My mash temp is too low, will this kill me?

[rockout]

I think my electronic thermometer decided to go nutty on me this morning. When I poured my grain into my cooler with the 170 degree water, I took a temp reading just like I always do. Instead of 150, it said 164. After a few minutes of stirring, it was still at 161 and I was getting suspicious, so I took my trusty old analog regular tube thermometer and dropped it in there. It said 142 after I let it stabilize. I immediately covered the mash.

Is this going to affect me terribly? Will leaving the mash going longer than 60 minutes help me? Can I add hot water to it now? This has never happened to me before and I'm desperate for help!

 

[rockout]

Never mind, I just opened my mash cooler up to check again (25 minutes into mashing) and the thermometer read dead-on 150. I guess I forgot to RDWHAHB... although it's only 10 am here.

 

[rockout]

I still have my other problem, though - when measuring the temp of my sparge water my electronic thermometer says 178 and my old-school one says 165. Which one are you more likely to trust? They've always matched up in the past, until today.

 

[pericles]

I'm personally more inclined to trust the analog model. I've had TONS of trouble with electric thermometers in the past; the wire can get scuffed easily, and they'll just go haywire.

Thermometers are cheap, though. Just buy a new one and check it against the readings from both. Then you'll know fore sure.

 

[Daybis]

I would boil a pot of water and stick the thermometers to see what they read. If one of them doesn't read 212, then that's the one that is off. I find that my electric one is more accurate than my analog thermometer.

 

[rockout]

Good point. Two analog thermometers are better than one.