Just be sure to recirc water in the tank you put the coil in. Otherwise warmer water will tend to stay near the outside of the coil and not chill as effectively. Keep it moving and it'll work a bit better. I've done this before. Immersion was much quicker and water is the cheapest thing I can buy.
Thermapen is expensive. Very expensive. Especially compared to the RT600C. And the rotating switch to turn it on and off fails fairly easily. Had to send it back in for service twice. At $25 a trip. That makes it even more expensive. It reads rather quickly, although I honestly don't see it...
I have a thermapen and an rt600c. I use the RT600C for pretty much everything these days. Best value for the price for awesome accuracy and quick read times.
I'm thinking some form of ladder-scoop-bucket combination might do the trick of removing spent grains. Spray nozzles, hoses, cleansers and liquid sanitizers are all keen ideas for washing and sanitizing. Or a midget with a scotch brite pad. Whatever your budget allows.
I've had issues with my thermapen, so I bought a Thermoworks RT600C as a backup. 6 months later and now it's my go-to. 6 second read time and it's dead-on accurate just like the Thermapen (when it works).
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GE2XF8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Found the website www.electronics-emporium.com where they listened thermapens in blue for 33 dollars. No contact info for the business. Free shipping offered. Wondering if anyone tried to buy anything from this place? Smells like a scam to me.
Beersmith actually has some pretty decent descriptions of each of the ingredients housed therein. I find myself referring to it for many things including what types of ingredients to add to certain styles of beer.
Check out other options in the labeling forum for attaching labels beyond using the Avery ones. I hate getting those things off of bottles. Turns out that just using plain old printer paper works well when attached with a little milk. And the labels come off with warm water. If you want a...
Heating up the strike for a 10-gallon Honey Wheat ale. And drinking a Cream Ale to get in the spirit!
8# wheat malt
7# pale malt
1# honey malt
1.5# honey
4 oz Cascade (if I have them left... have to check!)
General statements I would make would be as follows:
1. A way to get more head is to carbonate to higher volumes. If priming, add a bit more sugar than usual. If kegging, add a bit more gas than usual.
1.a. Better head retention would be a combination of factors including but not limited...