Can you guys recommend a good, accurate thermometer to me?

I am actually looking for 2 thermometers, one floating one and a normal one. I think I should have 2 for accuracy.

I am wondering if you guys could recommend some brands to me that you have tried/used and liked.

Cheers

 

A lot of people like the Thermapen, myself included. It's very accurate and fast. I've had mine for over a year and I love it.

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/

As for a floating thermometer--I don't use them so I can't speak to that.

 

isnt this a food thermometer (mainly for meat and steaks)?
How do you guys use this? just take the surface temperature?

 

You put the probe into the liquid and get a reading. Where is the confusion? You obviously can't get the temp from the middle of the liquid or mash, but I have not found any long probe thermometers that are accurate.

 

The probe is four inches long or so, I batch sparge so I measure after I've stirred things up. I bought it solely based off recommendations from people on this site. I'm glad I did, it's awesome.

 

My thermapen was the best money I ever spent. I use it for brewing and I've found a lot of uses for it in the kitchen as well. I actually gave my girlfriend a hard time because she (slightly) overcooked a tri-tip. "Didn't you use the thermapen?"

I should feel lucky she cooks for me at all!

 

+1 on the Thermapen. Really fast, really accurate and while it is a little more pricey than some of the cheaper ones out there, it will last for a long time if taken care of.

 

Love that signature quote!!!

 

If you don't want to plunk down a c-note for a thermapen, this one is quite accurate, and fast. Made by the same company.

BTW, my experience with the floating thermometers has been less than satisfactory. That wad of shot pellets and wax in the bulb is a good insulator, which results in lag time. If you are measuring something that is changing in temp, your reading is likely to be off.

 

I use a metal probe thermometer bought at my local homebrew shop. Then I also have this one bought off of Amazon. I bought it with the probe and use it to check the other thermometer on brew day. It is easier and quicker to check with the simple dial metal probe so I use it, but before doing that I check to make sure it reads the same as the digital thermometer.

 

My experience with the floating thermometers:

- Broke one on my very first batch ever. Bumped it against the HLT and it shattered, dropping pellets into my strike water.

- I remember one brew day that drove me nuts. I had to make at least five mash temperature adjustments because of the lag and inaccuracy of the stupid thing. By the time I was done messing with it, I bet I had more than 1.5 qts/lb.

I ordered the thermapen the next day, although I remember the shock of finding out how much they were. "There ain't no WAY I'm ever spending $100 on a damn thermometer."

Yep, those were the days.

 

I know Thermapen is good product but there is better solutions from Thermoworks if you ready to drop $100 on high quality and accurate thermometer.
I just got Therma-K (+/- 0.5F accuracy, better than Thermapen) handheld where you can attach any type-K probe. With Thermapen you stuck with penetration probe and with selection of probes for handheld your imagination is the limit. I got myself wire probe (to go along with Therma-K) which is thin, flexible, heat resistant wire with bare end. You can stick this wire in mash tun and never lift the lid during entire mash. You also can slide same wire in thermowell and monitor fermentation temperature. Try to do that with Thermapen

 

Is this Thermo-K thingy like a module that later on gets another part attached and the 2 parts make up the thermometer?

 

Exactly. Much more versatile than Thermapen. Cost same and provides same accuracy. There is probably 50-60 different probes available. Smoking meat, petetration probes of all sizes and calibers, oven probe, air, high-temperature, wire probes you name it.

 

I started with the glass lab thermometer. Too slow.
Then a cheap digital probe. Too slow.
Thermapen - best money spent!

 

This looks pretty damn good. Is it fast, accurate and durable?

 

Either the Thermoworks RT301WA or RT600C (~$25) have VERY similar features to the thermapen

Thermoworks Thermapen:

Thermoworks RT301WA:

Thermoworks RT600C:

So with a thermapen you're buying 3 second response versus 5-6 second response, and ±0.7°F accuracy instead of ±0.9°F accuracy for about $75 more. I know where I spent the money and I'll give you hint; I made 3+ batches with my savings

Edit: Here's the sad part: Once I compared my thermoworks thermometer to my $2 digital thermometer direct from China, they read the same (but the Chinese one has about 12 seconds response time).

 

You can get refurbished thermapen with a 50% discount....which is really decent. Can you tell me what Chinese thermometer you are talking about? I have bought one too....but the problem with mine was that it fell apart after 2 weeks.
So....your 12 sec response time is majestic compared to what happened to mine.

 

The chinese thermometer I have looks identical to this one:


I have more confidence in my thermoworks but like I said the cheap one seems to be right on target.

 

Looks durable to me, I only used it once so far but I absolutelly love it. Very fast readings (depends on a probe you order). Wire probe has 0.5 sec readings. You can get rubber cover for it as an option and it becomes waterproof. I'm really confident in all Thermoworks products, they sell good stuff, you just need to decide what you going to use it for

 

+1 on the Thermapen. Couldn't brew without it. What I like best (after the accuracy of course) is the instant results. Plus, it's very well made and easy to maintain. Worth every penny.

 

Hi there

Can you tell me which one has a longer probe? The RT301WA or the RT600C? The descriptions on the manufacturer's site is confusing.

 

I believe the probes on those two models are the same length; the same length as the thermapen. Since I only own one of the three, I'm basing this on my previous research but recollection says they are all about the same ~6" lengths.

 

This would be true too. I've read good things on these CDN thermos. At the time I was buying, I figured that I'd drop $26 on a well reputed brand and maker of the thermapen.

 

Seems to be a good one...but 17 dollars shipping cost to Europe? Unfortunately, this one is not a good option for me.

 

That's what I thought too. Thanks.

 

We just don't ship first class anymore because people tend to get pissy when the package sits in customs for 3 weeks.

 

I also use this one, have been very happy with it.

 

What do you mean "we"? Are you working for Amazon.com?

 

he owns and runs brewhardware.com

 

I would not reccomend CDN DTQ450X. I had problems with it and its not very accurate. You know, "you get what you pay for" and this is the case here. Don't fall for cheap thermometers they will fail you soon or later.
I purchased CDN DTQ450X couple years ago from Brewhardware and thought I was all set. I liked how fast it reads. I also calibrated it right out of box with ice water as well as boiling water at my elevation (900 meters above sea level) and used it as a reference thermometer, oh boy was I wrong.
For past 2 years I had this thin beer problem when all my beers came out little too low on FG, just a couple points nothing major. I had no known accurate thermometer to check it against so I just continued to use it and always thought it had superior accuracy compare to my other cheapo kitchen thermometer.
After I got Therma-K I discovered that I mashed 2 F lower for all these years. I mean its great and fast meat thermometer for stakes and fish always done perfectly but for brewing, NO thank you!

 

Yes, I would say you do get what you pay for but there are definitely varying levels of value in this space.

First, there are people who will not pay $90 for a thermometer even if it were accurate to the .001F with a gold stamp of approval. What the DTQ450 offers is what I consider the next best thing to spending $90 with pretty amazing performance at less than 25% of the price of the thermaK or thermapen.

You're also saying that a variance of 2F was observed between the DTQ and the ThermaK. Since the ThermaK is accurate to +/- .5F it very well could be reading .5 high while the DTQ was reading 1.5F low (within it's +/- 2F rating).

I like accuracy just fine, but I wouldn't go as far to say that 1 or 2 degrees F would make that big of a difference in brewing and I wouldn't assume that everyone can spend a $73 premium to get 1.5F better accuracy.

If mashing at 154F "apparent" based on whatever thermometer you're using yields higher than expected fermentability, you brew the next batch at 156F apparent temp and see what you get.

I have a thermapen and I still brew with my DTQ450 because I don't really care if I drop it, step on it, or drop it in the mash. It's served me well for 2 years so I'd gladly buy another one when I trash this one.

 

Sorry, two different shops were mentioned in the post you responded to so I just flipped a coin and assumed you were talking about brewhardware.com

If $17 shipping is too rich, it's probably best to find which thermometers are locally available and put them up for discussion.

 

I personally think Therma K is way better than -+0.5F as they advertise. They just cover their backs. Most of error will come from interchangeable probes rather than handheld unit. Each unit comes with individual 2-point calibration certificate and my unit is accurate at both points down to decimals. They probably use the most accurate thermometer (probably cost thousands $$$) as reference. I definitely trust what it says compare to DTQ450. But hey, not everyone willing to drop $100 on thermometer. I'm sure didn't had extra cash 2 years ago when I purchased DTQ450. And may be my was just a lemon and others can report good accuracy with it. I still use it, now I just know that I need to compensate and all is fine.

 

Concerning thermometer accuracy vs constancy.

I think accuracy is not as important as constancy of readings. My go-to thermometer for brewing is highly consistent. Lets say I'm brewing the SN Pale Ale clone recipe from BYO. I know that if the recipe says mash at 152 f my mash needs to be at 153.5 and the beer body and mouthfeel comes out spot on.

Yes my thermometer is calibrated for boiling water and freezing. But it's response is not linear. It is off by a known fraction in the mash range. No worries because it is consistent in the range. I can take repeated temps of a cup of tea and have it come out +/- .2f. Because i know how that thermometer responds in my system my finished beer comes out right on.

Couldn't tell the brand. Picked it up for cheap at my LHBS years ago.

 

I recommend using a Thermapen. I also highly recommend against the Taylor 9842. Mine reads 212 in boiling water but in an ice water bath it reads 49.8 where my Thermapen reads 32.4. At mash temps it was off by 6-10 degrees depending on where it was in the range. I have the long probe style thermometer that you can pick up at any HBS and it reads 36 in an ice bath and 210 in boiling water, which is close enough for letting me know I need to check temp with my Thermapen, an early warning thermometer if you will. I really recommend using a Thermapen just because of how fast and how accurate it is. It's 90% of the way to a full reading within a couple of seconds. 3-4 seconds and you're there. Nothing else I've used has even come close to that speed. I have a couple of other generic thermometers as well and they are all just as bad as the Taylor. I also have a floating glass candy style thermometer I got from the local HBS and it is very accurate but a minute or two to stabilize to the correct temp. Basically, if I had just bought a Thermapen in the first place and not bought all of the cheaper ones I would have spent $87 (I got the brown one on special) instead of the ~$160 I spent all told.

 

i use a standard kitchen thermometer... absolutely nothing fancy.

 

+1 thermapen lover here. Got it for cooking a couple years ago as a gift and can't understand why I never had one before. It's now invaluable to me on brew day. Yep it's expensive but IMO worth it. I use for brewing and cooking. For steaks it is killer I always know just when to pull them at 125 for medium rare.

It's one of those things like really nice sunglasses. Once you spoil yourself with a pair it's really hard to go back to anything else. If my thermapen ever dies ill be buying another the next day.