Stick on thermometers

How do you read those things? Mine shows three colors, blue, green and yellow. I thought it was the blue but then my LHBS said they think it's the yellow!
Anyone have any idea? Right now the 74 degree mark is blue, 76 is green and 78 is yellow. When it get's warmer the colors move up to the next degree marks.

Tommy

The green number in the middle between the blue and yellow is the correct temperature

RichBrewer said:

The green number in the middle between the blue and yellow is the correct temperature

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Thanks

Tommy

So out of interest if the exact temperature is green, what does the orange and blue mean?

pbfl81 said:

So out of interest if the exact temperature is green, what does the orange and blue mean?

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Buy a better thermometer? I consider the stick-on's to be an approximate guide at best. I made my own temp wells with copper tubing and use digital thermometers to track whats happening in the middle of the wort.

I have the fermometer that reads horizontally. I know people have bad experiences with them but mine is always within 1 or 2 degrees when compared to my thermapen.


I don’t have a thermowell in my fermentors, so 2 deg is good enough for me.

Brewno said:

Right now the 74 degree mark is blue, 76 is green and 78 is yellow. When it get's warmer the colors move up to the next degree marks.

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One thing is sure, 76F is way too hot for fermenting most beers, unless you're brewing a Saison or finishing a Belgian.

• Stick that carboy in a tub or cooler filled with cool water to drain some of that heat off.
• Add a few frozen water bottles to that tub to bring it down a bit more and keep it at around 66-68F for the duration.
• Replace water bottles once or twice a day as needed.
• Wrap a sleeping bag over the whole setup to keep the cold in.
  
• When krausen (the foam on top) falls (sinks), remove carboy from cooler and let free rise to "ambient" (around 72-74F).

So in secondary the temperature should be increased to around 72?

pbfl81 said:

So after the vigorous fermentation has subsided the temperature should be increased to around 72?

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If this is what you meant, sure.

Unless you are conditioning a beer in the carboy for an extended period of time (months not weeks), skip transferring to a secondary vessel. It's an unnecessary step.

Jtk78 said:

Unless you are conditioning a beer in the carboy for an extended period of time (months not weeks), skip transferring to a secondary vessel. It's an unnecessary step.

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This! ^

Kit instructions are so outdated, ignore anything that points to racking to a secondary after xx days or so. Secondaries can cause much more harm to your beer than you can imagine: oxidation, incomplete fermentation, infections, with no gain.