Changing Sous Vide water

How often do you need to change the water in your Sous Vide machine? Given food never touches the water I don't think I need to change it every time, but it does seem like I should change it once in awhile. Any rules of thumb?

cleaning sous-vide

Best Answer

The water frequently sits in the danger zone for bacterial growth, and even though it is a sealed bag, fats can migrate through the plastic (not considering contamination to the outside of the bag either from cross contamination or from juices drawn out during vacuuming/sealing).

I would suggest changing the water if:

is looks dirty/cloudy
it smells like anything other than water

Additionally from the PloyScience site:

Occasionally or when a cooking pouch may have leaked, simply replace the water with a vinegar/water solution and run unit at 160°F for 25 minutes to remove any residuals or lime.

So you can probably throw a little vinegar into the water to up the pH and make it more hostile to bacteria (though it will smell up the house when you use it).

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Quick Answer about "Changing Sous Vide water"

Use the Water for Multiple Cooks Even if the water isn't completely clean it's not a big deal because the food is always sealed in a sous vide bag. How long you feel comfortable going between cooks is up to you, but I generally just replace my water every 10 to 15 days.

Do you need distilled water for sous vide?

culinary uses The lack of calcium molecules usually found in tap water lends distilled water for use in modernist techniques such as spherification. Using distilled or otherwise purified water in sous vide baths eliminates most need for cleaning/descaling the vessel.

Can you mess up sous vide?

Even though people say sous vide is easy, you can overcook your food. The food continues to cook after it leaves the pot, unless you place it in an ice bath. Also, when you go to sear your meat, you can easily overcook it during searing, especially if you're using a thinner cut.

Can you add water to sous vide?

It's not advisable to add water to the sous vide water bath once it has been cooking your food because it is next to impossible to add the same temperature water. Adding hotter or colder water will interfere with the cooking process.

How do you clean hard water from sous vide?

All you have to do is put equal parts of white vinegar and water in a pot. Then put the circulator in the pot, turn it on, and set the temperature to 140\xb0F. When the machine reaches this temperature, the cleaning is complete. As an alternative, you can use a 10% solution of CLR (Calcium Lime Rust Remover) and water.

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Images: Simon Berger, Andrea Schettino, Pixabay, Frederik Sørensen