My immersion circulator gave out mid-service last Friday and I had to think fast

I was holding 30 portions of duck breast at 135F for a 7pm rush and the Anova just died on me with no warning. No error code, no beep, just silence. I ended up throwing the bags into a 140F water bath on the stove and temping every 5 minutes until we fired them. Anyone else have a sous vide fail on them at the worst possible moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

barbarah191mo agoMost Upvoted

My Anova bricked on me at 128F with 25lbs of short rib during a NYE pre-service a few years back. I felt that panic hard, the stove bath temping trick saved my butt too.

carter.casey1mo ago

oh man, that is the worst kind of panic. i had my joules die on me in the middle of a 72 hour brisket cook for a fathers day thing. 15 pounds of meat sitting at 135 and the thing just blinked and stopped. i literally grabbed the biggest stockpot i had and set it on the stove, checking the temp every 10 minutes with my thermapen for like 4 hours until i could borrow a friends circulator. lmao never again, i keep a spare anova in the closet now just in case.

jake9861mo ago

The stove bath method is my backup plan now too, always keep a spare circulator handy.