Broken mercury thermometer in mash

I was just stirring my mash and snapped a high precision mercury filled thermometer in half inside my mash. Am I done? or can it be salvaged ?

It looks like the mercury is still in the bottom half of the thermometer.

Dump it.

Sorry.


There are not many cases when I advocate just dumping a beer, but poison is definitely one of them.

Mercury? How freaking old is that thermometer?

You're done.

Thanks guys, I figured I'm done.

it's a high precision lab thermometer.

STUPID STUPID STUPID!

Look at the bright side. You finally got rid of something you probably shouldn't have had laying around anyways.

So I shouldn't be stirring my mash with these Plutonium rods I have laying around?

Well, if my SWMBO were here, she'd freak if she new you were dumping that down the drain or in the trash. She works with the local water utility (Env. Specialist) but I'd rather you do that than to try to rescue it... don't fukc with something that toxic dude...

Bummer man. I would try to collect the mercury and maybe save it for some future weird project. Don't dump it in your water especially if you are on a well like me.

Mercury is some cool stuff but you need to respect it. My high school chem teacher has this sweat old school barometer in his lab with a couple pints of mercury in an open cup and a vertical read barometer tube. Totally awesome!

I'm going to have to agree. A small amount of mercury can permanently damage or kill you. Wash everything really well and get brewing again asap

I'm not sure any mercury was actually spilled. The thermometer is under a vacuum so when it broke in half it sucked in water to the side with the bulb of mercury on it. The hole inside the thermometer is microscopic, a hair wouldn't even fit in it. I'm taking the remains of the thermometer to hazardous waste this afternoon, then back to the brew shop for more grain try again tonight...

luckily I had 6.5 gallons of hot water ready for cleaning it