Sous Vide Smoked Ribs

[iceman]

Freezing them works well for the boss lady up here. I make an extra 6 or so racks that she can thaw out then reheat in the sous vide for her. "fast food" meal when I'm nor around. Next best thing to hot off the grill according to her. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the information. That for sure beats a McRib sandwich as fast food.

I got four racks of St. Louis ribs in the freezer. I'm going to thaw two and Sous Vide them. Then finish one rack in the smoker, and freeze one for a later time.

[Up In Smoke]

Hello all!
it's good to see some familiar faces.
i have been wondering about the sous vide way of cooking, but have been a little afraid to step off into it.
i plan on keeping an eye on this thread and the results you have.
i will also start checking on sous vide set ups. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

thanks ahead of time.
                                  jerry

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Jerry;

I've had my equipment for some time and during those years the sous vide immersers have come down in price and improved so dramatically that I've lost touch in the newest technology. You most important piece of equipment would be your immerser. Get one at least 1000w, you can get one that has lower wattage, but it takes much longer to get your water bath up.

[waynerto]

I have a Chefman immersion unit that I quite like with Wifi so that I can monitor things from my phone.  I start with hot water from the tap so that usually you don't need too long of a warm up time.  I prefer to smoke my ribs but I really like doing steak, pork chops, fish and chicken in the sous vide cooker. Then a quick sear on a cast iron pan and you are all done. 

You can also so other stuff in the Sous Vide cooker - my fave is to do the custard portion of creme brulee in wide mouthed mason jars.  Then add some sugar, take a blow torch to it and you have an awesome dessert.

[Scotty-G]

I had a Sansair and it was good until it stopped working and then I found out Sansair went out of business. Then I got an Anova at the Amazon Black Friday Sale (50% off). It has bluetooth and wifi. Am looking to get one for my folks but dont care about bluetooth or wifi - they wont use those.
Am going to be looking at Amazon Prime Day next week to see possible options as well.
In addition to the best steaks, now ribs, chicken breasts, and sausage blooming in the Sous Vide, am also poaching eggs. That with smoked bacon (pork loin) makes great Benedict's and muffin sandwiches. Cooked Eggs even hold for a few days in the fridge.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Scotty-G

I'm going to start my rib test soon - hopefully tomorrow.

I have a Sansair also. It's a good immerser unit, and so far it is still working. I have a hard water well, and find I have to clean the mineral scale build up at least every other use. When you are blooming sausage, did you seal the sausage or did you just put the sausage in the water bath. A few members just throw them in the water bath, but I was always concerned about the possibility of fat circulating though the unit.

[waynerto]

I have a hard water well, and find I have to clean the mineral scale build up at least every other use.

I have city water, but still get significant mineral buildup.  I tried using vinegar to get rid of it but that didn't work so well so I had to use CLR and that worked a bit better.

[Habanero Smoker]

CLR is what I use also. A 50% solution of CLR and distilled water, using a smallest container I can. That seems to work well. At one time I was using a solution of 60% white vinegar, and 40% water, but later I read that vinegar could be too harsh on the components.

[Scotty-G]

I added a whole house 5 micron filter and then water softener and that has helped trmendiously (attached softener to hot and cold lines). I also distill that water for coffee, tea, humidifier, and aromatherapy machines. Makes a big difference too.

As for sausage - I bag them because I too am worried about stuff (fats , loose meat, and spices) messing up the gears and sous vide machine hard to reach areas. Couple of gallon size ziplock freezer bags using immersion sealing technique usually does the trick. One time had to put a cooling rack across the top of the sausages to keep them submerged.

Habs - cant wait to hear your results of your rib test.

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks for the information on water bath for sausages. I agree, and feel the risk is not worth just throwing the sausage in the water without placing them in bags and removing the air.

I have my plan pretty well mapped out, but I ran into a couple of snags, so I hope I can begin my test tomorrow. Sometimes strange things happen. I belong to a regional barbecue society, and as part of that I receive a monthly publication "Barbecue News". It arrived yesterday, and one of the articles is "Sous Vide Que Techniques"; written by Meathead of AmazingRibs.com. I don't always agree with what he says, but I'm going to read the article to see what he says, and head over to that site to see if he has any information specific to spare ribs.

[waynerto]

One thing that I may do is to convert a Coleman cooler into a sous vide cooking vessel.  This should help to reduce heat loss and evaporation when cooking.

The other thing that this would be useful for is to allow you to set up sous vide cooking before you leave for work.  In the morning you could put ice and water into the cooler along with your meat.  Set it for a six hour delay and then start cooking.  You could come home form work and have your meat all ready for searing.  But in these days of WFH this isn't really needed.

[Habanero Smoker]

Using a cooler is a good option. I can't use any of my coolers for this test, because the clamp on my Sansaire doesn't hold that securely due to the thickness of the cooler. Though the Sansaire has a flat bottom and can standup I don't want to take that risk. When my Sansaire stops working, the type of clamp will be one of my considerations when I replace it.

Since I want to Sous Vide my ribs as a whole slab or as long as a slab I can get, I dug out my clear plastic 12 quart Sous Vide container that I've used in the past, and I wrap it in a reflective insulation. The reflective insulation helps a lot. These days they sell insulated 12 quart Sous Vide containers (which walls are thinner than coolers) cheaper than what I paid for my clear 12 quart Sous Vide container. 

[waynerto]

The way to do a cooler would be to permanently modify it by cutting a hole in the lid that is the ideal size for your immersion cooker.  Like this:

[Habanero Smoker]

The way to do a cooler would be to permanently modify it by cutting a hole in the lid that is the ideal size for your immersion cooker.  Like this:

Thanks for the picture. I knew what you meant; I've seen similar plans.

I got the ribs in the water bath, I'm planning to cook at 152°F for 24 hours. What I thought was a 12 quart container, turned out to be a 19 quart container. It's a tight fit, but I managed to get two whole slabs in the container, and getting good circulation. I'm using Scotty-G's results, and the below article as a guide.

The Food Lab Complete Guide Sous Vide Pork Ribs