BreezyBrew
IPA is my spirit animal
I'm an all grain brewer, and am looking to purchase my next equipment. If you were going to buy one of these items, which would it be and why?
Ditto on the thermometer as the first choice. Cheap ones are just not accurate enough for all grain. The thermapen is, but since it's a hand held it's a pain to use (literally depending on how hot what you are measuring is!) I went with this (the +- .2 C) and love it. I just leave the probe right in the mash tun, kettle, or whatever else I need to monitor. The unit velcro's nicely on the side of my brew bench where I can see it. It's great for heating infusion or sparge water.
http://vwrlabshop.com/vwr-waterproof-thermometers/p/0013422/
I'd go with the refractometer next. It's nice for taking gravity samples on the fly as you run off your mash. Just a few drops and you're good to go. The only down side is alcohol throws off the calibration so they're a pain to use post ferment. There's a calculation that gets them close but I just use my hydrometer for FG. The convenience during the mash more than makes up for the draw back in my opinion.
PH monitoring isn't necessary with proper attention to grain bill and water salts. You can actually calculate what it's going to be without monitoring (see "How to Brew", Palmer). You'll know if you were way off by poor efficiency, but it's really not hard to get it right the first time...
I'm not sure how you get rid of your hydrometer completely as refractometers have issues when taking FG readings. The alcohol gives and unreliable reading once it's present (as far as i know, and i don't know it all). Feel free to correct me on that.
True, but there are calculations you can do post fermentation that will adjust your number for the alcohol. They aren't dead on, but are close enough for most people not to really worry. I haven't used my hydrometer to take an FG in years.
I'm not sure how you get rid of your hydrometer completely as refractometers have issues when taking FG readings. The alcohol gives and unreliable reading once it's present (as far as i know, and i don't know it all). Feel free to correct me on that.
Ditto on the thermometer as the first choice. Cheap ones are just not accurate enough for all grain.
I have not found my Brewzor Phone App to be wrong when checking FG so far. But I admit it's almost as easy to check FG with a hydrometer too.
That being said, a thermapen is a well made device and can deliver stable temp readings in 2-3 seconds...that is why it is preferred by homebrewers.
From the few times I actually took a reading with both, I didn't find it really was off much at all, less than a point usually. Now, that might be a bigger swing with a higher alcohol beer, but, again, was never off by enough to ever worry about.
That may well be the case. I haven't used it for measuring a really big beer. I think a brew day is in order!!
What do I really want, Barleywine, RIS, or...???
I ferment in buckets and to check a gravity reading I pull off the airlock, insert a straw through the hole and remove enough beer to check with the refractometer. If you feel the need to check a sample 3 days in a row before bottling, repeat the process. It saves me having to pull the lid off the bucket to get a sample.
Personally I would get the refractometer. I never have to wait for samples to cool to make sure my pre-boil gravity is correct. Plus it only takes a few drops. I have not regreted buying mine. Makes checking progress in fermentation a snap too. Don't have to waste a bunch of beer to check.
I would replace the thermapen with a good partial immersion lab thermometer They are between cheap and absolutely accurate. I just leave mine in my mash.
I wouldn't worry too much about the pH meter until later. If a person was just getting into all grain then I would be more concerned about temperatures and extractions. For a majority my your recipes I don't need to worry about pH.
So really you can pick up a decend refractometer and a lab thermometer for teh same cost of a thermapen.
I'm an all grain brewer, and am looking to purchase my next equipment. If you were going to buy one of these items, which would it be and why?
The labs i have worked in never report to the hundredth as it's mostly not needed and to the tenth will do you just fine. Even if your water is completely jacked up. I haven't paid much attention to the pH of my mash. Mostly because my beers does just fine with out adding that to the process.
If your water is jacked your are probably better of making a dilute mineral water. It's rather easy with perrier and ro water to get moderately hard levels with a pH ranging from 7.7-8.0. Thats what i use at work for a certain task.
I'm not saying it's not important, just saying it may not be as important to the OP as he originally thought.
Dollar for dollar a good temp probe would still be my choice.
I disagree with this; I thermometer that is good to +/-2 degrees will make no better/worse beer than a thermometer accurate to +/-0.2 degrees. The issue is that even if you can measure to the 1/10 of a degree F, most homebrewing systems aren't designed to adjust temps with this sort of resolution. I would be surprised if you could tell the difference between a mash that was kept at 150F +/- 2 degrees and one that was kept at 150 +/-0.2 degrees.
That being said, a thermapen is a well made device and can deliver stable temp readings in 2-3 seconds...that is why it is preferred by homebrewers. If I had money to burn I'd probably go with this purchase first, then refractometer, then pH meter.
#1 cause of beer not doing what you want, bad thermometer. People are mashing at 200F then can't find out what's making them not make beer. The other stuff is cool, but not needed. Thermapen
A thermapen is going to do no better or worse than a $12 digital (properly calibrated) in this situation.
Ditto on the thermometer as the first choice. Cheap ones are just not accurate enough for all grain. The thermapen is, but since it's a hand held it's a pain to use (literally depending on how hot what you are measuring is!) I went with this (the +- .2 C) and love it. I just leave the probe right in the mash tun, kettle, or whatever else I need to monitor. The unit velcro's nicely on the side of my brew bench where I can see it. It's great for heating infusion or sparge water.
http://vwrlabshop.com/vwr-waterproof-thermometers/p/0013422/
I'd go with the refractometer next. It's nice for taking gravity samples on the fly as you run off your mash. Just a few drops and you're good to go. The only down side is alcohol throws off the calibration so they're a pain to use post ferment. There's a calculation that gets them close but I just use my hydrometer for FG. The convenience during the mash more than makes up for the draw back in my opinion.
PH monitoring isn't necessary with proper attention to grain bill and water salts. You can actually calculate what it's going to be without monitoring (see "How to Brew", Palmer). You'll know if you were way off by poor efficiency, but it's really not hard to get it right the first time...
I have a couple thermometers on my HLT and BK, and they are both properly calibrated. I installed them on the kettles that fit the range at which they were most accurate. These are identical thermometers but one was more accurate at boil temp and one was more accurate at mash/sparge temp.
How do you know the one is more accurate at mash/sparge temp? I couldn't figure out to calibrate mine at anything other than boiling or freezing...
Enter your email address to join: