I have to give credit to my wife for thinking of this. Wanted something cheap but effective. but also wanted something reasonable sized as my ANOVA can't handle more than 5 gallon of water to heat up (or so it says). I could use my stove for temp control as I recently renovated the kitchen and now have a gas stove (made a 6 gallon parmesan make on the stove top and temp control was fine - more on that in another post) but also love the idea of trying the sous vide for possibly better temp control.
The attached pic shows a 5 gallon pot.
The white container is a bus pan/dish pan that I got at a restaurant supply store for $6.
The amount of milk in the pot was 3 gallons. The amount of water in the water bath was approx 3 gallons. This mesophilic (gouda) make went fine hitting all temp points at appropriate time points. The ANOVA in the pic was set at 100 during the milk warming phase - once the milk hit 80, I turned the water bath down to 92...
The sous vide probably makes me slow down a little bit as I know in the past I would tend to overshoot my temps by a few degrees and then have to move the pot off the stovetop (pain in the butt). Anyhoo - bottom line is that it worked well. I'm not sure if it would be the best for a 4 gallon make or a making a cheese using a thermophilic culture as I still worry if the water bath get my milk to a higher temp. I think it will, but there's only one way to find out - make more cheese!
Trent
DrChile,
Lots of folks on the forum - at least in past years - have used sous vide setups. Most of them seemed to be using rectangular pans rather than round pots for the milk, but otherwise similar. If you do some searching, you may find some good information on where people ran into limits with a sous vide approach.
Meanwhile, quick question - is that pot aluminum? If so, you may want to consider changing to a stainless steel pot. Since the curds and whey become acidic in the process of making cheese, it can leach some "metal flavor" from aluminum pots into the cheese. Recently someone on the forum suggested that there is a genetic marker that makes some people sensitive to the flavor, and others not - I am in the former category, but even if I were not, I think I'd rather not have aluminum in my cheese. :)
I have tried many ways of heating my curds and whey, mostly using a 6 inch deep full size rectangular steam pan - max capacity almost 5 gallons.
Direct heat stove top with cast iron diffusers
Bain Marie device fitted with temperature controller, using about 1.25 gallons of water
Anova in large plastic tub holding about 2 gallons of water with the steam pan resting inside on a wire rack
Though I made many good batches of cheese with the stove top technique, I probably won't go back to that due to the potential for uneven heating, and the need for really conscientious stirring!
For mesophyllic makes, the Anova is superior for reaching and maintaining the temperature, and then cooking up to about 102 degrees. It is easy and reliable. But, for thermophyllic makes, the Anova just cannot heat the water sufficiently to bring the mass of 4 or 5 gallons of milk up to 120 degrees. Last time I tried, I added HOT water from the stove to the plastic tub, and that worked well.
The Bain Marie can heat the water sufficiently for the thermophyllic makes, though I feel like the cooking has to be watched much more closely to avoid going to slow or too fast or overshooting. I tend to be anxious about going to high on the temp, because there is no possible way for me to take 4 or 5 gallons off the heat!!
Have fun with the Anova!
awakephd, that was probably me. Here's a link to the CDC's (Center for Disease Control) opinion of aluminum: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1076&tid=34 (https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1076&tid=34)
For me the relevant passages are:
Quote
Oral exposure to aluminum is usually not harmful. Some studies show that people exposed to high levels of aluminum may develop Alzheimer's disease, but other studies have not found this to be true. We do not know for certain that aluminum causes Alzheimer's disease.
Some people who have kidney disease store a lot of aluminum in their bodies. The kidney disease causes less aluminum to be removed from the body in the urine. Sometimes, these people developed bone or brain diseases that doctors think were caused by the excess aluminum.
Although aluminum-containing over the counter oral products are considered safe in healthy individuals at recommended doses, some adverse effects have been observed following long-term use in some individuals.
and
Quote
You cannot avoid exposure to aluminum because it is so common and widespread in the environment.
Exposure to the levels of aluminum that are naturally present in food and water and the forms of aluminum that are present in dirt and aluminum pots and pans are not considered to be harmful.
Eating large amounts of processed food containing aluminum additives or frequently cooking acidic foods in aluminum pots may expose a person to higher levels of aluminum than a person who generally consumes unprocessed foods and uses pots made of other materials (e.g., stainless steel or glass). However, aluminum levels found in processed foods and foods cooked in aluminum pots are generally considered to be safe.
Personally, I would not worry about it. I happen to make most of my cheese in a stainless steel pot simply because it's the only one that I have of an appropriate size. However, I've made smaller cheeses in my aluminum pots with great success.
Good clarification. For me, the taste is quite noticeable even if I only use an aluminum colander in the process, so I use stainless for everything!
Thanks all!
it's an old stainless steel pot - so no aluminum...
I've thought about using a 5 gallon capacity steam pan in that plastic container as I think having the milk level and water level are close to the same level, then transfer of heat is more efficient.
Hopefully I'll have some free time monday to make a thermo cheese and will find out!
Trent
The other thing I just thought of is to using two sous vide devices... hmmm.
My friend has one that I might try to use for thermo makes...
i'll update hopefully soon...