Best brewing thermometer?

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brewcrewjake

brewcrewjake

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Does anyone have advice on which brewing thermometer to use? I used a glass floating brewer's thermometer but it broke in the wort during brew day. Talk about a great way to ruin brew day! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jake
Happy Brewing!
 
It's been addressed before and the verdict is to get a Thermopen if you can afford it. I have one and have no regrets. It's super fast, accurate and easily sanitized with a Star San dip. I use it to calibrate all my thermometers (mash tun, RIMS system, fermenter, etc). If you keep your ear to the ground for deals, you can often get one for ~ $70 but you can easily find one for ~ $90. It's cyber Monday, so look around.
 
Look closer, they have 4 different models. The two regular $25 ones you are talking about only have 1.9*F accuracy. The two $50 "Ultra" models have a 0.4*F and a 0.9*F accuracy.

Also, I would not advise making a purchase with this company. I just tried to place an order for one $50 thermometer, and they wanted $25 for shipping and "handling", even though they are only a few hours away. I got one from nova-tech instead.

Has anybody used these?
 
I like these taylor brand thermometers

Cheap and they work great. the probe wire is fairly durable and can be exposed to liquids and high temps. It also handy for stuff in the oven and on the grill. They don't last forever but at 15.00 it's easy to replace. I got mine at target.
 
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If you use an over thermometer like maida7 said, it will last much longer if you: 1) cover the interface between the probe and the wire in silicone tubing to keep water from getting into the probe tip (which changes the conductance and eventually ruins the probe) and 2) keep the unit it from getting hot (as with any electronics). I can't hang them on my kegs because the heat coming up from the burner is too much (even when I insulated it from the actual keg side)

For the price + a couple bucks in silicone tube, I can't beat them and I can afford to have one rigged into my HLT, mash tun, and boil kettle (to warn me as it is getting close to a boil)... and have a spare if any of them does go bad.

Without having a fully automated set-up, if things are off by a few degrees I'm never going to notice it. And it does read within 1 degree for boiling and freezing... so I think I'm probably ok. I'm mostly going for close when I brew anyway, and I fully embrace the "relax, don't worry" aspect of homebrewing, so I think this is a good solution.
 
maida7 said:
I like these taylor brand thermometers

Cheap and they work great. the probe wire is fairly durable and can be exposed to liquids and high temps. It also handy for stuff in the oven and on the grill. They don't last forever but at 15.00 it's easy to replace. I got mine at target.
Click to expand...

Is the whole probe and wire submersible? I want to have a "real" reading of my ferment temps inside the carboy, this looks like it would work... I am tired of those Fermometers, and having to guess what the actual temp of the wort is VS. ambient temp.
 
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All the money, time, and beer I have wasted from a bad reading thermometer. Spend the money on something good like a Thermapen and check it often.
 
somedudefromguam said:
Is the whole probe and wire submersible? I want to have a "real" reading of my ferment temps inside the carboy, this looks like it would work... I am tired of those Fermometers, and having to guess what the actual temp of the wort is VS. ambient temp.
Click to expand...

I have submersed the wire and the probe in the mash and the HLT with no problems. Not sure how it would work in a fermenter. I'd be more concerned with sanitizing it properly so I did not cause an infection.

Also, those fermometers work just fine at showing the fermentation temp and not the ambient temp. I think you'd be solving a problem that doesn't exist.
 
I use a Taylor thermometer as well.

22762.JPG


Mine has a built in timer, and an alarm that goes off when the water or mash reaches or dips below a certain temp.
 
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I BIAB and just leave this guy in there for the entire mash to see my temps. It is waterproof, it was actually made for liquids. Reads the air temp great as well though. I also use it during fermentation to keep an eye on those temps.

This is the waterproof probe, 3rd one listed, Heavy Duty Wire Probe
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/probe/tc_wire.html

and then I use this little Thermocouple guy
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/handheld/mtc.html

Edit: I used to use one like Grannyknot listed above, but after a few uses it crapped out on me. I'm guessing it had to do with moisture somehow making its way into the probe where it is connected to the wire.
 
I used one of these for a long time before getting a Thermapen. The Thermapen gives readings quicker, but for mashing I still use the other one because I can leave the probe in the mash and have the read-out outside.
 
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I just picked up the thermo works THERMA K PLUS. Probe was free! With probe attached accurate to 1 degree F. In a few weeks ill post pics of my mash setup.
 
I would highly advise AGAINST any of the Taylor thermometers mentioned here. I have gone through several that were wildly inaccurate and would quit working at random times. I got them cheap originally and had several replaced for free to due their malfunction. Eventually I had to give up on them. I was hoping to find something better on this forum but I don't like the idea of a pen that can't get a reading more than a few inches deep into your wort... Has anybody found a good probe style thermometer that works well?
 
Or has anyone tried the Therma K from the same company that makes the thermopen? Seems like it would be just as accurate but you would actually be able to use it with your mash, which you obviously can't do with a pen...
 
Yeah, that seems to be the ticket. I have a thermapen but all the accuracy in the world won't make the thing long enough to give an accurate reading of the grain bed at depth.
 
I bought a CDN DTQ450 for $15 and I will buy it again. I don't know how good a thermapen is, but there's no way it's 5x better. For that money you can also find a used K type thermometer and use any probe you want.
 
Yermom said:
Yeah, that seems to be the ticket. I have a thermapen but all the accuracy in the world won't make the thing long enough to give an accurate reading of the grain bed at depth.
Click to expand...
If the thermapen was the only thing thermoworks sold, I'd go with them. But they sell other equipment that's better suited to homebrewing!

Rather than a thermapen, get this small handheld meter, combined with the "THS-113-372-T" PTFE/FEP TIP PROBE ("Use ... anywhere a waterproof thermocouple is useful.).

Combined, they're about the same price as a thermapen, but the sensor is submersible and you can leave it in your mashtun, hlt, etc for as long as you'd like. Get more than one sensor, and you can move the meter between them without disturbing the process. And for another $30, it makes a great meat thermometer which will make next years' turkey a lot better.
 
monkeybox said:
If the thermapen was the only thing thermoworks sold, I'd go with them. But they sell other equipment that's better suited to homebrewing!

Rather than a thermapen, get this small handheld meter, combined with the "THS-113-372-T" PTFE/FEP TIP PROBE ("Use ... anywhere a waterproof thermocouple is useful.).

Combined, they're about the same price as a thermapen, but the sensor is submersible and you can leave it in your mashtun, hlt, etc for as long as you'd like. Get more than one sensor, and you can move the meter between them without disturbing the process. And for another $30, it makes a great meat thermometer which will make next years' turkey a lot better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, discovered these recently. I actually have this set up on my Christmas list!
 
Cyclman said:
I really like this thermoworks, with a very long probe http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt610b_12+24.html. I check it against a 2nd Thermoworks unit, faster with a shorter probe, they're always within one degree of each other, I also check them both vs. boil temp, since that's a fixed value.
Click to expand...

Somebody here on HBT recommended them awhile back and I ordered one. I love it!:ban:

I learned early on that glass is crap when it comes to thermometers & brewing.

pb
 
monkeybox said:
If the thermapen was the only thing thermoworks sold, I'd go with them. But they sell other equipment that's better suited to homebrewing!

Rather than a thermapen, get this small handheld meter, combined with the "THS-113-372-T" PTFE/FEP TIP PROBE ("Use ... anywhere a waterproof thermocouple is useful.).

Combined, they're about the same price as a thermapen, but the sensor is submersible and you can leave it in your mashtun, hlt, etc for as long as you'd like. Get more than one sensor, and you can move the meter between them without disturbing the process. And for another $30, it makes a great meat thermometer which will make next years' turkey a lot better.
Click to expand...


I have recently been looking into thermometers pretty heavily.... This thread has led to some interesting discoveries, like the PTFE probe here.... But I noticed the TW8060 2 channel thermometer while looking at the MTC. Wouldnt that be a better choice since it gives you the ability to keep track of the HLT temp and the Mashtun on one device without moving anything?
 
monkeybox said:
Rather than a thermapen, get this small handheld meter, combined with the "THS-113-372-T" PTFE/FEP TIP PROBE ("Use ... anywhere a waterproof thermocouple is useful.).

Combined, they're about the same price as a thermapen, but the sensor is submersible and you can leave it in your mashtun, hlt, etc for as long as you'd like. Get more than one sensor, and you can move the meter between them without disturbing the process. And for another $30, it makes a great meat thermometer which will make next years' turkey a lot better.
Click to expand...
How rigid are the cables on those wire probe attachments? If placed in boiling wort, could you keep it from resting against the sides or bottom? (personally i would probably just drop it in the hop spider, but thinking more of general applications.)
 
Don_Coyote said:
How rigid are the cables on those wire probe attachments? If placed in boiling wort, could you keep it from resting against the sides or bottom? (personally i would probably just drop it in the hop spider, but thinking more of general applications.)
Click to expand...
The wires are thin but pretty rigid. I do find that I need to manipulate it to make sure it's not resting on the bottom. But usually, my bigger concern is with the part of the cable that's outside the pot. I try to drap it across to the propane tank so that it isn't too close to the fire, but so far, no issues.

In the mashtun, it'll find it's way to a hot or cold spot, so you still have to stir or move it around to make sure it's getting an accurate reading.
 
Ive been using The Thermoworks Dot:
http://www.thermoworks.com/DOT?quantity=1

I put the probe in a length of bendable fridge copper tubing with the end bent and smashed shut and a bit of silicon tubing on the end to avoid some conductivity through the bottom of the mash tun. For $40 this has an alarm so I can do other things while getting up to temp and also constantly monitor the mash temp or HLT or even get a warning before reaching boil and avoid hot break mess. It is only accurate to 1-degree Celcius (1.8F) but that works for me and it seems to have a very robust probe that should last awhile.
 

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