New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Brewing => Equipment => Topic started by: Gil Breau on May 09, 2011, 12:11:32 PM
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This weekends adventures in mashing really bugged me.
I've got a digital therm on a rope, and a normal probe therm that comes with a turkey fryer.
(http://image.presidentschoice.ca/presidentschoice/GM_PRODUCTS/19102.jpg?wid=100&hei=100&cvt=jpeg)
The digital is a mess lately. Granted, I know there are going to be hotspots in my mash kettle, given the copper manifold, but even still, I was afraid of using the stupid thing. Basically, I'd dump it in three spots, one near the edge, one dead center, and one halfway between. The stupid thing would jump from 149 to 160 in the same spot, and then settle at 151...was making me panic.
Same thing with the chilling. I try and put it near the middle, but the wort is definately cooler at the bottom, somewhere the probe can't reach without ruining it. So I'm pretty sure I'm over chilling the wort (took me over an hour to make the temp displayed hit 80 last night....)
Someone's got to have a better system than this to make sure their temp is right. Im about to burn that digital temp and just go by whatever's on the probe instead, which may be off a few degrees and slower, but somehow I trust it more....
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The thermometer-on-a-wire versions also break horribly if you actually submerse them beyond the metal of the probe. I just go with the all-in-one instant read ones... there's a thread on here somewhere if you search from a while back discussing this.
"instant read" is a misnomer; i've yet to see one take less than a few seconds to settle down. I've been considering trying out my FIL's "laser thermometer", as it's fast - I'm just not sure about accurate yet.
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The thermometer-on-a-wire versions also break horribly if you actually submerse them beyond the metal of the probe. I just go with the all-in-one instant read ones... there's a thread on here somewhere if you search from a while back discussing this.
"instant read" is a misnomer; i've yet to see one take less than a few seconds to settle down. I've been considering trying out my FIL's "laser thermometer", as it's fast - I'm just not sure about accurate yet.
Second that, I've toasted a couple of therm-on-wires.
I also have a laser, but find it to be not really great for brewing, works fine when bouncing off a wall, but found when dealing with the steam and liquids it's not too accurate as compared to my old bbq stick thermo that I use with the heat ports on the geothermal.
This weekend I ordered a site glass to install on my kettle, and got the one that has a thermo probe port as part of the site glass. The same site sells a fairly accurate digital instant read for about $16, so he's sending me one of them too...can never have too many thermometers!
JW
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I gotta make an order online soon i think anyway.
You get it from hopdawgs or canadian homebrew?
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I actually ordered it down south...the site glass with the thermo port is here..
http://www.brewhardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61:weldless-sight-kit-wthermometer-4ezst-240&catid=36:weldess&Itemid=60
and the thermo is at...
http://www.brewhardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:cdn-digital-thermometer&catid=45:thermometers&Itemid=71
I also got the refractometer from there, it will all be in Calais by Friday, going down Monday to pick it all up.
JW
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and the thermo is at...
http://www.brewhardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:cdn-digital-thermometer&catid=45:thermometers&Itemid=71
JW
Hi John - how do you like this therm? I was thinking of getting one - anyone else interested? Could save shipping if ordering multiple in one order...
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and the thermo is at...
http://www.brewhardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:cdn-digital-thermometer&catid=45:thermometers&Itemid=71
JW
Hi John - how do you like this therm? I was thinking of getting one - anyone else interested? Could save shipping if ordering multiple in one order...
Just picked it up today from Calais, I'll let you know as soon as I can.
Interestingly, while in the Ace Hardware picking up the packages in Calais, we were looking at therms in the bbq section and one of them looked SHOCKINGLY like this one, with a name plate.
I'm planning on a little research to see if they are just different labels of same therm, because off the shelf at Ace they were a few bucks cheaper, no shipping, will let you know.
JW
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OK,
I've checked out the ace website and can't find the exact model that I thought we saw on the shelf, so best to not worry about that one.
I'll let you know how I like it as soon as I can.
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and the thermo is at...
http://www.brewhardware.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:cdn-digital-thermometer&catid=45:thermometers&Itemid=71
JW
Hi John - how do you like this therm? I was thinking of getting one - anyone else interested? Could save shipping if ordering multiple in one order...
You can get a thermometer exactly like this at wal-mart. I bought one a year ago and it works great, until you drop it in boiling wort. Then it starts to fuck up. But they weren't the $24 wal-mart says they are. This guy right here:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Taylor-Connoi ... r/13143027 (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Taylor-Connoisseur-Tea-Thermometer-Timer/13143027)
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You can get a thermometer exactly like this at wal-mart. I bought one a year ago and it works great, until you drop it in boiling wort. Then it starts to fuck up. But they weren't the $24 wal-mart says they are. This guy right here:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Taylor-Connoi ... r/13143027 (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Taylor-Connoisseur-Tea-Thermometer-Timer/13143027)
Hehe I saw this at Walmart yesterday - 9.98 just bought one... seems to take five or ten seconds to get a reading but it appears to work great!