Just got my Anova and love it so far. Am not clear what to do after it reaches cook time and temperature. Do I leave it on until ready to sear or turn off the beep and leave in water? Do I change temp. to keep warm or??? Sorry if I missed the answer somewhere else in forum!
LB, like most things in life, - it all depends.
Are you following a recipe from a reliable source?
Good.
Then follow it, which is usually turning off your Anova and the removal of your cooked product.
If you want to keep your cooked item warm, leave it in the water and let Anova continue running at the set temperature while you think about why you started this cook so early. Most meat items can be kept warm in the water bath for as long as a few hours without any deliterious effects. Delicate items like fish and eggs aren’t as forgiving.
Most cooks plan their service time and then calculate the the amount of time required for prepping, cooking and searing. Working back in time they then know when to start the process.
Easy.
It’s all in your planning.
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Yep, @chatnoir pretty much nailed it. After I am done cooking, I either go straight to finishing the item, or keep it warm in the bath if I happen to have my hands tied up with other kitchen duties. What are you thinking of cooking up?
Thanks to you both! Was told I could leave in water for hours…didn’t sound true. So far, I have tried pork loin and chicken breasts. Both turned out fine.MUCH too easy with the Anova app on my phone!!
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You probably can, but it depends on what exactly you’re cooking. I’ve found that leaving steaks and pork in the water bath for another 1-2 hours was acceptable for my taste.
Although it isn’t an essential step, I suggest taking your food out of the water bath and letting it cool a little before searing. Searing will bring the temperature up again, and if you sear the food for too long, you may start to get that band of overdone meat that sous vide is supposed to avoid.
Some of us actually plunge the steaks into an ice bath for a few minutes to chill the outside before searing.
The truly important thing to do before searing, however, is to dry your meat. Otherwise the first minute or so is just boiling off that outside moisture (and while that’s happening, it’s cooking your meat further).
Some like to oil/butter their meat before putting it in the pan - me, I pre-heat the pan, add the oil about a minute or so before the sear, then just as the oil starts to smoke, I throw in a dab of butter (for flavour) and throw the steak on top of it. 
You can get a ridiculously thin searing layer in a blistering-hot cast iron pan. 
It seems there is no option to stop Anova from heating/cooking after the time is reached.
I would really benefit from having Anova just stop heating up and let what I’m cooking slowly cool down until morning when I wake up instead of beeping non stop and waking me up in the middle of the night… annoying!
The timer is basically only an alarm. I could use my phone for that. It doesn’t fully serve its purpose, the way it’s been designed now.
Renaud, your sleep might benefit, but you are ignoring the health consequences of holding meat in an airless environment at temperatures that could promote the growth of pathogens that can double in population every 20 minutes. ( That’s a 2 - 4 - 16 - 32 - 64 - 128 progression)
You are asking Anova to stop being the Anova Precision Cooker.
You might plan cooks so they terminate sufficiently early during your waking hours so you can properly chill and safely store your food.
Just stop using the timer function. Let the Anova hold your cook at temp until you wake.
If you want to use a timer - use the one in your phone (or I use my calendar for longer cooks).
I agree wholeheartedly that Anova made the right decision to keep the APC running once cook time has completed due to safety concerns - but I’ve an idea for an improvement they could implement some time in the future.
Currently the APC continues to run at end of cook time - and it continues at the same temperature. It would be nice to have the option for the temperature to drop down to 130 at the end of any cook that was performed at a higher temperature. This would minimize the impact of further cooking, while maintaining a temperature that will prevent the growth of pathogens.
This is not something I see being implemented in the current versions of APCs - but it would be desirable for future models.
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Therefore the beeping will continue correct ?