Stick On Thermometer

[randyrob]

Hmmmmm.........

Warren -

madness,

i'm quite content with mine, but i guess some ppl need something to winge about!

 

[therook]

Hey I'm waiting for the mini version you can wrap around a PhAT {snigger}. What a way to blow your guest's mind eh? Always knowing what temp their pint is.
Warren -

Speak for yourself Wazza

Rook

 

[kabooby]

I have found mine to be accurate untill you wash or rinse your fermenter with boiling water. They will never be the same again

Even with the fridgemate you need to be careful. The temp of your fridge does not mean that your wort will be the same. Fermentation causes heat

 

[KoNG]

That said Kabooby, i have a sticky on two of my 'NC' cubes (i had them on there for when i used them as secondary vessels). Each has done around 20 brews and the stickys still give a pretty spot on indication in relation to what the fermenter sticky says and then also a probe thermometer...

i thinks they do a good job...

 

[kabooby]

Then you are using better ones than I have

 

[dc59]

Does anyone know how much warmer the centre of the wort will be compared to the outside during fermentation? I've been keeping my fermenter about 2 degrees lower than what I want, but I can only guess how hot the wort in the centre is. <_<

 

[Jerry]

Dravid,

At the height of fermentation the temperature of the wort can be increased by around 1-2 degrees.

Scott

 

[Damian44]

Is double sided tape the best way to resticky the sticky to another fermentor?

Cheers Damo

 

[KoNG]

Damian, i wouldnt go there. best to just fork out for a new one.
you could try it, but i'm pretty sure its effectiveness would be altered.

 

[mika]

Does anyone know how much warmer the centre of the wort will be compared to the outside during fermentation? I've been keeping my fermenter about 2 degrees lower than what I want, but I can only guess how hot the wort in the centre is. <_<

Brewing Netwrok Podcasts discussed this on one of their shows and seemed to reckon the difference would be stuff all. In a thin plastic fermentor there's not a lot of insulation between the wort and the air around it.

Would be interesting to conduct an experiment. Calibrate five thermometers against each other, One thermowell in the centre, one thermowell near the edge, one taped to the side of the fermentor (insulated style), one hanging in air, one in a glass of water or similar substance inside the fermenting fridge and then simultaneously log (computer data logging would be nice, but pen and paper and an attentive scientist would work) all the temps at say 1 hr intervals over a ~48hr period from pitching the yeast. Fermentation heat generated would be most prolific in the initial stages and after that you'll have an answer, or it'll be too close to bother experimenting with further.

 

[Leigh]

I know from experience in the lab that ALL fridges have hot and cold spots (often +- 2-3 degrees), especially once you start putting objects in the way of the air flow...some fridges have better circulation than others...so placement of temperature measuring devices is very important...

As for the "accuracy" of any analogue measuring device, most are +/- 0.5 of the smallest increment...which makes most shop bought mercury thermometers to be between +/- 0.5-1 degree! I'd suspect the average stick-on to be +/- 1-2 degrees...

As for digital readouts that go to many decimal places, this does not necessarily make them any more accurate than your analogue type...

Then we get into the domain of method of measuring of the measuring device...an alcohol filled thermometr (red inside) and a mercury thermometer only read the same temperature at 0 and 100 degrees celsius. This is due to non-linear thermal expansion of both liquids...

So given all these sources of inaccuracy in measuring temperature, people should not be worried about a 1 or 2 degree difference, as the brew is possibly moving around by this much anyway!

The only true way of making sure you have constant and accurate temperature is to calibrate you temperature measuring device on a regular basis in the temperature range you require...not as easy as it sounds

I remember 1 experiment I ran, a temp fluctuation of 0.5 either way destroyed the reaction. Using a 1.5L glass reaction vessel, we could not get accurate and constant temperature throughout, so we got a 200L fish tank (i.e. huge thermal mass) and sank the reaction vessel in the middle

I'll stop rambling now LOL

 

[tangent]

until you wash or rinse your fermenter with boiling water.

Exactly! Then they're useless. I like a bit of hot water cleaning action so all of my stickon's are useless.
My fridge is set at 9C and it's reading 22C <_<