Broken thermometer in wort!

Hey All,

Quick question. Just made a stupid mistake. Was steeping grains and was checking the temp. Thought to give them a stir (moving the grain bag around a bit) and being lazy used the floating thermometer instead of grabbing a stir paddle/spoon.

Well it cracked (not the actual thermometer inside (with the mercury, etc.) but just the outside glass and leaked the tiny weighted marbles.

I finished the steep, removed the grains & grain bag, then poured the steeped wort through my funnel with fine filter into my brew kettle. I was able to remove the tiny weights & any glass.

I assume I am okay and am continuing with the boil. Anything else I should be concerned about? I figured I didn't break the actual thermometer part so mercury, etc. shouldn't be a concern.

Thoughts? Thanks!

-Tim

Yeah, that's a problem. Glass thermometers and hydrometers use lead balls for ballast so that they'll sink a little bit when you use them.

I'd rather be safe than sorry and not willingly expose myself (or anyone else) to the potential for lead in the beer.

Sad to see you lose a batch.

Most thermometers now aren't made with mercury, so even if that did break you wouldn't have to worry about mercury. The balls should also be made from steel if they are metal. Take a magnet to the balls, if they stick, its not lead.

Now onto the broken glass. Your answers will vary greatly depending on who you ask. Glass is not something to be messing around with in your digestive tract.
How do you know you got it all out, and are you sure you got out any glass powder?
You could get all the answers in the world, but the ultimate fate still relies upon you.

If it were mine, I would continue on and brew it. In theory when it ferments, anything in the beer should sink down to the bottom. When it comes time to transfer it out, I would suck the beer out from the top and leave about 1.5 gallons behind, in hopes that if any glass did get into the beer, it would be left behind in the remaining 1.5 gallons of beer.

Drink at your own risk....

EDIT: I meant to mention that I had a mead where the glass carboy broke while racking. I let it sit for a while after racking and then racked it out and left a bunch behind. Same thing when bottling, left some more behind. When pouring it out of the bottles, every glass was poured through a coffee filter, and the last inch was left in each bottle. BUT AGAIN, do this at your own risk. If you feel it's unsafe, don't do it.

With glass, I'd rather be safe and just toss it sadly. It's a big risk to drink. If anything, don't give any away, assume all the risk yourself.

Thanks for the help. It was just a crack at the tip that let all the balls out. I caught the tip of the thermometer and all the balls with my filter.

Also the balls stick to a magnet. From what I've read they are stainless steel.

Appreciate the advice... ill do a long 4-6 week primary to ensure everything drops out, then bottle and let condition long and spend a while in the fridge to drop out as much as possible.

I am pretty confident I got everything since it was sitting on top of the grain bag when it broke. I tossed the grain bag.

Thanks again!

aiptasia said:

Yeah, that's a problem. Glass thermometers and hydrometers use lead balls for ballast so that they'll sink a little bit when you use them.

I'd rather be safe than sorry and not willingly expose myself (or anyone else) to the potential for lead in the beer.

Sad to see you lose a batch.

Click to expand...

Thermometers use steel shot for ballast not lead.

Hopmonster1 said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIdzaNbdDYw

Click to expand...

Bah! Why did you have to post that video. I got stuck on youtube watching video after video of people addicted to random things, then ended up watching something else, which lead to something else, then something else, and then ended up watching some "worst mom ever toddlers in tiaras" thing before I realized that I was starting to get addicted to youtube...

beninan said:

Bah! Why did you have to post that video. I got stuck on youtube watching video after video of people addicted to random things, then ended up watching something else, which lead to something else, then something else, and then ended up watching some "worst mom ever toddlers in tiaras" thing before I realized that I was starting to get addicted to youtube...

Click to expand...

Haha Sorry

I made the same mistake when I started brewing. I promptly ordered a weldless dial thermometer and a glass thermometer hasn't touched my sweet wort since.

I would pitch it...don't know if I could take it if I missed some glass and as a result it caused anyone I served distress or trauma.

Sometimes we have to err on the side of caution and take the financial loss as the price of admission for our lessons learned.