Taking The Plunge Ag

[spog]

after drooling in the gallery i am now going to set up my own brew tower,after 4 yrs of k@k and partial mash it,s now time to go for it . i already have a couple of 18 litre ss pots and several smaller ones, i reckon i have the 3 tier design sorted as well as the fitting side of it worked out.but the one piece er 2 pieces left to get is the thermometers,can you fellas tell in your opinion the best type to use and where to get them?

 

[bonk]

if you want to mount them into your kettles the tru-flow or is it tru-tel ??? are the ones to look out for. other things are the digital ones from dick smith or similar places or even the probe type meat thermometers are good ones to use. the main thing to check is that it works correctly, ie reads 100C at boiling (give or take a .5C) and is at 0C in a glass of ice.

 

[dougy]

one of the AHB guys selling a thermom...

"I just listed a 3" x 6" Bi-Metal Tru-Flo thermometer if anyone is interested:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...6128476664&rd=1

Its brand new."

might be a help..

 

[beersom]

the main thing to check is that it works correctly, ie reads 100C at boiling (give or take a .5C) and is at 0C in a glass of ice.

Water only boils at 100 deg at sea level.
I live at about 600 m above at it boils at about 95-97 deg
ice is often 3-4 deg below 0.
As for calibrating....

 

[Guest Lurker]

One thing to think about is that in an un-recirculated system, like an esky or a pot, at any one time there are temp differences within the mash of maybe up to 3 or 4 degrees (between the centre and right at the edge or top). So, to average this out, a stainless steel probe type thermometer which responds to a big area in the middle of the mash is more useful than say a k type thermocouple which responds rapidly to the temp at a particular small location. Or a (calibrated) manual alcohol/mercury thermometer which you can immerse in the middle of the mash works well, but you have to leave it there a long time to get to equilibrium. I find a digital thermometer, with at least a 10 or 15 cm probe maybe 20 to 40 bucks at Tandy/Dick Smith, shoved in the middle of the mash works best. You can move it around, unlike a $100 probe stuck through the wall of the tun.

 

[dicko]

Sounds as tho' you have it worked out beersom, but if you want a guage that you can calibrate easily, the trueflow is pretty good as it has a fine adjustment.
Digital guges are a lot cheaper but you will have to allow for your altitude or of course you just make adjustments with your Promash / Beersmith program with mash and strike temps.
Cheers

 

[spog]

guest lurker, would,nt the digital probe get in the way when stirring the mash,i reckon the mounted probe would be the better option for arguements sake, if at a later date a motorised stirrer was added.yes,no,maybe? i should have been a bit more explicit with my enquiries in my previous post but once you get a some feed back on these ideas or questions it always leads to more. thank,s for the ideas fellas it,s really appreciated.

 

[big d]

tel trus are pretty robust spog.the extra one i have is about 12"long so it just gets dipped in to measure temp then put to one side when stirring or taken out.from memory the one gl has is a thermo couple type where once hes happy with the mash temp its placed through the mash and the lid covers the probe wire so he can then monitor the mash temp.hope this helps


cheers
big d

 

[spog]

aahhh,thank,s for the post,s fellas it is becoming clearer by the day. now it is down to decision time.i have managed to snaffle 3 of those 50 litre ss unmentionable things for 100.00 dollars so am grinning like the village idiot,thanks for the post big d it answered a couple of burning questions ,cheers fellas.