Is a thermowell necessary?

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kaz4121

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Hi guys,

I have purchased some BCS straight mounts temperature probes (for MLT, fermentation fridge, kegerator) and BCS NPT mount temperature probes (for HLT, BK, plate chiller) from Brewers Hardware. (See http://www.brewershardware.com/BCS-460-Temperature-Sensors)


I was planning on just putting the NPTs naked into the kettles and the straight mounts naked into a bottle of water in the freezers. Is there a legit reasons I cannot move forward with this? Or should I really get some thermowells?
 
Hi guys,

I have purchased some BCS straight mounts temperature probes (for MLT, fermentation fridge, kegerator) and BCS NPT mount temperature probes (for HLT, BK, plate chiller) from Brewers Hardware. (See http://www.brewershardware.com/BCS-460-Temperature-Sensors)


I was planning on just putting the NPTs naked into the kettles and the straight mounts naked into a bottle of water in the freezers. Is there a legit reasons I cannot move forward with this? Or should I really get some thermowells?

You need to either affix the probe to the wall of your fermenter with insulation around it, or put it in a thermowell. The beer will be all kinds of different temperature from the bottle of water.

In the kegerator, that's fine.
 
...The beer will be all kinds of different temperature from the bottle of water.

I am not planning on using the fermenter chamber temperature as my direct gauge for my fermentation temperature. I am going to use a carboy temp strip on the carboys which will give me the "direct" temperature, and adjust my fermenter chamber temp accordingly.

As for the kettles, the NPT screws into them, so am I fine without a thermowell there?

Excuse my ignorance, but what purpose does a thermowell serve?
 
I am not planning on using the fermenter chamber temperature as my direct gauge for my fermentation temperature. I am going to use a carboy temp strip on the carboys which will give me the "direct" temperature, and adjust my fermenter chamber temp accordingly.

Fermenting beer gives off heat, and the difference between your bottle-of-water probe and your fermenter temp strip will be different all the time.
 
Fermenting beer gives off heat, and the difference between your bottle-of-water probe and your fermenter temp strip will be different all the time.

Maybe I'm not explaining this correctly. I KNOW that my fermenter chamber temperature probe is not going to read an accurate fermenter temperature. But if my fermenter reads 65 on the carboy strip when my chamber is reading 60, that is good enough for me. But this is not the point of this thread (there are countless posts about the former).

The point of this thread was to better understand WHY i need a thermocouple for the sensors that are going to come in contact with liquids.

Anyone?
 
I Believe It's a Maintenance Function, Using The Thermowell Allows Removal
w/o Having an Empty Vessel.
Also Consider The Material(s) That Make Beer/Product Contact.
Hopes This Helps
 
The sensor in your link is already sitting in a thermowell. The SS sheathing of the probe is the thermowell, the sensor is inside.

Empty thermowells can be used when you have a "bare" sensor, or a sensor that is not suited for the environment to be meashured.
 
The sensor in your link is already sitting in a thermowell. The SS sheathing of the probe is the thermowell, the sensor is inside.

Empty thermowells can be used when you have a "bare" sensor, or a sensor that is not suited for the environment to be meashured.

Great news. I was thinking this might be the case but wanted to asked some more knowledgeable folks.

Thanks!
 
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