allanmac00

Recipes 

I have one of those steel thermometers that I use for checking wort temperature for pitching yeast. Would that be good enough to get strike water temps, or do I need a digital thermometer? Mine gets a read pretty quickly, it just seems like it's not as precise of a read as it could be.

Mine is similar to this:
http://northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/large-dial-thermometer.jpg

springer

Recipes 

No you don"t need a digital thermometer. I actually will be sticking with my analog Fermatap dial thermo. Just calibrate it with ice water and then boiling and you are good to go

__________________
'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'- Ronald Reagan

Boar Beer

Recipes 

Unless you have something special you need a digital
and you need to take a little time to be sure your mash temp is where you want it. Don't rush this step

McKBrew

Recipes 

Two conflicting answers. Get a thermometer that is readable and works for you. Personally I like my oven thermometer with a probe. I waterproofed the probe with silicone tubing and tie wraps. I prefer to keep it in the mash the whole time just so I can monitor temps (I brew outdoors). The crappiest thing about thermometers is that no two read the same, and you just have to compare a couple and get an idea of which one you are going to put faith in.

springer

Recipes 

reasoning?

Why I ask is if you peruse the threads you will see a lot of people have had issues with digital thermometers. I have been through at least 4 myself . I am going to drill my MLT to accept the fermentap thermo so I don't need to open the cooler to see my mash temps. But in reality once I hit the temp and close it up it may lose a 1° to 2° in an hour.

__________________
'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'- Ronald Reagan

allanmac00

Recipes 

Perhaps a dumb question, but how do you calibrate it?

springer

Recipes 

If your thermo is like mine there is a little screw on the backside of the face . To calibrate all you need do is place it in a glass with crushed ice and water dont let the probe touch the side or bottom in a few minutes the water will be @32° and so should the the thermometer. If not adjust it up or down with that screw .You really dont need to the boil side but I do to see if its linear in temp. Never had one off by more the 1° when the lower temp is set correctly

__________________
'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'- Ronald Reagan

Got Trub?

Recipes 

If it lacks a calibration screw you just have to either remember or write down the amount it is off.

My Brewmometer is spot on and I use it to calibrate my other thermometers. The digital one I just bought to replace the last one that I dropped in hot water (anyone else done that?) is off by 5F. They are NOT inherently more accurate then non-digital. They all have to be calibrated.

GT

BeerPressure

Recipes 

I use a regular old dial thermometer for my mash.

double_e5

Recipes 

I have one of both that read the same so the one that gets grabbed is the one that gets used.