Dealextreme, Useful Or Useless Brewing Gadgets

[Phrak]

(mods, it's possible that this is more appropriate for either the G&E or Retail sections, pls feel free to move if nessecary)

I've made a few purchases from DealExtreme (no affiliation, etc) over the years, and every now and then they have a few useless useful gadgets that can be directly or indirectly used for brewing.

DealExtreme is based in Hong-Kong. All prices are in USD and the prices include international shipping.
I've had mixed experience with the quality of some of the things I've bought (read other peoples reviews of each item for a guage), but the DX customer service have always been very very helpful, in all cases crediting the purchase cost, or sending a replacement item FOC.

So, I thought I'd kick-off a thread dedicated to some of the more obvious items. Feel free to add your own discoveries and/or reviews.

Cheap-cheap silicone mousemats sheets
Might be useful for chopping up for high-temp washers, gaskets, etc
Dimensions: 8.58 in x 6.85 in x 0.03 in
Translucent Green
Yellow
Blue

Super Strong Rare-Earth RE Magnets
Useful for DIY stir-plates
20-Pack 10mm x 1mm

Digital Hanging Scale
40KG capacity, 20g Precision

 

[KillerRx4]

I think theres already a thread around here somewhere about DX...

Theyve got stacks of cool stuff uselful in the brewery. Many variations on scales, these ones I have & am happy with. If i was to get another set, I'd get .01g resolution model
Hop Scales

I have bought a number of thermometers from them, these are my 2 accurate ones that I rely on.

This one I use to calibrate mashmaster dial themos & quick spot checks.
Calibration Thermometer

I have a couple of these monitoring fermenters.
Fermentation thermometer

 

[jonocarroll]

Super Strong Rare-Earth RE Magnets
Useful for DIY stir-plates
20-Pack 10mm x 1mm

Just got some of these, as well as

PC Chassis Cooling Fan (7cm)
Rated voltage: 12V DC
$2.60

Free shipping on both = really cheap stir-plate!

I've also bought a set of hop scales a couple months ago, and was very happy with the process. I even scored the 300g max. weight scales for the price of the 100g one! The packaging is identical, and I guess they didn't look too close. :beerbang:

 

[Wolfy]

I think theres already a thread around here somewhere about DX...

Theyve got stacks of cool stuff uselful in the brewery. Many variations on scales, these ones I have & am happy with. If i was to get another set, I'd get .01g resolution model
Hop Scales

I have bought a number of thermometers from them, these are my 2 accurate ones that I rely on.

This one I use to calibrate mashmaster dial themos & quick spot checks.
Calibration Thermometer

I have a couple of these monitoring fermenters.
Fermentation thermometer

I'm surprised how much I've used the Pocket Digital Scale since getting them not just for brewing related things either, almost hard to imagine how we did without them.

The yellow-stick thermometers work well and even survive being dropped into and fully submersed in buckets of boiling water, it's not something I'll deliberately try again, but I didn't think it would survive.

Just set up a couple of the monitoring thermometers, and they appear to be adequately accurate (within about 1degC) pretty much like the yellow-stick ones are. However the alarm settings appear to work only from the 'internal' or unit temperature not the probe temp, which is not what the instructions say and since it's alarming off the room temp it's not really that useful. I'm not sure my soldering-skills are adequate, but I might have to try to swap the contact points so that the alarm actually works of the external probe.

 

[sumo]

Just set up a couple of the monitoring thermometers, and they appear to be adequately accurate (within about 1degC) pretty much like the yellow-stick ones are. However the alarm settings appear to work only from the 'internal' or unit temperature not the probe temp, which is not what the instructions say and since it's alarming off the room temp it's not really that useful. I'm not sure my soldering-skills are adequate, but I might have to try to swap the contact points so that the alarm actually works of the external probe.

Hey Wolfy, do you think the probes will survive immersion in wort?

 

[captaincleanoff]

The cooling coil is interesting linky

Minimum order: 50 pieces :unsure:

 

[brettprevans]

and its chrome.

 

[Wolfy]

Hey Wolfy, do you think the probes will survive immersion in wort?

I have my fermenter(s) in an aquarium-heater heated water-bath, the probe is immersed in that, working fine so far, but I've not had it for too long, best you get advice from someone that has been using one for a while. I'm not sure the probe is stainless steel and it's probably pretty cheap, so I'm not sure really.

 

[MCT]

This one I use to calibrate mashmaster dial themos & quick spot checks.
Calibration Thermometer

Read the 3rd review down for that thermometer, classic! :lol:

 

[Stuffa]

I purchased pocket digital scales from this mob and the digital display doesn't work properly (you can only read half the numbers). I sent them an email with a picture stating what was wrong and heard nothing back so I sent a dispute thru paypal and that seemed to get them into action. They said they would send a replacement if I withdrew my paypal dispute which I did, that was a week ago and I still haven't received my replacement. Maybe I was just unlucky getting a bum unit.

 

[~MikE]

They said they would send a replacement if I withdrew my paypal dispute which I did, that was a week ago and I still haven't received my replacement.

well no shit!

hey if you remove the incentive for us to refund/replace you're item, we'll do it... trust us B)

 

[hairyson]

Digital Hanging Scale
40KG capacity, 20g Precision

We have one of these. One issue is they turn themselves off really quickly. We've been part way through filling a bucket with some grain when the unit switched off!

We weighed the bucket empty, then tared to zero. After filling it with some grain and farting about, it turned off. Turning it back on and hanging the bucket again means you're now weighing bucket+grain. Simple maths, but it could catch you out.

On another note, two nights ago we finally calibrated the volume markings on our larger fermenters by using the scale to weigh out 10kg water, then 20, etc etc. Quite amazed how far off our other guesstimates were.

Cheers,
Ben