I routinely put bags of meat in the bath when it’s still climbing towards target temp, it’s not a big deal IMO. It’s a pretty powerful heating element, so it gets up to temp pretty quickly anyway. I even go so far as to pre-pack vacuum bags with meat and herbs, then freeze them, and when I want to cook them, they go right from the freezer to the water bath. Just give them an extra hour of cook time.
The bottom cap is a twist on. It only needs to rotate about 1/4" counter clockwise to release the clips. IIRC, the first time I tried to get the cap off when the circulator was new and unused, it would not budge, then after l2-3 uses it loosened up and now it comes off easily.
Also, I have another question. How often do you clean the unit? And do you leave the unit in the water until the water cools down and take it out after?
I just looked at my Anova, the bottom cap actually rotates clockwise for removal - I was remembering it wrong the other day and it was in the middle of a cook so I couldn’t look at it.
I only clean the unit when the scale starts to get heavy. Putting some white vinegar in the water and then running a cook for a few hours will usually take care of it.
I normally will remove the Anova from the water once I’m done with the meal and am cleaning up the kitchen. I doubt it really makes much difference when you remove it though. One thing I do make sure of is to always unplug it before taking it out of the water so I can’t accidentally dry fire the heating element, which is something that could potentially kill the heating element.
I also only store the Anova vertically because I don’t open it up to dry it off and I don’t know how well sealed / watertight the head of unit is where the heating element and impeller shaft come through.