Chaffing Dish as vat-- would this brand work?

[Minamyna]

Hello Again--

I was reading DeejayDebbie's thread about her chafing dish and I saw this one: http://onesource-international.amazonwebstore.com/ELECTRIC-CHAFING-DISH-WATER-PAN-CATERING/M/B0017CYTC0.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle
online and I was wondering two things.

1) Do you think this would work?

2) Does the water go in with the electric part?

Thanks in Advance.....

[Cheese Head]

Your link is to the base which Deby has, I think she finds it is slow to heat large volumes of milk as only the bottom of the chaffing pan contacts the water.

[DeejayDebi]

Yes I beleive that is the one I have. Works great with a 6 inch hotel pan but when you go up to an 8 inch and ice cold milk it needs to have a water exchange several times to speed it up. There is a lot of pan exposed to the air. Once the milk hits 70 degrees it's easy to control.  I don't have time to let it sit out and come up to room temperature and no way to chill that much milk in the warmer weather so it's straight from the farm to the vat!

For the convience of the shape and volume I still think it's great. It's just gettting 7 gallons of that 40 degree milk up to temperature in a hurry that it needs help with (or I need patience). Not really much slower than my stove by itself but takes about an hour. It maintains temperatures perfectly, easy to bump up a fews degrees and great for cheddaring.

You may not be able to find an 8 inch hotel pan they seem to have disappeared. The 6 inch ony holds 4.5 gallons teh 8 inch holds 7 gallons.

The water goes in the black plastic thing and the silver part is the heater.

[Minamyna]

Cool- I am not yet ready for big batches, most of my batches are 1 gallon maybe 2, so this might be a really good set up for me.

[sominus]

That's what I said... "I probably won't ever make anything more than 2-3 gallons at a time...

I did 5 gallons last weekend -- my third successful cheese...  I'm wondering how I'm gonna get 10 gallons in a 5 gallon pan now.

[iratherfly]

I find that the temp control on this is so-so. Also when it takes too long to heat up milk you build acidity and other bacterial competition in it. I do find them however very good at the slow raising of temp when you do a cooked curd cheese

[Johanyrh]

I have been using one of these for the past year, it works well!
http://www.anvilworld.com/intl/products/Products.asp?type=WW&prod=44&ID=16
I can pasteurize 40 liters of milk for yoghurt at 85 Celsius.

[DeejayDebi]

I looked at that one but don't have access to 220 volts in my kitchen. If you have time to bring the milk up to room temperature the other once works fine. Or keep a teapot of hot water near the thing and add hot water to keep it hot for awhile.

We always seem to want to go bigger when it come to cheese. I am very happy at 7 gallons that gives me two nice sized wheels every other weekend.

[Johanyrh]

For 110 Volts this should work fine!
http://www.anvilworld.com/us/prods_step_2.asp?prodID=67&id=138

[DeejayDebi]

That'll work. Almost 3 times more than I paid for mine though. As I said wit the smaller 6 inch deep pan (about 5 gallons) there's no issues. This one is deeper though.

[Minamyna]

But do those really get things hot enough? and do you worry about the steam contaminating the cheese in any way?

[DeejayDebi]

Yes they get hot enough and it doesn't need to get hot enough to make steam. You don't boil the milk you just heat it. Now I wouldn't use it to make yogurt but then I never make more than two gallons of yogurt at a time.

[Minamyna]

right good point, i keep forgetting everything happens in cheese under boiling point!

[DeejayDebi]

Yes and if it's a meso cheese tap water is enough to cook the curds. I use the chaffer mostly to hold and slowly rais the temperatures. Especially hard here in the winter as my kitchen stays at about 60 degrees. I have been more than pleased with the setup but I wish they had bigger hotel pans. I think a 12 inche would be enought that should get me about 10 gallons for cheese with plenty of splash room. An 8 inch dish gets me 7 gallons and only 1/2 inch to spare.

BTW it will also hold a good bit of food for parties! I stuffed 12 sliced roast beefs in there one weekend and enough pasta and sauce another weekend to feed 60 people!