crap! broke thermometer in mash tun!

The bulb didn't break, just the outer glass with the lead shot. I spooned out as much of the crud as I could see. I'm considering throwing this batch into the compost bin and starting again. I'll get a digital thermo too.

I think its steel shot not lead. If you scooped out the area in the mash where it all happened you should be fine.

yeah they're not lead, but next time you buy a thermometer don't buy a glass one. They break in your beer and then you have broken glass in your beer. I'd throw away my glass hydrometer to if refractometers read SG with alcohol correctly.

I dont know man, an errant strand of glass in your beer could really ruin your day. Not worth it if you ask me brother.

I'm pitching it into the compost bin. $15-$20 for more grains, not worth chancing it.

Live and learn. Lesson for today: GLASS THERMOMETERS SUCK!

(I bought an SS thermo to replace it).

I figured he had a good to excellent chance that his gain bed, MLT screen, would catch the glass. If he does get a piece into primary, its buried at the bottom of the trub and I would think he has a minute chance of picking it up when racking. I would go into a secondary just to better you odds. But like Virtuous said it may not be worth it.

You have a better idea of how much glass could be in there. Did it just crack into a few pieces or shatter like tempered glass? If its just a few pieces put them together and see how much glass is missing.

meh. that would take time. time that might as well be spent getting on with the next batch.

good call. This is the only time I reccomend throwing out a batch. Glass + soft tissue = bad day/week/month.

KENTUCKYBREWER said:

I figured he had a good to excellent chance that his gain bed, MLT screen, would catch the glass. If he does get a piece into primary, its buried at the bottom of the trub and I would think he has a minute chance of picking it up when racking. I would go into a secondary just to better you odds. But like Virtuous said it may not be worth it.

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If it was me, and I had a 20 foot grain bed it would find its way into my beer. Thats just my kind of luck

Thow it. I like quality stem type thermometers like www.morebeer.com sells. I don't use glass adjuncts in my mash so start over with the mash.

Just another vote for dumping it. Glass going down your throat is just not worth it.

um, just put it through a coffee filter...

I'm voting against pitching it. You've got a grain bed and a false bottom that will filter out very fine particulates. Recirculate the wort back over the grain bed slowly (perhaps twice), and ferment it. The odds of a non-buoyant object like a fragment of glass making it past a dense grain bed, the false bottom, the whirlpool, and three rackings is astronomical.

And if astronomical isn't good enough for you, strain through a paint filter bag when you rack from the HLT to the boil kettle...

Glass thermometers just aren't worth it, it takes forever for it to read and you have to cross your eyes to read them. I broke mine in the sink when i was cleaning it. So i decided to spend an extra $7 to get a dial with a stem....much better!
(personally I would pitch the batch so i wouldn't be paranoid about drinking it. but if you did make it, then you should come up with a clever name for it!)

I just did this exact thing, broke the thermo in my mash tun. I am not going to dump it though, there is no way any of the glass got through my braided steel... if it did, it will sink to the bottom of my carboy and the yeast cake will pile up over it. Also, I like to take risks, it makes things more exciting.

I would chuck it. However, if this particular batch is that important to you I would filter it using nothing less than a doubled up coffee filter.

FloppyKnockers said:

I would chuck it. However, if this particular batch is that important to you I would filter it using nothing less than a doubled up coffee filter.

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I will call it Daredevil Lager - drink it if you dare

Don't these thermometers have mercury in them?

Not worried about the glass, I'm more concerned with the mercury, but then again we all have it in out fillings(teeth)...

I would call it a learning experience and start over, but if you keep going with it name this one Pewter Porter or Iron man stout!

Most modern thermometers, especially those for food applications, use dyed alcohol instead of mercury for the column since it's not going to poison you - same reason they use steel pellets for the weight instead of lead.

Unless you had a really old thermometer, it's unlikely to contain mercury.

Beer is good said:

I just did this exact thing, broke the thermo in my mash tun. I am not going to dump it though, there is no way any of the glass got through my braided steel... if it did, it will sink to the bottom of my carboy and the yeast cake will pile up over it. Also, I like to take risks, it makes things more exciting.

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Beware of the walking dead. This zombie thread just came back to life after being dead for six years!

aslander said:

Beware of the walking dead. This zombie thread just came back to life after being dead for six years!

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Haha, I like doing that sometimes.

The beer is fermenting fine now, woohoo beeeeer!

Of course this was a dyed alcohol, steel shot thermo. If it had lead or mercury I would unquestionably dump the batch.