Back when I put this rig together I really couldn't afford an immersion bath circulator, and now that I can I just don't feel compelled to buy one because this works so bloody well. My budget immersion circulator kit consists of an electric roaster, a small pond pump, and an oil thermometer....and it costs a grant total of about $60 and is shown below.
I put a couple of magnets on the back of the thermometer to hold it to the side of the roasting pan because the clip is pretty much unusable with this configuration.
Really the only challenge I've found with this setup is that it takes some practice and about 2 hours for each setup to fully stabilize the temp, but once you get it dialed in it's rock solid and will hold your target temp overnight. I have little doubt this is because the thermostat in the unit is expecting to be reading a large dry cavity and not 10 gallons of water. On my particular rig I've found that 350-375 F is perfect for 145 F bath.
4 seasoned pork chops go into a 145 F bath.
And in about 4-6 hours they're ready to pull. I'm going for an internal temp of 145 F in this case but wanted to let them cool for a bit so I could finish them under a broiler. In this case my "kitchen sense" was a bit off and they were at 120 F when I pulled them. Meh, close enough, just no cooling time needed. ;)
After broiling I pull and rest and get a pan sauce going. Here's the final product served with a Cranberry Basil pan sauce with Brown Sugar roasted Walnuts, Ginger Dill rice, and steamed veggies. Please ignore the "test cut," I had already served the rest :).
If anyone is interested in putting one of these rigs together and have any questions, please let me know. And if anyone picked up on any part of the technique I used that could be improved, please shout out.