Locisne Sous Vide Cooking Balls BPA Free 20mm 250 Balls with Mesh Drying Bag for Anova Joule Cookers Water Bath Cooking and Sous Vide Container

all pros, no real cons, except for those occasional times you need to chase down a ball that went rolling across the floor for one reason or another lol.been using these balls several times a week for nearly two months with a small lid-less cooler for my sous vide cooks. they work great instead of drilling a hole in the lid - even better, I have read that using a lid can force steam to escape around the opening for the sous vide unit, forcing condensation up into the unit which will eventually damage it, but that doesn't appear to be a potential problem when using these balls. I'd considered buying cheaper ping pong balls (not tournament or regular play quality but the really cheap ones that don't bounce well) but they are so large you couldn't really layer them, and it makes more sense to use several layers of smaller balls to better trap heat and steam from escaping.one bag works well for my small cooler opening which is about 8" x 10.5" so that there are two layers of balls to trap heat from escaping. I have noticed some heat/steam escape at higher temp cooks like 183F when I do carrots, and I do believe another layer of balls would fix it, but this is like a 2 hour cook so no real need to worry about much evaporation with that. I've never had an issue with heat escaping with lower temp cooks like 137F for ribeyes and lower for leaner cuts of meat. I've also done several 24 and 36 hour cooks for tougher cuts of meat (131-137F) without a noticeable reduction in water level by the end.regarding the bag not drying as other reviews have mentioned, I've personally had no issues with the bag drying quickly. maybe they changed the bag that is included, but I doubt it. not sure what these ppl are doing, maybe putting them up wet in a cabinet? I pull the balls out of the water and drop directly in the bag, wet as they are and water dripping off my hands, then set it on my dish drying rack where there's no real sun or air circulation in that area, but no problems. everything dries quickly. hour or two probably I don't really check or time it, but the point is they dry just fine.

Absolute game changer! Really helps with heat retention. I really didn’t think they would help as much as they do! Wish I would have bought these sooner. Some of the comments mentioned the hassle of taking them out after use, but I have no issues with that. I use a small colander scoop to fish them out. I spread them over a kitchen towel to dry and then pour them into the draw string bag using the same towel once dried, it has worked great for me.

I use a 12-quart stockpot with a diameter of 11 inches. I poured the balls in to check coverage and was disappointed... there were still some gaps. I was sure that steam would get through.I was wrong. Seven-hour cook went off flawlessly. Incredibly, no steam escaping. I'm a believer.On another note, for those considering buying a sous vide container to cook in:1) you don't need it with these balls2) it's just another single-use kitchen item taking up space. And it's bulky. Whereas you probably already have a 12 Qt. stockpot.3) if you use a stockpot, you can heat the water on the stovetop (instead of waiting for the sous vide to heat it)... that can save 30 minutes of heating time. (Of course, you can also just fill it with hot water, but since reviews often mention how long the sous vide takes to heat the water, I thought I'd mention the stove top option. You can't put a plastic container on the stove!).Aside from the sous vide itself, the only thing I had to buy to get started were these balls. I had all the rest:12 qt. StockpotBarbecue skewers to use as "clotheslines"Metal "clothes pins" to hold the bags in placeFreezer bags using immersion method (no vacuum sealer)Works perfectly.

These just came in today and I'm sous vide'ing two 1.5" pork chops, which might be our favorite sous vide meat. The balls pretty much fill the top of our plastic sous vide chamber. There are a couple of gaps due to water circulation currents, but I don't think that will allow much water vapor to escape. I'll have to test it on one of my 48-72 hour sessions, but I think it'll be OK.

No need to talk about the balls. As everyone says... fantastic. Just not crazy about the bag, It not defective or anything like that, just don't like scooping balls back in. I like simple. I got this to store them https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DL0XHW. Can easily hold 2 bags worth and probably 3 and balls dry out faster. Bin fits inside my Rubbermaid 12 Quart for storage. And ya can't beat how cheap it is.Edit 6/9/22:Just a note about a long cook. Just did a 3 day brisket (was yummy) I monitored temp, water loss and power consumption. I also checked heat loss with a point and shoot thermometer. Temp barely fluctuated. Sous Vide Mach. used very little power and the heat loss was near non-existent and I never had to add water. I had previously done a heat loss test by running SV in a cold room. Without balls, visually, the condensing vapor was like a hot spring in Alaska. Put the balls in and it was almost gone. There is a good reason municipalities use balls on there water retention ponds. A caveat though is my Rubbermaid 12q has an insulating sleeve.Edit 07/30/2022:Added four pictures. The first picture shows the steam rolling off the surface of 194° water. The second is the surface temperature of the water is 182° the third is the surface temperature of a towel right above the water which is 142° and then the fourth is the surface temperature of the top of the balls which is 77°. Pretty much says it all.