When you cook with a Joule sous vide, have you ever thought if you can defrost food here? Well, I did! I actually considered the option once when I needed to defrost the beef to make steak. However, what I learned about Joule minimum temperature Joule ice bath made me stop doing it then and ever.
Joule’s minimum temperature is 68°F (20°C). However, the Joule ice bath is not a good idea to defrost or chill. The reason is Joule is not designed to circulate cool water. When it detects the decreasing temperature, the device automatically increases the heat to the lowest temperature level.
Keep reading the article to the end to get detailed information and find substitute sous vide machines that can serve you well in chilling your foods.
Joule Minimum Temperature and Joule Ice Baths
Joule is a device worth trying since it’s not bulky and doesn’t require you to use large containers. While it has the great benefit of cooking food faster than usual, it also has drawbacks – you are unable to do ice baths.
As Joule is a common thing found in most houses, the owners try to find a way to chill their foods using it. But Joule’s lowest temperature is unfortunately not too low. It can get 20°C or 68°F. Therefore, the device can’t circulate icy water and thus chilling food.
However, it has the ability to reach lower degrees than it which you can identify using an internal thermometer. The lower the temperature, the more it will raise the temperature of the water.
Remember, it can reach a lower temperature than the lowest in the setting, but it doesn’t mean it will chill the water. Since you can’t do a Joule ice bath, you can do defrosting with our suggested sous vide cookers.
Try Anova Culinary WiFi Immersion Circulator or Instant Pot Accu Slim Sous Vide. Sous vide will help you in this case because it can reach lower degrees than a Joule. It will allow you to cool any cooking so that you can soon put it in a freezer or fridge in order to store it.
Furthermore, you can also speed up the thawing with it. Besides, you can say bye-bye to worrying about losing the actual texture or quality of the defrosted meats when putting them in the microwave.
How High Can a Joule Temperature Go?
Like the lowest temperature, a Joule has a limit to its highest degrees, 98°C or 208°F. Such a temperature is considered pretty high by the manufacturer. Hence, it is recommended not to cook at the highest temperature if you want to cook for a long.
Moreover, running the device at such a high heat will eventually damage the machine since the Joule will overwork maintaining it.
Still, if you need to prepare food using the highest temperature level with your Joule, it’s possible to do it. In this situation, an accomplice that can better the water bath insulation will pay off. It requires insulation sleeves, and a pot case will work great at averting heat loss.
Thus the Joule will not have to work harder to maintain the heat of the water.
How to Use a Joule for Cooking At Minimum Temperature
If you have recently bought the Joule sous vide machine, you may experiment with it for cooking at a minimum temperature. Well, there’s no issue being a bit adventurous.
Now, cooking at low temperatures is nothing uncommon. However, a proper guideline is necessary to do the task safely.
So, here are the steps.
Things You Need
● A Joule
● A Pot
Steps to Use a Joule for Cooking At Minimum Temperature
Just follow the steps to cook using a low temperature.
Step 1. Filling Pot
The first thing to do is fill your pot with tap water. Put it over something heatproof to protect the table or base you will be making food on. Make sure you put enough water to reach the maximum water level.
Step 2. Adding Joule
Put the Joule into the water pot. Attach it using the magnetic base if the pot is made of metal, or use the side clip to attach it with a non-metal pan and plug it into a nearer socket. It will start heating the water soon.
Step 3. Covering Food Under Water
Whether a large steak or small salmon, don’t forget to put it in a plastic bag. Put the bag into the pot, covering it entirely with warm water.
Step 4. Opening a Joule Account
Download the Joule app first from the Play Store or iStore. Then proceed to open an account using your Gmail or Facebook and add a password.
Step 5. Following Instructions
When you access your account, it will immediately show you how to pair it up with the device. Do as the tutorial shows. It will also give you continuous updates on your cooking and will allow you to control its temperature.
Step 6. Set Minimum Temperature
Once you have access to the app, go to the temperature setting and set it to the minimum. The minimum temperature for joule is 20°C or 68°F.
One additional suggestion is to cook a very small portion of whichever meat you are cooking because it may take too long to cook big cuts at the minimum temperature. As the minimum temperature is not too hot, if you choose to cook in it, it will take you about 6-8 hours.
Here is a chart showing cooking duration at minimum temperature.
| Ingredient | Temperature | Duration |
| Beef | 20°C or higher | 2-6 hours |
| Chicken | 20°C or higher | 3-8 hours |
| Fish. | 20°C or higher. | 45minutes-1hour. |
The Advantages of Using a Joule Sous Vide
Joule sous vide is a good tool when it’s about cooking in exact temperatures, and you don’t want to use fire. Since it’s a machine, it comes with some advantages and disadvantages. First, let’s look at how beneficial it is, and later we will look at its drawbacks.
- Size
The best feature of this device is its size. For being only 5cm wide, and 28 cm tall with a perimeter of 16cm, it feels so light and slim that you can port and store it anywhere.
- Cooks Anywhere
You don’t have to fix a place at your home to cook your meal with a Joule. The place can be anywhere at your place. Just remember that your Joule must stay close to a plug socket.
Also, keep the device somewhere your machine doesn’t have a chance to burn—for example, a heatproof rug or base.
- Easy-to-Use App
It requires an app to operate it. The good news is it’s nothing too complicated.’ The app’s user interface is very simple to read and understand; you will not need anyone to teach you how to use it, even if you are using it for the first time.
In addition, it includes step-by-step short-duration video tutorials and simple-to-read instructions where each step is well illustrated.
The Disadvantages of Using a Joule Sous Vide
Using Joule is pleasing; however, you will find some annoyances such as
- Short Cord
The size of the power lead is pretty short, only 92cm. Hence, you must get this near a socket.
- Issues With WiFi Connection
According to some reviews, it showed issues while connecting to their home WiFi. Some said it took 7-8 attempts to connect, and some couldn’t link to it. But its Bluetooth connection works well.
- Lacks Good Recipes
The app of Joule sous vide doesn’t have a wide range of food recipe collections. So if you want to prepare yummy sous vide recipes, you need to look for the recipe from other sources.
Why is My Joule Blinking Red?
There is an LED light on your Joule. It can blink in colors like white, green, orange, red, etc. Each color has some meaning.
The red color means something bad rather than good. If you ever find it blinking twice and red, know that the device is having a problem.
In that case, you must check the app because it will provide you with information. You can avoid getting this red light alert by ensuring you are not making Joule overwork, standing it upright, and keeping enough water.
FAQ’s:
- Can joule cool water?
It’s impossible to get chilled water with a Joule. The reason is that this device is designed only to increase the water temperature and not to decrease it.
- Can you leave Joule in the water?
For cooking, you must leave your Joule in water. You can easily attach the machine to a pan or pot. After plugging it in, you will find the water has begun to boil due to the heat spreading by the Joule.
Take Away
It’s a common question people often ask, what’s the Joule minimum temperature and Joule ice bath be done? Well, now you know this excellent machine’s highest and lowest degrees. Even though, according to most users, its lowest temperature is its downside, except for this issue, it’s a high-end device for sous vide.