A few years back, I made cheese several times using a 6 inch deep steam pan in the Avantco food warmer. I had trouble adjusting to the retained heat in the electric coil and the water bath. I suppose it is a bit like using a double boiler on an electric stove!
Since giving up on that, I have been using the steam pan itself over direct heat. The pan resting on two gas burners, with cast iron diffusers to spread out the heat. I have made many successful and yummy batches of cheese this way. The down side is that there must be constant stirring up from the bottom to distribute the heat being generated there while cooking. This is not necessarily a problem. Really the only downside is that I tie up two burners, and I tend to make a mess in the kitchen! I would like to try and take the process into the garage!!
Thinking of alternatives, my brother just switched out the knob controller on the Avantco with a digital temperature controller. I rather like having a number to help with the calibration. I made a tomme this week using the device, and it worked fairly well. However, the leftover heat in the water, and the leftover heat in the coils, means that the temperature will rise about 15 degrees higher than my target milk temp - again making me nervous about overshooting the target.
Since then, my latest testing trial was to use only about 1/2 inch of water in the food warmer, with 2 small dishes inverted there. I put the temperature probe on the top of the dish, and rested the steam pan on the 2 inverted dishes. This means the lip of the steam pan is perhaps 1/2 inch above the food warmer, so I can lift it out if needed. My thought on using only a small amount of water was to make for less retained heat. And the temperature probe is now telling me the temperature at the bottom of the pan. The temperature at the probe still will rise about 5 degrees warmer than the requested temperature (eg 105 when 100 is the set point). I think this will work...
Is anyone out there successfully using this format? If so, where are you placing the temp probe and how much water bath are you using in the warmer?
I do have the sous vide already, and may end up going that route, but that means finding a container that will hold my 6 inch full size steam pan with room for the sous vide as well!! I felt like I needed to try again with what I already have!
