I decided that I would like to make a cover for the polycarbonate container that I’m using to eliminate the steam coming up the unit after some issues I (possibly) had earlier with higher temps i.e. larger amounts of steam and had already thought that I would like to give it some insulation… hence… ploystyrene! I went to the local mussel farm/seafood whole-seller and he had just what I needed. A almost perfectly sized polystyrene box with lid. I cut out all that was necessary to fit the APC snugly and (what remained of) the top in half for ease of access and am very happy with the result which you can see below.
If anyone else has accommodated their APC in different insulating and steam-free environments or otherwise improved the cooking experience I would love to hear about that, too… There is always room for improvement!.. even though I’m happy as Larry at the moment with the set-up I have right now…
@Pippi Looks like your setup should do the job. When I did 72 hour short ribs evaporation was an issue. I just got a Cambro container with lid for use when I am doing larger quantities. I was going to see if it fits inside an older cooler I have. Two benefits I see are the cooler has handles so it would be easier to move and the outside is not subject to damage. Yours would be easy to replace if it got banged up.
True… very easy and cheap to replace. However I do still have a partial evaporation issue though… since the inner container is sitting in a slightly bigger box and therefor evaporation comes down the sides… It’s not mega but not perfect either. Thought about lining the “bridge” with cling film but then I won’t have an edge to flop the tops of my baggies over to keep them in place so I abandoned that idea.
Ingenious use of the ruler to spread the clamp pressure! I take it you don’t have a vacuum sealer? I’ve used a hole-saw to cut a hole in an insulated drinks cooler - no evaporation or condensation at all, plus it has a handle for easy storage, but it’s only viable because I have a vacuum sealer so don’t need to clip bags to the side.
I would really love someone to come out (kickstart?)with a double-wall insulated clear polycarbonate container with a pre-made form-fitting hole in the lid for the Anova.
@Simon_C The polycarbonate container I use is really quite a good insulator as it is pretty thick to start with. I think heat loss and water loss is mainly due to evaporation on longer cooks. I have tried placing the containers cover over as much as I can and that seems to do a good job. I may also try clear wrap over the top with a rock in the middle of it. This would force the water that condenses back to the middle like when you recover water for survival training. I noticed that with the lid on top the Anova’s displayed temperature did not fluctuate much and the water level did not drop very much over 24 hours.
