I received my Anovas in early January, I’ve used them a dozen or so times successfully on simple / short cook items that weren’t in the bath more than an hour or two.
I attempted to make the 72-hour short ribs for a dinner party at my place this weekend, despite my significant other expressing concerns about pinning the main dish to something she didn’t totally have faith in / understand. It turns out those fears were well founded.
I put the sealed meat on 72 hours in advance, set the temp for 144, spot checked the water temperature with a digital thermometer once the digital display indicated it had come up to temp, and left it. I checked it several more times over the next two days - the temp on the display was holding tight at 144, circulating, etc. I put in some extra warm warm to combat evaporation about 24 hours into the process - I saw the temperature on the Anova dip down, then climb back up, all seemed well. I didn’t spot-check the water temp with my digital thermometer again after the first time, however.
After about 60 hours (morning of event), I put in a little more water. No temperature fluctuation. I found that weird, so I dipped my finger into the pot - the water was barely tepid above room temperature. The Anova display still read 144 and was still circulating. It had completely frozen - no change in the display, no sound indicating change, nothing. No way to know how long had it been that way.
I pulled the short rib out and cut it open - what emerged was a messy, weird-tasting semi-gelatinous mass with extremely irregular texture.
So, $50 worth of grass fed short rib into the trash the morning of the party, then a run to the grocery store to figure out a game plan.
Pretty disappointing. The water was never filled beyond the ‘Max’ fill line, there was no leakage of anything into the water, the bag was completely closed and the water was still perfectly clear, and the was plenty of open space around the Anova - the bag was clipped to the side of the pot.
It just straight up failed.