WILLHI WH1436A 10A Temperature Controller 110V

Sous-vide is amazing but I can't believe how expensive they typically are.

Because I couldn't believe it, I built my own for $45 using weird things from amazon. It didn't even take any electrical work or programming and can be setup in about a minute:

Cheap fish tank pump: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EWENKXO

Cheap hot plate: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T0SN0K

And the star of the show, a temperature modulator with a standard plug: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00

Put a pot of water on the hot plate, insert fish tank pump, plug hot plate into the Willhi. Put your meat into a regular ziplock bag, leaving it open, dip it into the water. The pressure of the water will cause the air to leave the bag, creating a vacuum (you can find many demonstrations of this technique on youtube). Clip the bag to the side of the pot using some clothes pins. Bam! DYI sous vide.

Generally it maintains the temperature within +/- 1 degree Fahrenheit, which is good enough for a rare steak. I had this incredibly dangerous coffee heating element at first, which could keep the temperature within 0.1 degree, but decided it was too dangerous to be worth it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00

I then use a $25 Iwatani torch to char the surface: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BBJC1CY

As opposed to most butane cooking torches, this one seems to produce a large hot flame about 20 centimeters long and the diameter of a quarter.

Not to take away from this griddle or anything, but I'm pretty psyched about my sous vide machine and it was too easy to make just to not tell everyone that will listen.

so simple diy setup..

some questions:

first two links:

   And the star of the show, a temperature modulator with a standard plug: http://..

     but decided it was too dangerous to be worth it: http://..

second, does that little water pump handle the heat?

lastly, did you just bend up the heating element and place it directly in the water?