If it really does only take small change to run it, and does get reliably hot to be safe.....I may have to look for a stock pot. That's the best use of one I have heard of.
Try it out and tell us!

Man, your electricity must be cheaper than mine. You'd have to top off the water about every 12-24 hours. If you didn't boil the water before adding it, the temperature in the crock would drop out of the safety zone for a couple of hours each time you did that, and again each time you added ingredients that were cold or at room temp. Personally, I've never been able to stand the chickeny fog permeating everything for more than a day or so. Might be easier to concentrate your stock and freeze it in a greased muffin tin. Boil a little water, throw in your stockmuffin, you're good to go.

A lot cheaper than mine too. I took my 150W crockpot, divided by 1000 to get the kilowatts. Multiply by the number of hours you want to run the appliance to get kilowatt hours and times the cost per kilowatt hour to get your total cost. Mine is $94.50 to run a crockpot for a month, round the clock.

Thanks to Elery for the formula. :-)

I also think that adding cold ingredients regularly would bring your temperatures down elow the safe stage too many times to make me comfortable. I just make a big roaster full and can it in the pressure canner, so I have a pint whenever I need it, no freezer room for stock.

John, why don't you freeze it in smaller containers?

Annie

Perpetual stock pots is a very common thing in Chinese cooking. It is a highly advertised quality practice for restaurants. Some claim to have their stock pot going for hundreds of years nonstop.

With an insulated, covered, and precision temperature (+- less than one degree F) controlled sous vide cooker, you can probably run it at reasonable low cost. In winter time, all the heat/energy loss is recaptured in heating your house.

My preference is to freeze pressure cooker stocks so that I can have chicken, beef, pork, fish ---stocks separate.

dcarch

It was common all over Europe and North America to have a "perpetual stew" cooking, even medievel cooks had a pot always going. The Polish had "bigos", the French had Pot-au-feu, nearly every culture has a "perpetual stew" in its background.

However, the crockpot cannot heat quickly enough to compensate for the removal of the lid and the addition of other ingredients, it could stay at a temperature low enough to be unsafe for unknown periods of time.

Annie

I confess I didn't calculate the energy use myself, just read it off "the internet". Bad boy!

Okay, here's the calculation, and it does not look near as good as I thought.
120 volt x 1.0 amp = 120 watt (1.0 amp is typical for a crock pot on "low")
120 watt x 720 hours / month / 1000 = 86 kilowatthours (kwh) / month
$0.11/kwh (typical residential rate here in PDX) x 86 = $9.50 / month

The problem, I use, is that the typical cheap crockpot is a very crude tool. It doesn't use a thermostat to switch power on/off to maintain a given temperature, but instead simply keeps heating at whatever setting you choose.

As dcarch says, a thermostat-controlled device - like a sous vide cooker - would be better. dcarch, have you by any chance measured the energy consumption of your sous vide cooker using a Kill-A-Watt or similar?

I'm going to try it anyway, and if it works I'll figure out what to do about the energy usage.

I know, I could simply freeze stock in ice cube trays. What I'm trying to do is have stock ready for immediate use all the time, to deglaze a pan or simmer some couscous or braise a little bit of meat. If I can do that for negligible cost then the convenience may be worth it. But probably not for $114/year . . .

Sorry for the misinformation :-(

Wow, John, that's still pretty cheap. Here my charge per KWH isn't the problem. Looking at my bill they've also added electric delivery charges, electric distribution charges, electric interim surcharges (what the heck IS that?), along with Power Supply cost Recovery charge, a renewable energy surcharge, a system access charge, a regulatory asset recovery charge, an energy optimization surcharge, a securitization charge and a securitization tax charge. All charged per KWH.

I did use 150 W as my base, not 120 W and since my bill is very confusing, I also made an error as a small portion of my usage was over the threshold at which you are billed a much higher rate. My actual cost for 720 hours at 150W would be $11.66.

Geez, I should have made Elery do the math, since he had to correct it anyway!

Annie

So why wouldn't it all evaporate away or be so reduced as to change the flavor? Wouldn't replacement of materials also needed to be figured into the equation?

You didn't say what age your crock pot is? I have one from the early 70's, one from the early 80's and a small one that is missing its lid. The more recent models seem to cook at a higher temp than the earlier models. This is the result of the government thinking we needed intervention to keep from poisoning ourselves. If you have a modern version it might boil too much rather than simmer.

Teresa

Everyone whose worried about it being unsafe should remember what he ate not too long ago and lived. Some unrefrigerated pressure cooked pork- I don't recall the details.
So I say go for it!
Don't worry about the cost, you'll get bored with it before it's any substantial amount anyway. Hobbies require a little financial flexibility.

Robin, crockpots are designed so as to prevent evaporation, so I didn't factor that in, as I felt it to be a small part of the equation. the change of flavor is a given, the stock will never be the same twice, that's part of the allure, I guess.

If I tried this, I'd have a thermometer ready to check temps and times, at the very least.

Annie

I knew it was too good to be true.....

Once the food starts to boil, the temperature is around 212 F. Any more heat will only make the water boil away faster and the temperature will not go any higher.

For the pots which you cannot lower the boiling any lower with the pot's built-in thermostat, you can buy a motor speed control to override it. The speed control will allow you to adjust the setting to as low as you want.

The motor speed control I am showing will control up to 1,800 watts.

Set the speed control at the lowest desirable setting, and throw a blanket over the pot, you will be using very very little electricity.

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful: speed control

"---As dcarch says, a thermostat-controlled device - like a sous vide cooker - would be better. dcarch, have you by any chance measured the energy consumption of your sous vide cooker using a Kill-A-Watt or similar? ---"

John, no I have not worried about it much because my cooker is insulated, besides, with sous vide, I am enjoying the cheapest cut of meats with plenty of savings.

dcarch

Everyone whose worried about it being unsafe should remember what he ate not too long ago and lived. Some unrefrigerated pressure cooked pork- I don't recall the details.

yes, dinner is a process of inoculation for me.

Unearthed the crockpot - from the shelf it was on, next to the juicer, pasta machine, bread machine, lobster cooking pot, and heaven knows what other junque we just had to have - set it on the kitchen counter, poured over the stock from the range, set to ''low'', endured much scoffing from SWMBO, and now - we'll see. I wonder if this is how Edison felt? Including the scoffing?

It is a older machine, maybe 15-20 years old despite being virtually ''as-new'' - not being used will do that - so hopefully ''low'' really is.

Please report in about every 8 hours so we know all is well....someone will alert the Media if you seem to be missing and we suspect you may have succumbed to the Crock Pot Poison.
And I am sure you know the market's down....so watch what you spend on electricity....;-Q

The accurate way to check how much any electrical appliance is using, and the cost of it, is to use a Kill-a-Watt Meter to monitor the actual use based on the amount you pay per kwh. I bought mine from Amazon.com and used it to check all kinds of electrical appliances in the house.

Examples:
-To bake a loaf of bread in my Zojirushi bread machine - .35 kwh for the total cost of 2-cents (and nearly all of that was during the baking).

-The refrigerator - after checking it for 507 hours - it would cost an average of $29.01-year, or 7-cents per day.

-Our Sun Cloud Infrared Heater, which we use as our main source of heating in the house in the winter, costs an average of 2-cents per hour to run after checking it for 543 hours.

-It costs 21-cents to steam distill a gallon of water. The least expensive (fill your own bottles) RO water I can purchase is 35-cents. We use this water for our humidifiers in the winter.

-I know which appliance uses the least amount of energy and takes the least amount of time to heat 5-cups of water - out of the microwave, induction hot plate and the electric kettle, the electric kettle was the winner: 5-minutes using .11 kwh.

Personally, I'd hate the constant smell of something cooking before I worried about food poisoning (and I'm a food safety freak) or the cost of the electricity.

I only have a small crock pot, but out of curiosity, I'll attach the Kill-a-Watt Meter to it and cook something to see how much energy it's pulling.

-Grainlady

It is easy to make stock in a crock pot.

But the idea of stock that is left to cook for 24/7 doesn't appeal to me. It is the taste of the stock I wouldn't like.

Ann

Sounds a little dangerous, from a house-burning-down point of view. And a little yicky, I must agree with Ann. And won't the smell permeate your home always and forever?

Anyway, Bumblebeez is probably right...

:)

I've used a crockpot interchangeably with a cast iron round roaster on induction and there isn't much difference, but with induction you can add cold stuff and bring it to temp ASAP.

Test:
6-hours
6-cups of water (that's all my 100 Watt Crock Pot can hold)
Set on HIGH
Used .58 kwh
Total: 4-cents of energy used

Note: Keep in mind for comparison, my side-by-side refrigerator (no water dispenser or ice maker) uses 7-cents per day for electricity, so I would consider a Crock Pot for cooking a convenience, not necessarily a good way to save energy. Microwaving and stir-frying will save more energy than a slow-cooker.

The kitchen is noticeably warmer due to the simmering Crock Pot, as well.

-Grainlady

Yet another reason to chuck the pot and get something with a control on it rather than spending the money on an adapter for it. I personally suspect far more than 25% of slow cookers are collecting dust with the Veg-O-Matic.

I too don't understand why you're freezing in gallon blocks? Maybe a pint or quart freezer bag or the muffin tin as suggested.

It'd be worth the try to see what you think and if you're really going to do this, regardless the cost. Do you really use that much stock? Do you really like the smell all the time?

BTW, to get your kwh cost, don't simply look at the rate on the electric bill. You need to take the total bill amount and divide by the number of kwh used. And you should do this for a year's worth of bills to get a better idea of your average cost. My bill also includes taxes, stadium fees and other things that add up. My last bill was 19â/kwh! Although mine averages more like 12â-14â/kwh. So Grainlady, you're getting a bargain rate on 'trizity! This area is kind of mid-range nationally on electric rates.

If you really need and want this then really cost would be a secondary thing to me.

Sorry for the blatant hijack, John, but I have to ask Grainlady: Taking the average of some of the energy calculations you've posted, I gather you pay about 8 cents a KWH. I've googled Sun Cloud heaters and from what I've found they are 1500W units. So how do you "run" one for 2 cents an hour? (Also wondering how one heats a house with a space heater, but that's a different topic altogether!)

John - I'm with those who think the smell would become sickening in short time. But if I wanted to do it, I'd use an induction hob. Even on low, my crock pot would be far too hot. Except when adding ingredients - then it would be far too cool.

foodonastump-

The Sun Cloud is not just a "space heater", it's an infrared, thermostatically controlled heater that performs more like a furnace than a warm-your-toes-under-your-desk space heater. We've owned nearly every style of "space heater" there is to compare it to. It's designed to warm much larger spaces (1,000 sq. ft.) more efficiently than other space heaters. It's a more comfortable heat and it's the same temperature all around the rooms. No hot or cold spots. Doesn't rob the humidity out of the air.

We only heat the main area of our home (living room, dining room, kitchen, guest bathroom - close the 3 bedrooms and master bath off - we don't heat the full basement - 1,372 sq. foot house) and maintain a cool 62-67 degrees F.

We've used a Sun Cloud as our main source of heat in two different homes and have gotten the same results over an 8-year period. The only time we run our whole house furnace is during extreme cold (last winter we got down to -15 - but that's not normal), and even then we turn the furnace to a very cold temperature so it only comes on infrequently (usually at night). Passive solar heat helps during the day, and NO windows on the north side of the house. I do a lot of dehydrating in the winter, so the residual heat from it also helps.

We keep the furnace FAN going constantly, and that distributes residual heat to all the rooms, so the unheated bedrooms don't usually get below 57-degrees F. The basement also stays in the mid-50's. Our wintertime utility bills are less than half what our neighbor's are, in homes of similar size with two adults in the house hold. Our home is 5-years old and very energy efficient.

We also add a layer of bubble wrap to our windows for additional insulation (see link below), and the doors (2) are covered floor-to-ceiling with insulated drapes.

We gave Sun Cloud Heaters to our two adult children and they get the same energy-savings we do. We purchased ours locally and they also service the heaters, although we've never needed any. We have replaced one bulb. I know 8 families who use the Sun Cloud as their primary source for heat.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Build-it-Solar - Bubble Wrap Window Insulation

My ex bought some of those heaters, he bought this big 5000 square foot house with NO HEATING SYSTEM (because he's a dumb a$$, this is Michigan, for crying out loud). He fell for one of those "heat your house" heaters, actually he bought three.

He was happy as heck until he got his first monthly $600 electric bill, LOL. He has since installed a furnace.

Annie

Actually, the Sun Cloud heater is just a normal electric resistance forced air space heater. It is not exactly an infrared heater. It uses infrared lamp heat source internally, (and I don�t understand why) but it does not heat by infrared. It heats up the air, and the fan circulates the hot air. It is a 1,500 watt electric heater, it is impossible for it to be more efficient than any other 1,500 watt electric heater. 1,500 watts x 3.412 BTU = 5,118.21 BTUs total heat out put.

All electric heaters are by definition equally 100% efficient, no more and no less. The only electric heater that can be more efficient than 100% is a heat pump mechanical system.

The most efficient way to keep warm, in descending order:

1. If your room is 100% mirrored and well insulated, you do not need any heating source. The mirrors reflect your body heat (infrared radiation) back to you. There are houses designed to take advantage of this law of physics. This is also how survival thin mirrored plastic film works.

2. Heat up a couple of those gel packs (phase change) in the microwave and put them inside your clothing. They will keep you warm for a couple of hours.

3. True radiant heater. The ones that have reflectors and you can see the red heating elements. A radiant heater heats you directly by infrared radiation beamed at you. It does not use the energy to heat up the room air and room furniture. A radiant heater can be used outdoors, loading docks, outdoor restaurants, etc.

4. A forced air heater, unless properly located, can actually cool you down, unless the heated air is hotter than your body and your body is not wet.

dcarch