Great Little Immersible Thermometer

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wendelgee2

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http://www.drillspot.com/products/69811/Taylor_9940-10_Digital_Panel_Thermometer

This thing is only about $30. It's got a 10' long fully immersible probe. You can dump it into the middle of your mash, seal up your tun, and monitor the temp for the full rest. It can go up to 300F, so you can dump it into your boil.

Throw away your digital thermometers with those finicky meat probes that always seem to get just wet enough to screw themselves up! Haven't you earned it?

The one downside is that there is no on/off switch. You just have to unscrew the back and take out the battery. Not a big deal.

I figure I'll glue a magnet on the back so I can plop it on the fridge door when I brew.
 
nice find. I too am sick of the meat thermometer. You probably can get amazing battery life on something like that even if you don't remove the battery - they usually only use a bit more juice than an LCD clock.
 
wendelgee2 said:
http://www.drillspot.com/products/69811/Taylor_9940-10_Digital_Panel_Thermometer

This thing is only about $30. It's got a 10' long fully immersible probe. You can dump it into the middle of your mash, seal up your tun, and monitor the temp for the full rest. It can go up to 300F, so you can dump it into your boil.

Throw away your digital thermometers with those finicky meat probes that always seem to get just wet enough to screw themselves up! Haven't you earned it?

The one downside is that there is no on/off switch. You just have to unscrew the back and take out the battery. Not a big deal.

I figure I'll glue a magnet on the back so I can plop it on the fridge door when I brew.
Click to expand...

Have you bought and used it?
 
Just ordered mine! I am sure I am being overly cautious here, but do you think closing the top of the cooler on the cord will cause problems? Maybe i should make a hole in/slit in the cooler lid for this purpose?
 
Poobah58 said:
The accuracy is only 1.8°F. That sucks, IMO!
Click to expand...

Ya, its not great, but so far my experience with different thermometers is that unless I spend 100+ on a scientific thermometer, its not gonna be dead accurate anyway. I have a digital thermometer that was about $20 and it can calibrate, but I find the temp fluctuates a lot in ice water (ice that has melted). This thermometer also seems to differ from my analog thermometer. So, how am I to know what is accurate in the 150º? I have no true control in the mash temp range. I decided to purchase mainly so I can monitor the mash temp without opening the lid and releasing heat. I will also stick my other digital thermometer in there to try and get and idea, but I would bet they will be off... probably by 3º or more haha. So which one do I trust?
 
brettwasbtd said:
Just ordered mine! I am sure I am being overly cautious here, but do you think closing the top of the cooler on the cord will cause problems? Maybe i should make a hole in/slit in the cooler lid for this purpose?
Click to expand...

I worry about that every time. I just make sure not to tighten it down too much and hope for the best. :T
 
As to temp...+/-1.8F is pretty poopy...but I haven't had any issues. It said my boil was about 212.7-213, which is about what my wort boils have always clocked in at. As far as mashing goes, we only have the allusion of control. The depth you're taking the temp at can make a 1-2*F difference. And, honestly, when you're drinking the beer are you really going to be able to tell the difference between a 150F mash and a 151F mash?
 
wendelgee2 said:
[Throw away your digital thermometers with those finicky meat probes that always seem to get just wet enough to screw themselves up! Haven't you earned it?
Click to expand...

I water proofed my thermometer cable and probe with heat shring tubing. It's been working fine for years now.
 
wendelgee2 said:
As to temp...+/-1.8F is pretty poopy...but I haven't had any issues. It said my boil was about 212.7-213, which is about what my wort boils have always clocked in at. As far as mashing goes, we only have the allusion of control. The depth you're taking the temp at can make a 1-2*F difference. And, honestly, when you're drinking the beer are you really going to be able to tell the difference between a 150F mash and a 151F mash?
Click to expand...

At +/- 1.8* F thats an almost 2 degrees difference and yes a 2 degree difference in mash makes a difference.
 
wendelgee2 said:
As to temp...+/-1.8F is pretty poopy...but I haven't had any issues. It said my boil was about 212.7-213, which is about what my wort boils have always clocked in at. As far as mashing goes, we only have the allusion of control. The depth you're taking the temp at can make a 1-2*F difference. And, honestly, when you're drinking the beer are you really going to be able to tell the difference between a 150F mash and a 151F mash?
Click to expand...

+1 as I completely and totally agree with this. I would bet that if we could somehow compare all of the HBT'ers you would find that most of us are not as accurate as we think. Basically after you get some brewing experience and you mash at whatever temperature you perceive it to be, you will know if you like your end product. Beyond that it's just a matter of degree.
 
Just doughed in with this new Thermometer! It appears that there is a 3° between my old digital and this one. Im taking the average (since both are 1.8 +/- so the max difference can only be 3.6 between them I think this is a safe assumption) and just reading the old thermometer as 1.5° low and the new as 1.5° high. As long as it works in my system I am happy! Its so nice being able to walk to my mash tun and look at the temp without opening it up!
 
Using this thermometer for the second time today... Wow was it off compared to my CDN pen ($20). I didnt even think to check with the CDN, but i knew something was wrong as i had to add a bunch of ice to get it close to temp! Then i checked with the other thermometer and boom 10 degree difference! I was shooting for 158, but who knows, I could be at 163 or 153! As the mash progressed i noticed this guy just decline about 1 degree or so every 5 mins! not sure how I feel about this thermometer now :(
 
So i just checked both the thermometers in an ice water solution (ice that had melted to form ice water) The CDN is on within a half degree of freezing, the Taylor is 1 to 1.5 high... so im not sure why the 10 degree difference on the mash. And this is after i had stirred for 5 minutes and placed the thermometer in different spots. I guess one or both is not accurate in the mash range :(
 
Guys, I checked my Cole-Parmer Traceable temp probe this morning while preparing my oatmeal and it measured 208F at boiling. That was with just the tip in the water (the steam was burning me). I'm going to try it again when I can get a little more of the probe in the water. It looks like I may be making a purchase from ThermoWorks for less money.
 
I'm becoming more disturbed by these posts. I decided to try to "calibrate" this little guy.

So, I put both this and my standard Polder probe kitchen thermometer in boiling water. While the Taylor took a touch longer to get to the proper temp, it rested at 212.2, while the Polder waffled between 212 and 213.

I used it to take my temperature, and it read 96.8. My digital medical thermometer read 98.0.

I put it in a glass full of ice topped off with water. The Taylor bottomed out at 35*.

I used it to take the ambient temp when compared to my home thermometer and the Polder. The home thermometer read 75*, the Taylor read 78 and the Polder read 77.

I plopped both the Taylor and Polder in my toaster oven set to 200* and the Taylor showed about 2* less than the Polder.

So, I'm not sure what this tells me, exactly. I'm going to assume from here on out that this thermometer is running about 2* low in mash range, given the readings at body temp and at toaster temp.

*sigh*

I'd be open to other options for a more accurate FULLY IMMMERSIBLE thermometer. I can't believe Blichmann hasn't gotten on this problem yet, but I guess he's got brewmometers for his brew pots.
 
I have 2 of these. hey both read 32* in a glass of ice water. They both read 212 at boiling. I use one for my HLT and the other for my mash. Then I use it in the BK so it lets me know when the wort is about to reach boiling. Have not had a single boil over since using these.

http://www.oregonscientificstore.com/oregon_scientific/product.asp?itmky=70477

Id love to figure out a way to mount these probes in the current hole for the Blichmann brewmometer. Saw this in another post:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ZY45&x=12&y=12
 
brettwasbtd said:
So i just checked both the thermometers in an ice water solution (ice that had melted to form ice water) The CDN is on within a half degree of freezing, the Taylor is 1 to 1.5 high... so im not sure why the 10 degree difference on the mash. And this is after i had stirred for 5 minutes and placed the thermometer in different spots. I guess one or both is not accurate in the mash range :(
Click to expand...

Decided to check this while boiling for water for priming sugar the other day. It appears this Taylor is slower to come down with a temp. It got up to boiling with and was only a degree off of the CDN stick. However, once I turned of the heat to the water the Taylor was taking forever to show the temp the CDN would display. It seems that if this taylor is left in hot water/mash it will take a while to get to the correct temp. This makes sense why I had my problem using it the second brewday - had it sitting in 180+ water waited for that to come down to dough in temp, then when i did, it was reading so high. I guess I will need to remove it and only submerse when ready... sorry if this didnt all make sense, im tired and going to sleep:drunk:
 
Reviving thread to say THANK YOU FOR FINDING THIS! I don't care about +/- a few degrees, since I already had 6 digital thermometers and the range between them was over 8F... it's just wonderful to finally have a truly waterproof probe. ALL of the other kitchen ones I have either short circuit or fog up and lose their display in the presence of liquid, despite being marketed as waterproof. This little guy made brew day so much easier!

Mine said 211.4 through the whole boil, which is a little low, but consistent.

Also, if you're into electronics, it comes with a schematic so you can add functionality yourself. You can add the ability to set an alarm at max/min temperatures, save and recall temps, and I think use it as a timer or something.
 

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