Broken thermometer

Hello,
this is my first post and I begin by admitting a combination of clumsiness and stupidity. I broke my floating thermometer in my wort and am wondering if it is drinkable now. Mind you, I did not break the thermometer itself, but rather the outside glass that holds the thermometer and those bee bees. Are those bee bees toxic (like lead or something?) or was there some fluids in there that I don't want to drink with my beer? Bascially do I have to throw out this batch or not?
Thanks.

They are probably lead, however, lead isn't very dissolvable. Just filter them out. If the thermometer is unbroken, then that's not a problem.

OldManK said:

Hello,
this is my first post and I begin by admitting a combination of clumsiness and stupidity. I broke my floating thermometer in my wort and am wondering if it is drinkable now. Mind you, I did not break the thermometer itself, but rather the outside glass that holds the thermometer and those bee bees. Are those bee bees toxic (like lead or something?) or was there some fluids in there that I don't want to drink with my beer? Bascially do I have to throw out this batch or not?
Thanks.

Click to expand...

you could find out if its lead by using the simple formula v=m/d. first measure the v of h20. (ml), weigh the shot(g), place in the water, measure the rise of the water,(subtract the new level of h20 (d1) from the original level (d2)) then solve for d by dividing the mass (in kg) by the V (d1-d2). this will give you the density, then look up a density chart to find the known density of lead.

or just try to press it flat with a hammer (don't SMACK it, just put pressure on it.)

if it's lead, it'll smoosh.

If it's iron, it won't smoosh.

Also, if it's iron, it will be attracted to a magnet, but lead won't.

We had a HUGE thread about this a few months ago when someone broke their hydrometer in their beer. That person opted to toss the batch, but I think that might have been too extreme.

After all.. any of you anglers out there have any mental problems from biting your lead sinkers for the last 20 years? Lead is bad for you, but it's not like cyanide or mercury. A lead pellet in your beer for a short amount of time won't hurt you.

-walker

Walker said:

After all.. any of you anglers out there have any mental problems from biting your lead sinkers for the last 20 years? Lead is bad for you, but it's not like cyanide or mercury. A lead pellet in your beer for a short amount of time won't hurt you.

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Plus if you've ever eaten game birds killed by shotgun you'll have had the occasional lead pellet 'pass through' you whole, with your stomach acid doing it's best to dissolve it. If not you've probably been exposed to lead through pollution etc. Not good in high levels (expecially for children or 'mums to be' - but so is alcohol!) but this isn't a high dose. Get it off the bee bees soon as you can, no problem

Plus if you've ever eaten game birds killed by shotgun you'll have had the occasional lead pellet 'pass through' you whole, with your stomach acid doing it's best to dissolve it. If not you've probably been exposed to lead through pollution etc. Not good in high levels (expecially for children or 'mums to be' - but so is alcohol!) but this isn't a high dose. Get it off the bee bees soon as you can, no problem


I indeed have eaten my share and more of game birds shot with lead. Nothing (cough, cough ) wrong with( cough) me. The amount of time you'll be exposed to that is miminual. I doubt it is lead anyway.

boo boo said:

I indeed have eaten my share and more of game birds shot with lead. Nothing (cough, cough ) wrong with( cough) me. The amount of time you'll be exposed to that is miminual. I doubt it is lead anyway.

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You could always try taking the feathers off before you try and eat them to prevent that cough eh?.....

This happened to me as well but my thermometer completely broke. I dumped the whole batch. Made me sick.
I would be a little concerned about keeping the batch. Are you sure you can get all the glass out of the beer? Broken glass is very hard to see in a liquid. I would say it needs to be filtered through a screen or something. I don't know. Maybe the glass would settle to the bottom and not get sucked up when you rack it. But then again...IMHO

If yeast sinks, so does lead and glass. I'd just leave lots of sediment. Small amounts of lead ONCE woun't do you any harm, it is only if on a daily basis that enough builds up in your body to do any harm. Plus the fact that the BB's are glued into a clump probably lessens the exposure even more.

Did you know that Leaded Crystal glassware is 25% lead? It's also used in the monitor/tv screens, and is the major source for the statistics about how much 'metal' gets recycled when you dispose of a computer properly. I suspect that the lead is locked securely into the glass, or we would all be drooling idiots already.... I've always blamed the beer for that, not the carboy...

ETA, Leaded glass is...um...'crystal clear'. Unleaded glass has the greenish tint when thick, like carboys. I dunno about Pyrex, it seems clear....

casebrew said:

Did you know that Leaded Crystal glassware is 25% lead? It's also used in the monitor/tv screens, and is the major source for the statistics about how much 'metal' gets recycled when you dispose of a computer properly. I suspect that the lead is locked securely into the glass, or we would all be drooling idiots already.... I've always blamed the beer for that, not the carboy...

Click to expand...

If you drink from leaded crystal you can blame falling down the stairs on lead poisoning! Interesting...

Caplan said:

You could always try taking the feathers off before you try and eat them to prevent that cough eh?.....

Click to expand...

What, and throw away the best part.

The balls in the therm are lead. It is a non toxic form. Most of the therms out there are food grade quality. Basicly the lead balls are alcohol based. It is safe to brew, bottle and drink your brew if you use a quality therm or hydro with the lead balls, and they happen to break in your brew.

I'm no metal-ologist, but I did go to post-secondy and had courses in metallurgy. I have never heard of anything like this. Is there anyone who can substantiate this. No disrespect Andy, but that sounds a little bit like snake-oil to me.

I didn't mean to mislead anyone. I didn't specify. The balls are lead. Toxic. The mix(redstuff)is Alcohol base. In medical therms its a mercury base. If you are using a therm from a brew shop or food store, you should be safe if it breaks. About the balls. The lead doesn't disolve. The chances of it getting into a bottle after primary, secondary, bottling? Very slim! It happened to me on my last batch. It turned out to be a very tasty batch of red. I'm not a chemist, but this is what I've learned about these items.

did the same thing yesterday except i just cracked the top of the glass. no lead bee bees escaped and im pretty sure that the beer was only in contact with the sealant that keeps the bee bees at the bottom. hopefully no harm done

oooops, posted too quickly