Using Copper For A Thermowell?

[alamout]

Hey guys,
was looking around for stainless steel to use for a thermowell for a temperature sensor setup I'm building and it's appearing a bit difficult to locate.
I know copper is reasonably food safe but how about if it's sitting in the fermenting wort for 2-3 weeks?
Would I be better off using some kind of plastic hosing?
thanks!
Al.

 

[Andyd]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. Ross suggested that a better alternative is to use a stainless dip tube, cut in half and crimped shut at one end...

Andy

 

[alamout]

Yeah I saw that suggestion,
I haven't even got any operational kegs yet however,
let alone ones I can ransack.

There seems to be fairly varied views on how much copper is okay to have in food products, I wonder how much would leak into the wort during a full fermentation and whether or not it would be a health hazard. I don't imagine that there would be as much as drinking water flowing through a copper pipe but I'm a little concerned still.

This is an interesting read:
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/dwg/copper.htm

 

[bugwan]

Hey guys,
was looking around for stainless steel to use for a thermowell for a temperature sensor setup I'm building and it's appearing a bit difficult to locate.
I know copper is reasonably food safe but how about if it's sitting in the fermenting wort for 2-3 weeks?
Would I be better off using some kind of plastic hosing?
thanks!
Al.

You wouldn't have any stainless steel chopsticks lying around would you???! Zwickel (a friendly German resident on these forums) filled a hollow SS chopstick with epoxy and stuck a therm sensor in that. There's nothing else lying around that could suffice?

Grain and Grape (Melbourne) sell dip tubes for kegs separately, but you might be lucky if you check with your local HBS, they might give you an old one?

Would love to see some pics of whatever you finally rig up, as I'm doing something similar at the mo.

Cheers

 

[SJW]

I was going to do the same thing but have found by putting the probe under the fermenter, that is sitting on 25mm of foam, I am getting the same results as a thermowell. So I am not going to be bothered. I dont like the idea of have the probe attached to the fermenter anyway .

Steve

 

[SJW]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...p;hl=thermowell

This is an interesting thermowell

 

[Andyd]

Steve,

Did you run a controlled experiment to determine the relative efficacy of the thermowell? I'd be keen to see the results if you did, otherwise I might try to set one up myself.

Andy