What is everyones preferred thermometer? I need a new one for all grain taking water and mash temps.
Thermoworks Thermapen. Its worth the money.
[quote=“Baratone Brewer”]Thermoworks Thermapen. Its worth the money.
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definately worth the money.
Worth the money or not $90 for a thermometer is obscene. I personally would like to keep it around $30-$40 or less.
I’ve easily spent far more than that over the years buying cheap thermometers that were inaccutare, slow, or only lasted a few months. I finally got tired of owning cheap thermos. Once you own a Thermapen you won’t go back.
I found this one recommended by a few members of this forum and I love it. It’s very accurate but a little slow. It’s still fast enough for me to use for most of my needs though, and it’s much better than anything else I’ve tried in the same price range.
That thermapen is slick business and it is on my short list.
But currently I own the Blichmann weld less bi metal on my mashtun and use the ADN/ Proaccurate digital for spot checks that NB sells for $16 bucks and I find both accurate and have never needed to adjust the calibration in 8 years I have owned both. I check at boiling and freezing points along with a NIST traceable glass thermo in a 130f thermo well every 6 mo’s or so and these two always check out. The ADN also reads pretty dern fast too. Within seconds.
That’s why I’ve got a Thermopen on my wishlist. I’m sure I’ve spent that much in the last few years, too.
Just ordered a Thermapen myself. The last 3 brew days have seen the demise of one cheap thermometer each. How can they be so inaccurate?! I remember the first time I went to calibrate one, I used ice water. This is apparently only good for calibrating at 32 with cheap ones. I was 8 degrees off on my mash. Just for fun, I looked up what would have a boiling point around 150…Tetrahydrofuran. I think ethanol is in the 170s, but they send you to prison for that one. :o
I’m a recent Thermapen convert. Unfortunately haven’t used it in a brew session yet though. Granted, it was $89 or whatever, but in my 2 years of brewing I’ve spent at least 1/3 of that cost on thermometers that I really don’t think were accurate. I have a feeling that my beers will be getting better now that I know I’ll hit my mash temps accurately.
Granted I used money I got as a christmas gift from some bosses, so it made it easier to justify the purchase.
PLUS, it just looks bad@$$. I got the bright orange one. Now I’ll never worry about not being able to see my thermometer amongst other brewing tools.
I’m going to pile on with an alternative and a question I was planning to ask anyway.
I picked up one of these a couple weeks ago and have been very happy: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low … t600c.html.
I ran into problems this weekend that I eventually discovered were due to inaccurate temp readings in my mash tun (10 gal. beverage cooler). I’m looking for an accurate, easy solution to monitor mash temp within a closed cooler. I’m thinking of getting a high quality handheld unit with thermocouple (like some of these: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/handheld/) and drilling a hole in the top of my cooler, so I can dangle it into the grainbed. Anyone have experience with this or other good methods?
I have a question. My thermometer is a digital type used for monitoring meat temperatures, its actually a two pack of thermos, one a handheld that can be jabbed into the meat, the other that can be left there and then it sends a relay to a wireless handheld device. I got the set on clearence at costco for $17 and I use them both while brewing. My question. If they measure spot on when checking freezing and boiling temps, what’s the chance that they are that far off on temps in between? I have never been too concerned about this before, but now after reading everyone googoo and gagga over their $90 thermos I am wondering if I may be selling myself short?
After growing increasingly frustrated with an assortment of laboratory (accurate but glass breaks so easily) and digital thermometers (accuracy? yuh right…) I have been delighted with this digital:
Taylor 9842 Commercial Waterproof Digital Thermometer
available at amazon.com for $11.95
It’s fast, easy to read, supposedly waterproof although I do not intend to test that, accurate and recalibrate-able
I got a cheap digital probe themometer from Kohl’s of all places. It was around $30, but it was on sale at the time. I’m sure I didn’t pay more that $20. I like having the probe to put in the pot or cooler and be able to close the lid. I also like setting the tempature alarm to remind me. I will probably test it soon to ensure accuracy.
I use a Maverick-732 for smoking meats and plan to use this for my first all grain.
Think it can be found for $60-$70. This could work for kcbeersnob for his plan.
I got a cheap digital probe themometer from Kohl’s of all places. It was around $30, but it was on sale at the time. I’m sure I didn’t pay more that $20. I like having the probe to put in the pot or cooler and be able to close the lid. I also like setting the tempature alarm to remind me. I will probably test it soon to ensure accuracy.
Sooner do you know which one it was?
This is the best thermometer without a doubt IMO. Who wants to open their mash tun and lose heat to take a reading? This thing is accurate, waterproof, and heat-resistant. And it can fit through the lid of a cooler. I’ve bought enough cheap thermometers over the years to pay for 5 of these.
Iceman - it was the Food Network digital probe thermometer. You can find it on their website. Hope it helps
Are you using this in your mash tun and your boil kettle? How long is the cord for the probe?
I use it in heating my strike water with the lid on and in the MLT cooler to monitor the temp. The probe cord is several feet long. It works great, assuming it is giving the correct temp.
I set the temp and alarm, then put the probe in the kettle for my strike water. When the alarm goes off, I dough in and move the probe to the MLT. After mashing it goes into some star san until chilling or if I am brewing alone, I will set it to just below boiling and put it into my wort for the hop schedule.