Thermometer Broke in Wort

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DirkDiggler

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So I was brewing today with one of the floating thermometers and it broke in my wort. I fished out all the small sphere weights from the tip but was wondering if this happened to someone else. Your beer turn out OK? Anyone know what these things are made of?
 
If the thermometer had a silver substance that measured the temp then it was mercury and you should trash the batch(although I would just run it through a cheesecloth and filter out the bubble of mercury).

If it was red it was probably ethyl alcohol, still poisonous but it is in such small amount in those thermometers and mixed into 5 gals, it wont hurt you. Id just strain the wort to make sure there are no glass shards.
 
I use a Raytek infra-red thermometer. You just point the laser pointer where you want for an instant reading. Nothing but light contacts the wort.

Tom
 
I use a Raytek infra-red thermometer. You just point the laser pointer where you want for an instant reading. Nothing but light contacts the wort.

Tom

After using one of those at work, I've very cautious of using an IR when I want an exact temperature, such as mashing. They are so easy to throw off with lighting conditions, ambient temp, or vapor in the air.

I think the purchase of a nice digital probe thermometer is well worth the investment.
 
does anybody have a good brand name for the probe thermometer? something i can find in the chicago area? ive been using a Taylor one and well, i think it sucks
 
The guy at my LHBS said that he was sick of getting phone calls about this and actually took the glass floaters off the shelves and really tried to push the $15 stainless steel thermometers. Of course people started to complain about him not having any cheap thermometers, so he brought the glass ones back. I guess some people would rather pay $30+ in a wasted batch than $15 on an unbreakable thermometer. After hearing so many stories about this, I upped to the stainless thermometer for my wort, and I use my glass floater for my water tub.
 
As long as the stuff in the thermo was red you're fine. You'd be hard pressed to find a mercury thermo anyways.

Almost done with the batch that I did that on - my rogue hazelnut brown... I really don't mind the third eye :D
 
The guy at my LHBS said that he was sick of getting phone calls about this and actually took the glass floaters off the shelves and really tried to push the $15 stainless steel thermometers. Of course people started to complain about him not having any cheap thermometers, so he brought the glass ones back. I guess some people would rather pay $30+ in a wasted batch than $15 on an unbreakable thermometer. After hearing so many stories about this, I upped to the stainless thermometer for my wort, and I use my glass floater for my water tub.


I had that same conversation with the same guy... LOL

:mug:
 
i have been using El-cheap,o - wally world thermometers - i have a quick read analog meat thermometer , a quick read digital meat thermometer and a large digital thermometer with a alarm on it.

the analog and the small digital are around 3-5*F from each other predictably
but the large one with a alarm on it is 10*f higher than the other 2? - this makes me wonder which one is correct.

where can i get a good thermometer to calibrate my others. one that is accurate.

are the glass ones more accurate than the ones I'm using?
 
Drill a hole in your pot and screw this in.... works great.
npt-therm.jpg
 
Thanks to everyone for the responses. Yeah it wasn't a mercury thermometer, I was just worried about what those little balls were made of. I hit one with a hammer when it happened and it didn't act like lead so that was good. Just bummed me out that this happened, I had just boughten a new burner and starsan both for the first time and things were going amazingly smooth until this happened.
 
My digital probe thermometer is nice, but inconsistent. It seems like it reads a few degrees low for anything. For example, it tells me that my boiling water is 206-208 F, instead of 212 F (and I live in FL which is 99% sea level). I've been trying to make a floating thermometer out of a thick, steel meat probe one, with a big disc display, by sticking it through a thick piece of styrofoam to make it float. If i submerge it, I am worried about water getting into the face of it.
 
I had 10G of water boiling getting ready for a 10G stout batch on Saturday and my stupid cheap glass thermometer broke in the kettle. :mad: That's the second one in a month that broke on me. I had to dump the 10G with glass in it and start over. I was pissed, but I would've been much more upset if it happened in the wort. I'm buying a digital probe today. Screw the glass thermometers.
 
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