Digital Thermometer Question..

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Hawgbranch

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Buy one of these, & don't look back!!! :)

brewmometer-face.jpg



Ah, wait, you want a thermometer on your boil kettle?
Why?
 
Well, I am still steeping prior to boil and I am also using a wort chiller and transfer when temp is down. Using a floating therm now. Just read several stories of them bursting. I never use mine above 160 so far. Looking to dabble with All Grain soon. Figure its time to invest in a thermometer for the kettle. It is 8 gallons and will probably move to a HLT in the future.
 
I have been toying with the idea of getting a digital as well. It gives you the ability to set alarms...and you can measure daily highs in certain parts of your house...all with one tool. I hear that the probe ones sold at target/etc are actually a pretty good comprimise.

I want to get one that I can put a compression fitting on and put into various parts of my rig at different parts of the process... but I think I will need 2 for that.

Keep us posted on what you find....but dont restrict yourself to brewing thermometers... as long as the one you are looking at encompasses the temp range you need, there is no reason it can't be better than ones that morebeer, AHS, and others sell for much more!
 
I've purchased two separate digital thermometers. Both worked great the first time. They had insulated wires that were crimped into the end of the metal probe.

Problem arose when after I was done brewing, the temperature went all wacky (that's a technical term) It was reading room temperature at 180 F. I put the probe in the freezer and it read at around 50 F. The only thing I can think of is that the water got into the crimped spot that joins the wire to the probe and fried something in there.

Anyone ever have a similar experience?

I'm new to this stuff, so what are the more highly recommended thermometers?

Minors
sends
 
I've purchased two separate digital thermometers. Both worked great the first time. They had insulated wires that were crimped into the end of the metal probe.

Problem arose when after I was done brewing, the temperature went all wacky (that's a technical term) It was reading room temperature at 180 F. I put the probe in the freezer and it read at around 50 F. The only thing I can think of is that the water got into the crimped spot that joins the wire to the probe and fried something in there.

Anyone ever have a similar experience?

I'm new to this stuff, so what are the more highly recommended thermometers?

Minors
sends


I've killed two from Williams Sonoma. It's design for cooking on the grill, but I pressed them into service for brewing. I suppose I'm gonna have to break down and buy something a little more substantial. I have two of the dial thermometers, but I don't trust them as much as the digital.....
 
You can bring the probes back to life if you bake them and the wire lead (leaving the plastic connector outside the oven so it doesn't melt) at 350˚F for about 20 minutes to drive the moisture out of the wire lead. They will read accurately again.

The best digital thermometer I've found, after an exhaustive search, is this Traceable Mini Thermometer with NIST certificate from Professional Equipment. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Traceable® Certificate indicates that the product is traceable to standards provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

I've had this thermometer for a couple of years now. I've had the probe completely submerged in the mash, in the boil kettle, washed it, and everything else you could think of that would destroy a typical digital thermometer from the local houseware store. It still reads as accurately now as it did the day I bought it. I used to test the calibration from time to time in boiling water and in ice water, but I don't bother any more. It's just always dead nuts!

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If you want to use a little standalone probe, I like this one: Amazon.com: Taylor Commercial Waterproof Digital Thermometer: Kitchen & Dining

It's waterproof and recalibratable and only $15. Buy three.

If you want to mount it into your bulkhead vessel, you can use a compression fitting meant for 1/4" tubing. Take out the ferrule (the little brass ring under the nut). If the fitting has a nut with an integral ferrule, you'll have to buy a plain nut separately. Then find the Orings that fit over the probe and buy that pack. Slide the nut over the probe, add about 6 Orings, then put the whole thing into the fitting and tighten the nut. If you don't like the Oring idea, you can also pack the compression fitting with teflon rope.

You might want to shield the underside of this thing with a square of sheetmetal somehow if you have a lot of heat licking up the side of your kettle.
 
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After a couple years of killing all types of digital thermometers with the heat that travels up from the burner, I am now settled on going to a basic mechanical (analogue) type thermometer.

If I kill that one too I am plugging the friggin hole in the side of the tun and will just live with the lab thermometer I use anyway.
 
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