As I mentioned in the description I am using a standard 10qt aluminum stockpot for the main component of the water vessel.  Nothing fancy . . . just a thin pot with no handles and a basic lid.  Flimsy by most standards.

But perfect for our purpose.  Why?  Because its easy to work with, easy to clean, non-reactive, and available literally everywhere for under $10.  I've seen sous vide designs using everything from beach coolers to custom built enclosures but there are some real issues with these approaches, especially with the unique methods we're using in this build.

First and foremost we have inlets and outlets for water as opposed to an immersed element and simple agitation pump.  Aluminum is easy to work with, drilling a hole or two for a hose barb is a quick job.  It is also very conductive to heat, so instead of floating our thermocouples in the liquid we can tape them to the outside of the vessel with kapton tape and still get an excellent reading.  This simplifies construction AND cleaning.