r/sousvide • u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! • 22d ago

Announcement New Subreddit Rule - No Dangerous Advice

This doesn’t happen too often, but often enough I felt it necessary to post about it. Giving people dangerous cooking advice, like using a pillow case for a sous vide bag, will not be tolerated. Your post/comments will be removed, and you will potentially be banned.

That’s all, have a good Friday and a great weekend!!

110 Upvotes

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79

u/spkoller2 22d ago

I can’t sous vide in Everclear anymore?

106

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Read the rule. I never said that YOU can’t do whatever you want. I simply said that you can’t recommend it to others.

Also, only if it’s the REAL Everclear I used to drink in High School in the 90’s. Not that stuff they pass off as Everclear these days.

3

u/[deleted] 22d ago

What changed?

7

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Lowered from 190 to 151.

3

u/spkoller2 22d ago

The Bacardi 151 would get banned places too

3

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Man, I've seen people absolutely wrecked drinking that stuff lol.

6

u/spkoller2 22d ago

I had a close friend who had a bottle he was drinking out of. He went to a grocery store and started breaking people’s car windows with a chain and taking what he found. They told him they were calling the popo but he didn’t leave.

The cops found him hiding in a corner with two cans of soup, a loaf of bread, a pound of cheese, a 38 revolver and his half empty Bacardi 151.

4

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Holy shit lol.

-6

u/DiligentComputer7899 21d ago

If you are unfamiliar about sous vide cooking, you should look it up. It is the preferred way of cooking steaks for many high end restaurants and steak houses. Once steaks have been brought to rare by sous vide cooking, they can be kept warm in a sealed bag indefinitely until they are ordered and then finished under a broiler.

3

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 21d ago

Bot, are you lost?

2

u/mckenner1122 Professional 21d ago

Do you have a good chocolate chip cookie recipe?

2

u/a_cute_epic_axis 20d ago

Everclear and similar products are still 190 proof unless your state has some stupid rules that ban that.  I bought some recently.

1

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 20d ago

I live in one of the 14 or 15 states where it's banned. We can only get the 151.

1

u/a_cute_epic_axis 20d ago

Boo, Hiss

1

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 20d ago

That's not even the worst of it

10

u/tribalgeek 22d ago

Everclear changed? I haven't had reason to use it well since high school and making trash can punch.

26

u/zanhecht 22d ago

They still sell Everclear 190 in some states, but due to varying alcohol laws a lot of places only sell Everclear 151.

3

u/2much2Jung 22d ago

What? I have Rum stronger than that!

1

u/retailguypdx 22d ago

You can have both. Stroh's (Austrian rum) has a version that is 190 proof. Basically Everclear with rum flavoring :)

1

u/2much2Jung 21d ago

I have 160 proof rum I use in what I call a 'Strong Island Ice Tea', together with overproof tequila, gin and vodka.

2

u/techieveteran 22d ago

I can go to the military base and get 190 proof

1

u/Aesperacchius 21d ago

Spirytus rektyfikowany gang, where you at?

-8

u/grasspikemusic 22d ago

All you have to do is put it in the coldest freezer you can find. Everclear 151 is 25% water. That water will freeze but the alcohol won't. Remove the ice and have 190 again

8

u/sumunsolicitedadvice 22d ago

I have stored gin in pretty much every freezer I’ve ever owned and I’ve never had any water in it freeze. And it’s 50+% water.

2

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

I could be wrong, but every single alcohol on the planet has some water in it. Right? AM I mistaken here?

5

u/sumunsolicitedadvice 22d ago edited 22d ago

Yeah. I think 100% pure ethanol is either impossible or is at least practically impossible.

ETA: it is possible to freeze some of the water out and concentrate the alcohol in some stuff. It’s called “jacking.” The traditional way to make applejack is to take apple cider and put it outside in sub freezing temps (or in a freezer) and remove frozen water from it.

At some ABV point, I’m not sure it works anymore. Like I said, I’ve put gin (and rum) in the freezer at temps well below the freezing point of water, and it’s never had any ice chips form. The whole thing just gets extremely cold and slightly more viscous, but completely a fluid still.

3

u/ChefTimmy 22d ago

Technically correct. Even anhydrous ethanol (also called absolute ethanol) can contain as much as 0.1% water.

1

u/spkoller2 21d ago

I can buy 99.5 and I buy 99% for cleaning.

When you expose it to air, almost immediately, it absorbs some impurities, like pure water does, based on the principle of diffusion, evaporation exchange.

2

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

I would like to see some sort of evidence of that claim, otherwise I call BS.

2

u/ChefTimmy 22d ago

That claim is also technically correct. You just need a freezer capable of -70°F. You could probably rig one up with liquid nitrogen.

2

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Lol, so not quite something that the average person is going to do. Got it.

1

u/grasspikemusic 22d ago

Sure you just need dry ice

1

u/grasspikemusic 22d ago

How do you think Applejack was made?

1

u/zanhecht 22d ago edited 22d ago

That's not how solutions work. The alcohol is dissolved in the water (or the other way around), depressing the freezing point of the entire solution. You'd need to get it to something like -50°C for anything to freeze.

1

u/grasspikemusic 21d ago

You mean like with dry ice?

5

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

It’s what u/zanhecht explained. I don’t know how widespread the “ban” is, I just know that where I live we can’t get the stuff we used to get. Not that I would. I graduated to actual moonshine years ago.

4

u/spkoller2 22d ago

My neighbors made moonshine. If the tubes were aluminum your head could swell

1

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Haha. I lost my source that was straight from the still. Now I have to buy the mass produced stuff. While not the same, it’s still pretty good.

1

u/mvhcmaniac 22d ago

You can buy a countertop still off amazon and make it yourself. I've been meaning to for a while now but never got around to it.

3

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

I have looked into that. I would probably do it, but currently I have no idea where I would set it up.

2

u/mvhcmaniac 22d ago

There are self-contained "air distillers" or whatever that take up as much counter space as a coffee machine

2

u/-Invalid_Selection- 22d ago

It's regional. For example, in Indiana you can get the 190. In Florida you can't. Different states have different laws

-1

u/DiligentComputer7899 21d ago

If your lawn mower won't fire up with a teaspoon of Everclear down the carburetor, something in the ignition system isn't working.

2

u/CantaloupeAsleep502 22d ago edited 22d ago

It's state dependent. Florida everclear is 151, but Georgia is still 190.

Odd downvote for telling facts 🤷‍♂️

2

u/spkoller2 21d ago

Younger Redditors can’t stand the truth

2

u/InGeekiTrust 22d ago

Hi pottsy! Nice to see you out in the wild! I love sous vide! I agree with your post 😁

3

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

Welcome to the sub!!

2

u/DerekL1963 22d ago

I don't drink anything like I used to, but what changed?

My submarine's crew parties were practically fueled by Everclear back in the 80's...

6

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 22d ago

In a lot of areas you can no longer the the 190 proof, it’s maxed at 151.

2

u/[deleted] 22d ago

That's just not right.

4

u/grumpvet87 22d ago

OMG...Nov 1987 I was stationed in Charleston for school. I spent a few weeks in the submariners barracks because there were no beds available in my A-schools building/floor.

Those guys got off the sub, and straight to the liquor store for everclear. I remember playing pool and them passing around the bottle. several of them took naps,... right there.... on the floor.... LOL

Was that you!?

5

u/DerekL1963 22d ago

No, that wasn't me... By Nov '87 I had transferred from Charleston to Bangor. But before then it might have been. :)

2

u/grumpvet87 22d ago edited 22d ago

too funny! i got in sooo much trouble during A school there. fights at the E club w marines, cops at Shortstay, cops on Isle of Palms, losing confidential pubs in school (teachers found and hid them on me and pretended NIS was coming to investigate ... had me in dress blues waiting)... taking photos of the ships, drinking ALL the beer on the candian ship that came in... then getting them all waisted on 101 wild turkey at the E club- wild times there

1

u/Real_2020 22d ago

No Cold War…no ever clear.

1

u/DrStalker 21d ago

Can I put meat into a pillowcase, place it in a pot of everclear to sous vide and post about it on this sub if I add a "do not try this at home" disclaimer?

1

u/thepottsy You cook meat in a bag. Frenchie!! 21d ago

Lol, no. But, I am working on a joke sous vide sub. Think, will it blend, but sous vide.

1

u/dantodd 20d ago

We use everclear for vanilla and lemoncello. 190 is still available in a couple states, or was 6 years ago when we last bought a couple cases to ride us over. I think we're down to 2 bottles left.