Synovia

Recipes 

It was in boiling water. Its sterile.


Chances are, anything that came out of the thermometer is going to end up in the trub. Just siphon out and leave an inch of beer after fermentation and don't worry about it.

(theres just alchohol and coloring in a thermometer).

Pivot

Recipes 

broken glass = dangerous. these guys are all "assuming" that sharp broken glass will settle to the bottom. I would assume alot of it would, but there could be some pieces so small that they may float at the top.

__________________
On Deck...
Kolsch

Primary
Dark Belgian, Hobgoblin Clone

Kegged
Dark Ale

Bottled
Fruit Braggot, EdWort's Apfelwein, Coffee American Stout

Synovia

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If they're small enough to float once the beer has settled out, they're small enough that they're not going to hurt anyone.

bdleedahl

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it doesn't matter the size, density of glass is the same regardless of the size of the glass (density compared to water is what makes things sink or float in water). if the glass has a higher specific gravity than your wort it will sink regardless of its size (in theory). but small pieces would be easier to stir up from the bottom.

if this was me i would rack always holding my siphon a few inches above the bottom, and leave a little bit behind, and then rack to a secondary to be safer. and then rack to a bottling bucket, and then into bottles, and just pour every bottle into a glass before you drink it and just be aware!

just out of curiosity what did you end up doing?

celts

Recipes 

I had already added the yeast, so I figured I might as well let it ferment and watch the beauty unfold. As far as the filtering goes, I still don't quite know yet. I'm going to call the lhbs to verify that it is a glass outside, I might grab a Whatman filter from where I use to work and use that when transferring the beer to bottling. I figure it has very small pores 25 micron and smaller that i can probably use. Again, its not worth the risk. I doubt there's anything toxic in it. Infection I'm not worried about. It was the loose glass/plastic that I am worried about. So we'll see what I do. I'll let you all know if the future. Thanks for the advice.

Hang Glider

Recipes 

broken thermometer link 1

broken thermometer link 2

using search above, enter broken thermometer and 'google' search it. there are several more links to read through.

good luck with your conundrum!

Cliff897

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Call the manufacturer and ask what the fluid is.

There's a better than fair shot it'll be some FDA approved substance like Ethyl Alcohol and FDC approved red dye.

And of course bear in mind that in the 5-gallon batch it'll be a very attenuated titration.

So even if the alcohol is denatured you should still be OK.

But if in doubt dump it.
If you want you can ferment it and use it to fertilize the wife's flower garden. Plants love beer.

as an aside I just read that some thermometers use mineral spirits too.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2005-12/1134348794.Ch.r.html
Sooooooo you are pretty much being driven into the arms of the manufacturer.

gfyrasng

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Well I damn sure wouldn't drink it. For all the trouble it's worth, it would be quicker to make a new batch than "filter" it to make it presumably safe. Just my .02.

celts

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I just thought a little bit more about it, the less successful filtering would be. Since the yeast had already been pitched, I would have to repopulate the brew for bottling and that would be a giant pain in the ass. So I've elected to dump it. Can anyone play Taps for me?

Synovia

Recipes 

Right, but smaller pieces are more likely to get stuck in yeast rafts and kreuzen and such.