Mate, unless you're dunking your thermometer in your brew, it won't give you any kind of acurate reading. You need to know what temp your beer is, not what the bloody air is outside your fermenter. So unless you've got a probe thermometer in your beer, then I'd say your temp readings are "Fucken useless"...
Which is EXACTLY why i measure the temp's of my gravity samples with a probe thermometer the absolute second it comes out the tap. I don't let it heat up, i have the thermometer sitting in my sample container as it comes out the tap. I know exactly what temp my beer is at.
Who said anything about measuring air temp????
The problem with the stick on strips is they display a range of temps (the ones I have show +-3C) and there's no certainty that it's measuring the fermenter and not the ambient. With such a range and no assurance of what it's measuring... In my opinion they are useless in our application.
Exactly.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
How can you consider your readings (of the stick on strips) to be "accurate"? when they display a temperature range of around 3-4 of those little blocks on the temp strip with each one indicating a two or three degree differential from the next range? Doesn't sound too "accurate" to me. I like knowing to within .1 of a degree what i'm fermenting at and for me, those strips just don't cut it at all.
If you have such an accurate thermometer at your disposal, i reckon, in my honest opinion, youd be better off tearing off the stick on thing and just using your accurate thermometer to measure your samples when you take gravity readings.
I have three fermenters, and not one of 'em has a stick on piece of shit.
For what it's worth, my digital thermometer that i use, i have found to be spot on with those candy thermo's and other mercury based thermometers, but it refreshes it's readout around twice a second so i'm am sure that my temp control is spot on.
I am sure i am not alone with temp control and accuracy within the range i am talking about. It's one of the many variables that when controlled well (everyone's setup is different) mean being closer to absolutely repeatable and consistent brewing.
If you seriously think that looking at a thermometer (of sorts) that shows a potential swing of anything between 4 and 8 degrees like those strips often do is giving you an accurate representation of your ferment temp, i'd suggest is very incorrect.
If given a choice, i know what i and most other brewers would or wouldn't use as "accurate" temp control, and it sure as hell wouldn't be a 50cent stick on thermo.
