Stick Thermometers - Where From?

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Hi,

I have broken a few stick thermometers (will get a decent one soon!) - where can you buy these apart from HB shops? Unfortunately my closest HB shop is quite a drive, especially just to get one item.

 

[chappo1970]

Kmart, target, BigW or kitchen ware shops should have 'em. Look for a sugar themometers.

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Kmart, target, BigW or kitchen ware shops should have 'em. Look for a sugar themometers.

Nice one chappo - thanks for your replies (even though you're busy building your brew-rig).

 

[pint of lager]

Another source of thermometers are electronic shops, these will be digital style rather than stem. They may also have digital multimeters with thermocouple style probes.

Good pet shops will have thermometers for aquariums and terrariums.

Chemist shops will also have digital thermometers.

 

[Mantis]

I have an expresso thermometer I got from a kitchen shop. A cool thing is it has the 60-65 area shaded one colour and 65-70 another. Must be the target range for coffee foam or something.

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Excellent advice, thanks all :lol: I managed to get one at a local kitchen supply shop, didn't realise there were so many options.

 

[clean brewer]

Excellent advice, thanks all :lol: I managed to get one at a local kitchen supply shop, didn't realise there were so many options.

Just check that they show "correct" temperatures...

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Just check that they show "correct" temperatures...

:icon_cheers: CB

Good point....from experience (bubbles in kettle, steam etc.) it seemed to be right, but any more scientific way to verify?

 

[clean brewer]

Good point....from experience (bubbles in kettle, steam etc.) it seemed to be right, but any more scientific way to verify?

Water boils at 100degrees, boil water and check what temp shows on your thermo.. Some crap gets said about iced water being 0 degrees, to random for me.... :unsure:

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[RobW]

Water boils at 100degrees, boil water and check what temp shows on your thermo.. Some crap gets said about iced water being 0 degrees, to random for me.... :unsure:

:icon_cheers: CB

Not crap at all. Iced water is 0C.
Measure that and boiling water and you can graduate your thermometer very accurately.

 

[Doogiechap]

Not crap at all. Iced water is 0C.
Measure that and boiling water and you can graduate your thermometer very accurately.

Another piece of gold I got from Goatherder was to calibrate/ check against a thermometer for human temps. They tend to be fairly accurate and 40 is closer to the magic saccrification temps in the 60's as calibration at the other two extremes can lead to a larger error in the mid range. That said, do all three and see if there is anything strange the the readings to flag a possibly faulty unit
Cheers
Doug

 

[chappo1970]

Excellent advice, thanks all :lol: I managed to get one at a local kitchen supply shop, didn't realise there were so many options.

Tehehehehehe! Chappo was maybe right?

 

[clean brewer]

Not crap at all. Iced water is 0C.
Measure that and boiling water and you can graduate your thermometer very accurately.

Water:Ice Ratio???

 

[Cummins]

It doesn't matter about the ratio, it's to do with phase change which occurs at 0degs and latent heat.
For a particular volume of ice to melt it requires the same amount of energy as to get that same volume to boiling point[superscript1]
1=reference

 

[clean brewer]

1 cube ice:300ml water or 10 cubes:300ml water?? Be the same??

 

[Cummins]

It depends on the shape of the glass.

 

[pint of lager]

1/3 ice cubes, 2/3 water, stir for a few minutes, then check the temperature, 0 deg C.

Water boils at 100 deg C at sea level. If you are above sea level, the temperature at which water boils is lower than 100 deg C.

 

[jonocarroll]

Water boils at 100 deg C at sea level. If you are above sea level, the temperature at which water boils is lower than 100 deg C.

Without getting too fussy, pure water boils at 99.974C at sea level, with a certain humidity. Tap water has impurities and boils a little lower. Apparently Adelaide water will boil closer to 99C. Same problem for melting ice - the phase transition will occur at 0C for pure water, slightly higher for tap water - this is why you 'salt' a snowed-in driveway.

Depending on how closely you want to reproduce your recipes in the future, a degree here or there won't hurt you - you'll still make beer. If you do a calibration and get close to 0C or 100C you should be fine.