So I have essentially the exact same set up, pump to a ss vac chamber and I love it.great results. After I run the vac at room temp, I'm having trouble keeping my oil at a consistent temp with heat. Could you further explain how you are adding heat to the vac chamber? griddle an was super worried about the heat displacement. Maybe do a hot water bath next time? Any ideas would be swe
I just use a presto griddle with 3 wet kitchen hand towels on the griddle surface and the pot on that. The wet hand towels have a similar gentle way of heating as a water bath but the temp control on the griddle makes it way easier to controlled the temp. I use a instant read thermometer that I set between the pot and griddle and an infrared thermometer to test spots around the pot. Although my set up just has one thick layer of very clear plastic, my thermometer won't read through the lid to the oil. It just gives me the temp of the lid. To be sure the oil was being heated properly I would take the temp of the oil in the pot,on the heating element, before putting the lid on. There was about a 20°f difference between the thermometer between the pot and griddle and the infrared thermometer. Meaning when the one between the hot plate and pot said 140° the direct laser on the oil read 120°. Take great focus on making sure you keep track of the oil temp not just the heating element!