Brewmometer vs. Thermapen

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BradleyBrew

BradleyBrew

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I have reached the breaking point with using cheap-o thermometers via brewing all grain. So for about a $100 investment I can either get 3 Brewmometers (Kettle, MLT, Mash Tun) or 1 thermapen. The cost is about the same but obviously the brewmometers would require some hole drilling and would be mounted and used for 1 vessel were the thermapen could be used for practically any temperature application. So what do you guys think... Brewmometers or a Thermapen?? I'm leaning towards the thermapen...
 
Thermapen. Im a chef and use them regularly in my line of work. Also use it for home cooking and in all my home brewing. I have one pot that has a brewmometer but only because it came with with the pot. I find nothing wrong with brewmometer it gives me a ballpark idea, thermapen gives me exact. Its very quick and easy for me to stick in the probe and get my reading.
 
Brewmometer is a dial, right? Thermapen is digital, so more precise. And you can't move the brewmometers out of the pots. Thermapen you can use for lots of stuff. I don't see any advantage in brewmometers other than looking cool.
 
unionrdr said:
I ordered one of these laser digital thermapens. Sounds like it'll be more accurate than the dial type that clips onto the kettle.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/alltemptm-digital-wine-food-thermometer-with-clip.html
My floating thermometer works great in the mash,but the thermapen will be more accurate for sparge water & the like while the mash is finishing up.
Click to expand...

Personally I wouldn't use an infrared thermometer on my mash. Infrared only measures the surface temp you will not get a reading of the center of the mash with it.
 
Chrisl77 said:
Personally I wouldn't use an infrared thermometer on my mash. Infrared only measures the surface temp you will not get a reading of the center of the mash with it.
Click to expand...

Good call here. Definitely not as accurate.

Definitely go with the termapen.

A. Multi-use tool, not just beer.
B. Very Accurate and quick.
 
I use my floating thermometer on the mash,as previously stated. I figured doctors use laser thermometers on us,so why not in brewing? The reviews on midwest site seemed to be very positive in brewing applications? *Just looked at the Thermapen,accurate to within .7F For $96 & the probe is only a couple inches. So you're not getting down into the center of a couple gallons of anything with it. I'll try the laser pen type against my floating thermometer which reaches to the bottom of my partial mashes & see what happens. I was gunna use it for sparge water & the like while the floating one is in the mash.
 
Another vote for the thermapen. It's pricey but it's very accurate and well made. I've probably spent more than that over the years replacing cheap thermometers that crapped out on me, plus mine gets a lot of use outside of brewday.

CDN also makes a cheaper (~$70) model to compete with the thermapen, but I haven't heard anything about its quality.
 
I think i'm just going to get a thermapen... I've spent as much on a thermapen over the past couple of years replacing and/or trying to find the "perfect" thermometer.
 
Since I got a Thermapen for cooking, I now can't imagine not having one for cooking or brewing, it's just that awesome. It's like a pair of good sunglasses, once you make the investment you will never go back.
 
For the price of a thermapen, you can get three CDN DTQ450 digitals and weldless fittings to install them if you wanted to. These things are very close in accuracy and speed to the thermapen and you won't be afraid to use the damn thing.
 
Bobby_M said:
For the price of a thermapen, you can get three CDN DTQ450 digitals and weldless fittings to install them if you wanted to. These things are very close in accuracy and speed to the thermapen and you won't be afraid to use the damn thing.
Click to expand...

Who's afraid to use their Thermapen?
 
Jeffinn said:
Who's afraid to use their Thermapen?
Click to expand...

The three little pigs!

Just to get my thoughts straight. When you all speak of accurate, is anyone of the opinion that the brewmometer is not accurate? Or just that the thermopen has a tenths digit? Also, if that is the case, does anyone actually dial in a temp to the exact whole integer?
 
Thermoworks has lots of great thermometers, much cheaper than the thermopen, and still very accurate. I have this one: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt610b_12+24.html

Love it, it has always been accurate when I tested it in boiling or freezing water, and with a long probe I burn my arms less on my mashtun.

I have a brewmometer on my mash tun, it is also accurate, but when i do 5G batches in my 15G tun, it isn't fully submerged.

You can't go wrong either way, IMO.
 
Cyclman said:
Thermoworks has lots of great thermometers, much cheaper than the thermopen, and still very accurate. I have this one: http://www.thermoworks.com/products/low_cost/rt610b_12+24.html

Love it, it has always been accurate when I tested it in boiling or freezing water, and with a long probe I burn my arms less on my mashtun.

I have a brewmometer on my mash tun, it is also accurate, but when i do 5G batches in my 15G tun, it isn't fully submerged.

You can't go wrong either way, IMO.
Click to expand...

This is a great answer, I don't think either way is the wrong way. Just think about what suits you best. Seems with all the cooking I like to do besides making beer, the the thermapen just comes in handy as hell. It's a multi-use tool. As much as I like brewing gadgets, It's always nice when you can justify equipment that goes beyond brewing. Hell, I had my thermapen before I started brewing, so it just proves the versatility of the tool. If you don't find yourself always looking for an instant temp check outside of brewing, then it would be handy to have them just attached to your equpment.
 
I have a dial thermometer (not a Brewmometer) on my HLT and don't care that it is totally accurate since I use it for my mash then add either hot water or cold to fine tune. I use the thermopen to check the dial thermometer and have to adjust it quite often.

Bobby M suggested an alternative and I am a fan of his products. I would trust the one he offers.
 
Let me clarify. $90 is a lot of money to spend on a thermometer. I bought one to test the accuracy of the CDN units that I sell and I also use it for grilling and cooking since I already have it. Since I know the DTQ450 performs nearly the same as the thermapen, that's what I use to brew with. If I drop it in the mash tun or a bucket of sanitizer by accident, I won't feel horrible for blowing $90. I think what a lot of people hear when they read my posts is that the TP is too expensive or that it's not a good thermometer. I think it's a great thermometer if you can rationalize the spend and you're really careful with it. I just know my brewing habits and clumsiness and I'm probably projecting them on everyone else too.
 
I got the All Temp digital laser thermometer delivered yesterday afternoon. I read the instructions,& since it's made for wine bottles & the like,it's designed to get as close to what's being measured as possible.
So for the sake of experiment,I have a glass of water sitting next to me for a while now that was getting a bit warm tasting. I put the lens end against the glass & hit the button. With a response time of 1 second,it red 74.8F.
So I'm thinking I may have to put it against the side of the sparge water kettle to get a reading? Or maybe near the surface of the heating water? I'll have to play around with it. Seems quick & decently accurate. Comes in a sturdy plastic display case I'll use for storage.
 

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