Fresh Meals Magic: A PID Controlled Immersion Circulator

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I've been cooking sous vide at home for awhile now. I currently use a Sous Vide Magic 1500 connected to a Black and Decker RC880 Rice cooker. This is the classic PID controller DIY setup and continues to be the cheapest way to cook sous vide. For approximately 150$, you get a device that allows you to regulate the temperature of water in a rice cooker.

One of the biggest perceived issues when cooking with a PID controller is heat distribution. Rice cookers heat from the bottom (and potentially unevenly) leaving the water closer to the heating element warmer than water further away. PolyScience recently studied this in their stir or not to stir experiment, which I have already written about.

Good news! Almost on cue, the FreshMealsMagic (FMM) is FreshMealsSolutions' answer to those challenges. It is ...  a submersible bubbler/heater.

A submersi-bub-bluh-huh-wha-wha? 

Chill out! The FMM is a green disc that can be placed inside of any heat-safe container. The disc is both a heating element and an air stone bubbler.  It not only provides heat, but it also distributes the heat better by agitating the water with tiny bubbles.   In other words, it simulates the heating element from the rice cooker and the circulating portions of an immersion circulator. As a result, if you have a PID controller and the FreshMealsMagic, you no longer need to have a rice cooker in the mix.

Want a more basic description: The FMM is an immersion circulator.

Even better description: It is the least expensive immersion circulator on the market today.

If you are starting from scratch, you will be able to buy a package that includes:
  1. Sous Vide Magic 1500D PID controller.  Which looks like a great upgrade from the 1500A that I have been using, and highly advised upgrade if you are going to be using the FMM (see Existing PID controller users).
  2. Fresh Meals Magic.  That thing that I just spend a couple hundred words explaining.  A combo heater and stirs the water via tiny bubbles.
  3. 18 Liter Pot.  18 liters is close to 5 gallons.  You can cook a lot of product in 5 gallons.  At least 2 babies.  
  4. Air Pump.  Necessary to get air to the FMM.  Much better than a straw.
For a grand total of $299.

Existing PID controller users

If you already have a PID controller, you can buy the FMM, 18L pot and air pump for $150.  The only caveat is that if your PID controller does not have a high temperature cut-off control, you need to be very careful about using the FMM.

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