Making Betsy’s Tempeh in a restaurant or as a small business:
For production in a restaurant setting we tested the Cambro insulated food carrier, S- series, 6 “ deep (see Notes). It could sit on top of a cart. With a suitably sized cooler underneath and with a circulation pump, a UV sterilizer and an air pump it could operate every day, producing about 3 lb. or 18 patties.
Three of these Cambro units could fit on a standard 6 ft table, resulting in a daily production of about 9 lb. or 54 patties.
The air bubbler tube is placed to let the pumped in air exit underneath the pan in the center. On the opposite side we drilled two holes and glued in two short pieces of air tubing for the air to escape (pointing downward, coming out under the outside rim). For our test we used the Igloo 100 qt 5 day cooler with 14 gallons of water as a warm water reservoir. The drain of the Igloo can be easily connected to the pump (see picture on the right), the return flow runs back into the cooler. The heater was located in the cooler. The air tubing was threaded through the 1" water- out bulkhead fitting. (These incubators require extended bulkhead fittings)
To produce larger commercial quantities we suggest using a food storage container or tub. These tubs would be on racks in a heated and well insulated room (since they are not insulated) and would be plumbed like the Cambro (1/2” In, 1” Out). The container we we had available was 26"x18"x9”. A better fit seems to be the slightly smaller tub mentioned in our Notes. If you wanted to produce in a normal room temperature setting, you could use coolers, Cambro units or build an insulated rack to hold the tubs. This would make it easier to expand production when the need arises since you do not have to build another insulated incubation room.
