SkyHighBrew88

Recipes 

Yeah $95 is nuts. Thermoworks (who also makes the Thermapen) makes the RT600C, I got one on Amazon, for $20!





Takes my mash temps in 5 sec or less, just sayin'...

By the way I calibrated this thing in ice water & it dropped and stopped dead on at 32.0F.

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PRIMARY --Star-San
SECONDARY-- Empty
CURRENTLY IN BOTTLES -- Black & Blue Amber Ale
FUTURE BREWS -- DFH 90 Minute, Flying Dog Raging Bitch CYBI clone, Rye Saison

usfmikeb

Recipes 

If you want to do things right, you need to have the right tools. You've already purchased 5 different thermometers, time to buy the right one.

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Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

psymonkey

Recipes 

Thanks for the info, I just picked one of these up! After reading a few reviews it seemed a no brainier. The company really seems to stand behind this product.

In the meantime, I'll figure out which thermos are calibrated close and which are off. The one I'm the most concerned about I've had for less than a month - hopefully they'll take that one back. I'm still shocked. Maybe it's common sense, but I had no idea thermometers had such calibration issues...

JRems

Recipes 

I guess I got lucky , the cheap $5 one from the lhbs reads within 1 degree of my pid with rtd probe.

SkyHighBrew88

Recipes 

Glad to help! I mean, it is from the same company that makes the Thermapen...

Spec's say the Themapen reads +/- 0.7F in 3 seconds and the RT600C +/- 1.8F in 6 seconds sooo assuming it's more than likely in between those to accuracy ranges you're gonna be reading accurate & fast. I will say in the past I had used a standard digital meat thermometer and it easily took at least 20 seconds. It's nice to be able to take a reading or several quickly and be done with it...

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==========================================
PRIMARY --Star-San
SECONDARY-- Empty
CURRENTLY IN BOTTLES -- Black & Blue Amber Ale
FUTURE BREWS -- DFH 90 Minute, Flying Dog Raging Bitch CYBI clone, Rye Saison

BK_856er

Recipes 

When I was a chemistry PhD candidate I taught some of the chem labs. One of the first labs was to teach the concepts of accuracy/precision/measurement using a large collection of decent scientific lab grade mercury thermometers at various reference temps. The spread was pretty dang big! Always verify/calibrate/correct your measuring devices.

BK

jgroesbeck

Recipes 

Best advice you'll hear regarding accurate temp readings. I use mine for both cooking and brewing. Pricey for sure, but well worth it.

Cheers,
JG

mikeysab

Recipes 

I'm a little disappointed in my thermapen. I did very limited testing with it, and haven't really concluded much, but it was a bit of a disappointment so far.

Firstly, I tested it in ice water and it never got to 32. I tested it along side two cheapo thermometers I got at kmart and target. The thermapen tested within. 5 degree of the cheapos. Maybe I did the ice test wrong, but at no time did it get any lower than 33.5.

I then tested it in boiling water. The thermapen never went above 109. I'm about 20 feet above sea level, so maybe that's why, but I doubt it. I didn't test the others at boiling because I had a homebrew club meeting to go to, but I plan to test it further at some point.

The thermapen was very jumpy, never setttled on a temperature, and took more than the advertised 3 seconds to come to a number that didn't fluctuate too much. It just wasn't what I was expecting for the price. Maybe I expected too much, but I feel like I wasted 80 bucks (open box, maybe that's the problem)

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