Sous vide and travel

I am waiting on my Joule to get here and have been wondering is it possible to stop a sous vide cook temporarily and restart it? For instance I am interested in the smokerless-smoked-brisket recipe it says to cook for 24 hours I would like to know if I could start the cook and between the 8 - 14 hour mark travel with my brisket and restart the cook after an hour to hour and a half drive? I was thinking that I maybe would not have to even stop the cook if I kept it in its bath water in a well insulated container. Has anyone done this?

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HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

It should be fine if the container is well insulated so the temp doesn't drop to low and as long as you are bringing it back to temp for the remaining 10 hours you should be fine.....HOWEVER if you are going to do it this way I would definitely blanch the meat before bagging to eliminate the chance of "funk"and wait until you arrive to start drinking the wine necessary for a cook like this or let someone else drive...and start earlier..

Dan_Robbins_241206

Yes, I manually used Joule (so far my first cook with it) with my own custom time & temp schedule. And yes, I've had excellent luck *mostly* maintaining temp in a plain old Styrofoam cooler for travel.

tshewman

It would be easier to cook to 24hr mark, chill then freeze (or keep in cooler with ice) and simple bring to temp upon arrival.

fisher23

+1 with @Todd_Shewman_38102 I would want to finish the cook, quickly cool and keep below 40° F (below the danger zone) then just re-therm on arrival or about an hour before you want to eat and finish. My thinking is that it would be much easier to keep it cool than the try to maintain the temperature in a cooler above 130 °F (danger zone 40 °F to 130 °F).

Steven_Eiden_290781

How easy is it to estimate the time to bring meat back to temp is there a reheat guide or reference table?

kiwihazelwood

I have done this multiple times with a 28 quart cooler and have been amazed at the heat retention I experience. For a cook where I had 40 chicken legs (4-6 legs per bag) at 145 F, the temperature only dropped 4 F over a period of 4 hours. There are obviously factors that impact heat loss e.g. air infiltration (a tight fitting lid with a rubber gasket is optimal, although mine does not have a gasket), amount of heated material (greater mass cools slower), insulative properties of cooler (especially an insulated lid), the external temperature the cooler is exposed to.

The cooler that I use with my Anova is a Coleman model 5878/5879 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-28-Quart-Performance-Cooler/23427946 with two cupholders. I cut a roughly circular hole free hand with a Dremel tool (I highly advise using the correct size hole saw to get a well fitting hole) in one of the cup holders of the lid. I also removed the screws that secured the lid to the cooler body so the lid can be lifted completely off the cooler body. The Anova drops down into the hole I made and the band on the plastic part of the barrel rests on the lip of the hole I cut. The cooler needs to be ~3/4 full of water so it reaches the minimum water level on the stainless steel barrel of the Anova.

When I transport the cooler with the water and packaged material, I remove the Anova and insert two PVC pieces that plug into each other with the cooler lid in between. The PVC pieces do not make an airtight seal against the lid, however it is easy and quick as well as sufficiently tight. The cooler is quite heavy with the amount of water/materials to be at the right height for the Anova to function, so be aware and consider using a dolly/handcart. You will also need to brace the cooler while you are transporting it to minimize water spillage or the catastrophe of the cooler tipping over and completely spilling its contents.

I will be looking for a smaller cooler, between 10-16 quarts, to use for smaller cooks with the Joule once I receive my units.