then threaded the element into the flange. This left the element so that only about half the
element was submerged in water once the water was filled and the circulator was mounted over the water.

Version 2 was a disaster. In the next test, I left the machine on long enough for the water to come up to 130
(Fahrenheit…come on this is America people) and hold temperature. At first, it seemed like everything was working,
but then I realized that the flange was melting through the bottom of the enclosure. By the time I noticed and shut the
machine off, not only had it melted partially through the bottom, but it had turned the inside of the enclosure into an
oven, partially melting some of my other components. The heating element itself was actually beginning to melt at the
top as it entered the first stage of burning out. I learned two lessons out of this:

 Lesson 1: Water heater elements must be submerged almost entirely when in use. Anything less and you’re
flirting with a meltdown.
 Lesson 2: Never ever put a heat sink (e.g. steel floor flange) inside an airtight plastic case. Man and I even had
a class on thermodynamics in college – you would think I would know better. To be fair to my thermodynamics
teacher, I did sleep a lot in that class.

This led me to the third and final version of the heating element mounting assembly (yes, I know there’s a version 4 of
the circulator, but it’s still using the same heating element mounting assembly from version 3, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it). In version 3, I bought a sheet of aluminum from the hardware store and 4 2 inch long nylon bolts with 3 times as
many matching nuts and a set of nylon washers. I also reused the rubber grommets that I purchased for version 2.
Following are the instructions to make the mounting assembly for the heating element:

1. On the sheet aluminum using a carpenter’s square, draw a 3’’ x 3’’ square.
2. In the center of the square draw a 1 inch circle.
3. Evenly spaced on the four corners of the square make marks for 4 bolt holes spaced far enough from the edge
that the holes can be drilled safely. What you end up with should be a square of aluminum that looks something
like this…only bigger.

4. Once you have the design traced into the aluminum you’ll need to cut it out. I used a Dremel and with a circle
cutting attachment for the one inch hole. For the bolt holes you should just be able to use the normal metal
cutting bit and eyeball it.
5. With your square cut out, attach your rubber grommets to the bolt holes. If you cut your holes correctly you
should be able to pinch and slide them into place.
6. Slide the four nylon bolts through the grommets and tighten one nylon nut onto each bolt all the way until the
nut and bolt head are snug against the rubber grommet. You should end up with something like a tiny table with
a huge hole in the top.
 7. Next, thread your heating element into your assembly. The heating element should be coming out opposite the
side that the bolts are facing. Back to the table metaphor, the heating element should be coming out of your
table top like a giant center piece.

8. That’s it. Your heating element assembly is complete. On your enclosure, you’ll need to cut four corresponding
bolt holes to mount the assembly with one small center hole to thread wires to power the element. These 4 bolt
holes and one center hole will take the place of the three holes that are cut for the immersion heaters in Scott’s
original design.
 

Relays
This is one of the parts of the blog instructions that I found confusing. In his blog post, Scott talks about making sure
your PID controller has a Solid State Relay (SSR) output, but in his parts list he has you buy a regular mechanical
relay. The difference is that an SSR uses a transistor to turn on and off current through your contacts, while a
mechanical relay uses an inductor and a magnet to essentially flip a tiny switch inside the relay to complete the circuit.

Typically an SSR will last longer than a mechanically relay as there are no moving
parts. Also, using a 1500 watt heating element you’re drawing roughly 13 amps
through the circuit. This means that your relay needs to support a 13 amp load and
depending on your PID, the control voltage to operate the relay needs to be around 5
volts (the first PID controller I got had 6 volts across the outputs). It’s hard, but not
impossible, to find a mechanically relay that lives up to these specs. On the other hand,
it’s relatively easy to find an SSR that does. Another nice thing about going with the
SSR is that it eliminates the need for any soldering in this project.

The downside of SSRs is that unlike a mechanical relay, they generate heat when in
use. The more current on the load, the more heat they generate. The good news is that
the site I used to buy my SSR also sells a matching heat sink that can be attached using
thermal grease (I used some arctic silver I had left over from mounting a processor
heat sink) to the back of the SSR. The bad thing about the combined heat sink SSR
combo is that together they barely
fit into the acrylic enclosure. What I
ended up doing was mounting them
last. Once they’re in, it’s really impossible to work inside the case
without removing it.

To mount the SSR heat sink combo, I drilled two small holes in the
side of the enclosure as far towards the back as was possible with the
SSR and heat sink still inside the enclosure. I used small nylon bolts
and nuts with a nylon washer between the sink and the enclosure to
avoid transferring heat from the hot sink to the plastic of the case. To
let the heat from the sink dissipate, I cut three small slits in the top of
the enclosure directly above the heat sink.

Safety Float Switch

I considered version three of my immersion circulator a success, I had used it sous vide several meals. One morning
before work we turned it on for meal that night, and left before the water had come up to temperature. When we got
home that night we found a hot mess. I don’t know for sure what happened, but I suspect that the PID overshot its
temperature and boiled away most of the water to the point where the heating element burnt out. By that time the entire
plastic enclosure was melted including the SSR and the PID. At this point I didn’t have a heat sink on my SSR, so it’s
possible that the heat from the SSR is what melted the components within the enclosure.

After this I learned to make sure that my water bath is holding a temperature before I leave. Once it’s holding a
temperature it’s relatively safe to leave. The heating element is only coming on for short bursts and the PID shouldn’t
have a problem. However, the fact that we weren’t home when this happened scared the bejeezus out of me. So I
decided to add a failsafe into version four. That’s where the float switch comes in.

If the water starts to boil away, before it drops to a dangerously low level, the float switch will cutoff power to the
heating element, stopping the chain reaction before the element burns out or my house burns down.

Following are the instructions for mounting the float switch and wiring it up:

1. Screw one end of the brass pipe into the brass coupling, the screw the float switch into the other end of the brass
coupling.
2. Drill a hole into the bottom of your enclosure (I drilled my hole between the clamp and the heating element, just
make sure it’s out of the way of the pump); make sure that you start small and work up to the size of the brass
pipe.
3. Screw the brass pipe, into the bottom of the enclosure. (If the hole is to large, you may need to use plastic epoxy
to hold the pipe in place.

4. Once the switch is mounted, you should wire it in line between your PID SSR output and your SSR. The wiring
on the switch is too small to handle the current that will be drawn through the heating element. The current
through the control path is much smaller on the other hand and the net effect is the same. When the float is
down, the relay will not be powered and the heating element will not be on.

Aluminum U-Clamp
With version 4 of immersion circulator, I was finding that the acrylic U clamp was
starting to bend under the weight of the device in combination to being submerged in
hot water. I needed an alternative that could support more weight and not become
malleable in hot water.

I went to the store and bought a piece of flat bar aluminum that was two inches wide.
The nice thing about the aluminum U clamp is that it doesn’t require a bolt to keep it
in place. The weight of the device, along with the rubber bumpers keeps it in place.

Following are the instructions to build and mount the Aluminum U clamp:

1. Start by bending one end of the aluminum bar into the shape of a U. You’ll
want the end that’s going to stick down in the water to be about 7 inches long.
The other end of the U should be about 5 inches long. If you have a vice and
something to give you enough torque to bend the aluminum, you can cut the
aluminum into a 13’’ piece before you start bending. Since I didn’t have that I
used my foot, and length of the bar to bend it. If you don’t have the right tools,
I recommend bending the aluminum into shape before cutting it down.
2. Once you have the aluminum cut and shaped into a U, you’ll need to drill 2 holes into the bend of the U so that
you can mount the U bend onto your enclosure. You’ll also need to drill two matching holes into the bottom of
the enclosure.
3. Attach 2 rubber bumpers to the bottom of the U bend on the side that sticks into the water facing in towards the
container wall. These will keep your mount from slipping back and forth on whatever container you mount it
on.
4. As you mount your enclosure onto the U clamp, you’ll need to play with the U clamp a bit to get it just right so
that the enclosure ends up parallel to your cooking surface and not cocked either up or down at a funny angle.
 The aluminum should be flexible enough still to bend it into a proper shape. Be sure to take the aluminum off of
the enclosure when you’re adjusting the bend, as you risk cracking the case if you try to bend it while attached.
5. Once you have the perfect bend, use two nylon bolts to fasten it in place on the enclosure.

I used epoxy to mount my aquarium pump to the aluminum U clamp, and it seemed to work out fine. I sanded down the
back of the pump to make it smooth and I roughed up the aluminum a bit to give the epoxy more grip.

That’s it. Thanks Seattlefoodgeek for posting your instructions. This has been a fun project to work on. Happy sous
viding!