Suitable Brewing Thermometer

[Darren]

(BTW one day you will need to test the temp by hand)

[post="54273"][/post]​

Unfortunately, I did this on Tuesday, however, I prefer to use the stomach rather than my hands - I find it more accurate :blink: I knew the strike water was roughly about right (broke the thermometer as I was about to take it's final temp reading), so went ahead anyway .. long story short .. ended up tipping a litre or two down my front as I was mashing in.


Sounds like that was close to a bad injury although I have heard that the "knob" is the most accurate of al brewing thermometers

Judging by the appearnce of a red scald mark, and pain, but the lack of blistering, the water was somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees I should end up with a beer somewhere between dry and sweet.

Flame suit on: I doubt anyone can tell the difference between any beer mashed at either 60 or 68 degrees let alone the 1-2 degrees most homebrewers squibble about

 

[warrenlw63]

Flame suit on: I doubt anyone can tell the difference between any beer mashed at either 60 or 68 degrees let alone the 1-2 degrees most homebrewers squibble about

[post="54387"][/post]​

Hey asbestos Darren :lol:

My methods are very, very scientific.

I just heat my mash water 8c higher than my mash temp. Dump in the grain and stir. Extreme ambient temps permitting I hit the target almost every time.

All comes down to getting an intimate knowledge of one's equipment. Coupled to the fact that 38 litre *round* igloo coolers kick major arse for temperature stability. :super:

Reckon it's got something to do with the fact that 1) they're very well insulated and 2) they've got an extremely well-sealing, tight-fitting lid.

Best $130 birthday present my S/O ever got me. :wub:

Warren -

 

[johnno]

Hi everyone,
I am using a 48 Qt Igloo for a mash tun and cannot say I have noticed much if any variation in the temp. I give it a good stir and move it around to different places but its all the same. If i use about 5 kilos of grain I am at about half capacity. I'm only using one of those cooking thermometers you get at Big W that go up to boiling point.
Having said that I have only done a few mashes in it.
Anyway my 2 cents worth.

cheers
johnno

 

[Batz]

warrenlw63,
I have the same igloo , you may like to do as I have.

I drilled a small hole in the lid then filled with that expanding foam , insulates the lid


Batz

 

[Batz]

So what did you guys come up with?

 

[Boots]

We've still got the monkeys working on it Batz.

1000 monkeys working with 1000 suppliers and we should be able to find the right thermo.

I think we'll have it all sorted in the next few days. There is nothing much decent to be had in aust tho. If you're buying from Aust, I'm tempted to agree now with what people a saying, just get the IBrew one. .... but who wants the easy solution.... not me It's a big world out there.

 

[pbrosnan]

Well, I emailed i-Brew two days ago and have yet to receive a reply. Does anyone know what brand the thermometer is, maybe we can source it elsewhere.

cheers

Patrick.

 

[warrenlw63]

warrenlw63,
I have the same igloo , you may like to do as I have.

I drilled a small hole in the lid then filled with that expanding foam , insulates the lid


Batz

[post="54427"][/post]​

Thanks for the tip Batz. I wasn't even aware that they're hollow?

As good an idea as it sounds I can't say that I experience any real temperature drops over the course of the mash.

Must admit I've had a bad experience with expanding foam (no I didn't try and shave with it :lol: )

I filled a cavity in our wall where an old lightswitch was, covered with plaster and sanded. Had to have a sparky fit a new lightswitch the other day when the new switch (yep that's right) broke.

He couldn't pull the wires from the wall because the expanding foam and basically entombed them.

That said Batz I will give it some thought.

Warren -

 

[voota]

Well, I emailed i-Brew two days ago and have yet to receive a reply. Does anyone know what brand the thermometer is, maybe we can source it elsewhere.

cheers

Patrick.

[post="54559"][/post]​

I got a reply straight away, send off my card details and it arrived today . Just had a bit of a play around with it, and i cant turn it off without removing the batterys. Other than that is seems like its gonna be great, its got a temperature alarm and timer. Dont know what the brand is though, maybe steka but its got so many words written on the box its impossible to tell.

 

[Batz]

No you can't turn them off but it does not matter
I have had mine 18months-2 years , batteries are still fine

Batz

 

[Boots]

UPDATE
---------

We (Roach and myself) ended up buying our Uber-Thermometers. The one we decided on in the end is in the linkythingy below:

linkythingy

Quick notes about the thermometer:

- Control Traceable waterproof Ultra thermometer with probe and cable, -50 to 300C
- Housing is waterproof and shockproof. Entire cable is also waterproof.
- Resolution: 0.1 between 19.9 to 199.9C, 1 outside this range
- Accuracy: 0.2C between 20 to 100C
- Records highest and lowest temperature readings over any time period

It doesn't have alarms or timers.

Cost $67 + GST + Freight

The first impression of the thermometer is how tiny it is. The whole controller part of it fits entirely into the palm of your hand.

"Control Traceable" means that it has a serial number which we can use to verify it's accuracy with some bunch of geeks in the states. I'll leave it to you to decide how beneficial this is. We received with the unit a test certificate certifying that it had passed a heap of tests by this third party org.

I'm very happy with mine. It has served time in the mash, in the HLT, I've even taken a reading on the boil just to prove that i can h34r: . It has also spent a fair bit of time showing the temp of my keg fridge. I haven't missed the timers and alarms (which I initially wanted), and to be honest, I don't think they would be practical anyway in hindsight.

I can personally vouch for it being shock proof. I dropped it a few times ... (in the interest of science of course .. I'm not clumsy ... :blink: ) and she still works a treat.

Cheers to Roach for the help hunting this little gem down. We both put in a fair bit of research on this - and I think it has paid off. Some people will say it's too expensive, but we have every reason to believe that this unit will remain active and accurate for many years to come. If anyone wants any more info don't be a stranger

In australia they can be sourced from:

Extech Equipment Pty Ltd
2 Langwith Ave,
Boronia Vic
03 9761 3300

 

[roach]

I used this thermo in battle for the first time a couple of weeks ago and very happy with the results. very long cord between the probe and the display unit and so i leave the probe in the hlt/mash/kettle and watch the temp change. Why? Because I can . Previously I used a DSE digital hand held thermo and whilst it worked well, I couldn't leave it in the HLT, go back and check the reading instantly. With the cord also waterproof you can leave it submerged without worry. So long as you don't submerge the cord in the kettle at boiling temps.

A number of brewers in the US use this thermo and plenty of posts on brewboard recommend it. A piccy and recent dicussion about it in the us can be found here http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtop...tal+thermometer .

I investigated buying it from the US direct but the price difference wasn't worth it. Extech prefer to send the goods via courier, which makes the cost exhorbitant, but if you push for standard parcel post they will do so as long as you accept the delivery risk. The thermos arrived in 2 days no problem.

Thanks to Boots for his extensive research, which gave us confidence that the VWR was the way to go.

 

[dicko]

UPDATE
---------

We (Roach and myself) ended up buying our Uber-Thermometers. The one we decided on in the end is in the linkythingy below:

linkythingy

Quick notes about the thermometer:

- Control Traceable waterproof Ultra thermometer with probe and cable, -50 to 300C
- Housing is waterproof and shockproof. Entire cable is also waterproof.
- Resolution: 0.1 between 19.9 to 199.9C, 1 outside this range
- Accuracy: 0.2C between 20 to 100C
- Records highest and lowest temperature readings over any time period

It doesn't have alarms or timers.

Cost $67 + GST + Freight

The first impression of the thermometer is how tiny it is. The whole controller part of it fits entirely into the palm of your hand.

"Control Traceable" means that it has a serial number which we can use to verify it's accuracy with some bunch of geeks in the states. I'll leave it to you to decide how beneficial this is. We received with the unit a test certificate certifying that it had passed a heap of tests by this third party org.

I'm very happy with mine. It has served time in the mash, in the HLT, I've even taken a reading on the boil just to prove that i can h34r: . It has also spent a fair bit of time showing the temp of my keg fridge. I haven't missed the timers and alarms (which I initially wanted), and to be honest, I don't think they would be practical anyway in hindsight.

I can personally vouch for it being shock proof. I dropped it a few times ... (in the interest of science of course .. I'm not clumsy ... :blink: ) and she still works a treat.

Cheers to Roach for the help hunting this little gem down. We both put in a fair bit of research on this - and I think it has paid off. Some people will say it's too expensive, but we have every reason to believe that this unit will remain active and accurate for many years to come. If anyone wants any more info don't be a stranger

In australia they can be sourced from:

Extech Equipment Pty Ltd
2 Langwith Ave,
Boronia Vic
03 9761 3300

[post="65110"][/post]​

They look the goods for all brewing temp checking requirements.
I just bought another "Tell Tru" for my mash tun - damn :angry:
I have saved the site in my favourites, you never know when you might need a temp guage.
Cheers

 

[JasonY]

Boots/Roach, do you actually submurse the probe in the mash (the whole thing and part of the cable)? Curious to see how they last if this is the case. I had a much cheaper and dodgier unit from Jaycar that worked for a few months and then died.

 

[Boots]

Jason, I just put the whole probe + couple of inches of the cable into the mash. I've done this for 3 brews (including the one which is boiling now).

The spec's say that the Probe + Connection + Cable are water proof, which is what made it look (on paper) as one of the best digital / probe thermo's for brewers.

Cheers

edited to correct attroshus spelled werds

 

[wee stu]

you never know when you might need a temp guage.
Cheers

[post="65113"][/post]​

yeah, like yesterday, when my el cheapo digital from tabletop and kitchen gave out because of condensation in the readout!! Just as I was testing the sparge water temp :angry: , had to rely on the dodgy thermostat on the birko urn and hope for the best.

I had one once with a nice waterprof external probe, but I left the body of that too close to the boiler and burnt it out :huh:

Looks like I might invite boots round to my place for a little show and tell one night after work

 

[Boots]

Looks like I might invite boots round to my place for a little show and tell one night after work

[post="65117"][/post]​

Now I'm scared ...... :unsure: :blink:

Stu .... Sure I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious. But the answer is no!

http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com/character...-quotes-15.html

:lol:

 

[warrenlw63]

I just bought another "Tell Tru" for my mash tun - damn :angry:

[post="65113"][/post]​

Dicko,

How much did the Tell Tru cost if you don't mind me asking?

I won a bid on Ebay for a bi-metal dial thermometer. However I'm beginning to get a sinking feeling I've been ripped off. :angry:

Sent the seller 2 emails to notify me when he gets the payment and I haven't gotten any replies yet.

Not a happy camper. <_<

Warren -

 

[dicko]

Hi Warren,
I bought mine a couple of months ago and from memory it was $148.00 and it came with a s / steel threaded nipple to adapt it to a bulk head fitting.
The guage itself was $138.00 incl GST.
They are a bit expensive but if you consider their durability and you want to have it purpose fitted to a mash tun or HLT then these units are very good.
What was the price on e bay?
Cheers

 

[warrenlw63]

Dicko,

Cost me the princely sum of $7 plus about $20 bucks postage. Not really the money that bothers me. Thought I had a very good bargain and looking highly likely that I was conned... hook, line and sinker. <_<

Vendor was a first-time Ebay seller. (Go figure) Thermometer brand is/was Trerice.

Warren -