No wonder i have a low effeciency!

I did my first all grain a couple of weeks ago. After doing a thermometer calibration I realized the new thermos that came with the turkey fryer are off by 35'. Wholly crap no wonder I only got 62% efficiency. I guess that's not bad for missing mash temps by 35'. WTF. I'm gonna call and complain.

They do make $100+ thermometers that many swear by, I however, don't have the cash. What I do to combat the problem is use 2 long stem thermometers and two floating candy thermometers. Yup that's right, 4 thermometers. All of them tend to be within 4-8 degrees of eachother. I then take an average of all of them. Definitely not the smartest idea, but I get damn near 86% on every brew.

I did a search and they make a $12 dollar certified thermo. I think I'll get one. Probably wont have it by the next time I brew so I'll just correct 35'..

Get a lab thermometer until you can afford a therma pen, they are very accurate and cheap. You will grow tire of breaking them in the mash after a while though.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/12-laboratory-thermometer.html

I swear by my $14 Taylor waterproof digital thermometer bought from Amazon. I have dropped it in the boil kettle a bunch of times and she still works like a charm. And has stayed accurate.

I'm having good luck with my Fisher Scientific "lollypop". Only $25 on Amazon.

greggor said:

I swear by my $14 Taylor waterproof digital thermometer bought from Amazon. I have dropped it in the boil kettle a bunch of times and she still works like a charm. And has stayed accurate.

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I probably have the same one, it's fantastic.

I just ordered a Taylor waterproof digital thermometer bought from Amazon.
Thanks guys, I appreciate the help.

Same here dude! Got a thermapen on the way. Hopefully this is the end of it.

i'm starting to use my fluke temp prob! double use!

I was using the floating brewing thermometers when I first started AG. Had okay efficiency but nothing would ferment out below 1.020. Got a thermapen and found out that while the floaters were dead on at freezing and boiling, they were off by about 10 degrees in mash range and I was mashing really high.

Also found that my Taylor is about 2 degrees off at mash temps.

The good news about the Thermapen is that it works really well for cooking dinner too so SWMBO didn't get to angry at me once I told her it wasn't strictly just for brewing.

I'm really glad I bought it, even though it was expensive.

Sweet! Glad to hear that. I'd hate to have paid that much for a thermometer and not have it work properly. Still waiting for mine to show in the mail.

If beer smith predicts 154 for mash temp, and the floating thermometer reads dead on 154, there probably isn't any reason to be concerned, right?

Maybe I could check it with a fluke temp probe... But a lot of you are pretty much bringing up a good point, how do you check one thermometer with another when you don't know how accurate either of them are?

thetmaxx said:

Maybe I could check it with a fluke temp probe... But a lot of you are pretty much bringing up a good point, how do you check one thermometer with another when you don't know how accurate either of them are?

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i'm going to put money on my $400 fluke!

thetmaxx said:

But a lot of you are pretty much bringing up a good point, how do you check one thermometer with another when you don't know how accurate either of them are?

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check it at freezing or boiling where you know what the temp should be

redcoat_or_rebel said:

check it at freezing or boiling where you know what the temp should be

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That makes sense, archiefl98 is saying while good at 212 and 32 it was still off 10 degrees in between that...

i read in another thread someone needed to adjust for their elevation level because their water boiled a few degrees cooler than 212F

What I did was use my Thermapen to calibrate the two temperature probes I use in the HLT and BK. I used the ice bath and boiled water method to check all three thermometers. The Thermapen was within a ½° at each end in the test. The two cheaper dial thermometers were inacurate at both ends. I couldn't get those two accurate at both ends at the same time. What I did was set both to be accurate at 212. I then checked them at 170° and one was accurate and the other not so much. I use the one that is accurate through a 160° - 185° range in the HLT and the other one that was accurate through 190° - 212° in the BK. I use the Thermapen for my MT till I buy a probe for it.

I don't understand the point of having a thermometer in the BK that only measures boiling or near-boiling temps.

thetmaxx said:

If beer smith predicts 154 for mash temp, and the floating thermometer reads dead on 154, there probably isn't any reason to be concerned, right?

Maybe I could check it with a fluke temp probe... But a lot of you are pretty much bringing up a good point, how do you check one thermometer with another when you don't know how accurate either of them are?

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Sound logic, except for the fact that beersmith is predicting 154 based on you adding grain of a certain temp to water of a certain temp. If your same thermo says the water is 161, and you add grain and it hits 154 (as predicted), that means nothing, as the water really could have been 171, and you add grain and it hits 164, but because your thermo is 10* off you assume everything is copacetic.

You check one thermometer with another by verifying calibration on one. Take one of your thermos and check it in slushy ice water and boiling water. It should read 32 and 212. If not, adjust it. Once you are sure that one is calibrated, you can check the others.

shortyjacobs said:

Sound logic, except for the fact that beersmith is predicting 154 based on you adding grain of a certain temp to water of a certain temp. If your same thermo says the water is 161, and you add grain and it hits 154 (as predicted), that means nothing, as the water really could have been 171, and you add grain and it hits 164, but because your thermo is 10* off you assume everything is copacetic.

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Wow, can't believe I didn't catch that!! Makes perfect sense. I'll have to check mine, it's worth knowing I think.

weirdboy said:

I don't understand the point of having a thermometer in the BK that only measures boiling or near-boiling temps.

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If you are referring to my earlier post. The thermometer in the boil kettle is semi accurate at all ranges. I like to know when my BK is getting close to boil so I have an idea how much time I have before I worry about boil overs. If it is at 190 I can walk away from the kettle, if it is at 206 I don't leave it for very long without stirring through the hot break or adjust the flame. This is getting off topic though. I meant to describe what I did with calibration of thermometers.

I've been through several cheaper thermos, labs and dials (Labs are NOT always accurate either) After about 6 or 7 altogether I was sure that 3 of them were accurate and threw out the other 3 or 4. I then bought a BBQ thermo from Wally World for $16 and that turned out to be dead on, and has a timer and stuff that tells me when my wort/steak is done.

What about all that money wasted on those three pitched thermos? I hear you all ask. Well, the point is I have 4 accurate thermos for the price of one expensive one that could also have been off without my having the others to calibrate it anyway.

By the way, I didn't plan it this way to get a working thermo (That should be obvious) But I'm happy with the way it worked out. I'll never be looking around for a thermometer again!