Thermoworks Chefalarm Thermometer - DON'T GET PRO-SERIES NEEDLE!

Hi All,

First of all, I want to say that the Chefalarm unit itself and Thermoworks customer service have been great! The response time has been refreshing and support is very friendly.

I purchased the Chefalarm thermometer based on glowing reviews from other homebrewers. Many of them recommended the Pro-Series Needle probe as it's submersible, and thus should be able to be used during the mash. THIS IS NOT THE CASE!. The needle failed after being used twice, reading much too high, causing me to mash too low and thus making my efficiency horrible. If you do a google on this issue, you'll see that I'm definitely not alone.

Thermoworks offered to send a replacement of the failed needle probe with the same needle for free, with free shipping. They actually knocked down the price of their 12" probe, which they're recommending as a replacement, by 30% because of this issue. The thought is that, with an MSRP of $21.00, if you knock off 30%, you're saving $6.30, which is close to the $8.00 paid for the needle probe that failed.

So at the end of the day, I paid $14.70 for a free replacement needle probe and the 12" probe.

That being said, I have a few suggestions for Thermoworks:

- There needs to be some kind of disclaimer on their site noting that acidic liquids like mash WILL NOT WORK with the needle probe.

- Although I think support was great, I think it would have been even better customer service for Thermoworks to have given the 12" probe for free as a replacement while not sending the needle probe. To be honest, I don't need the needle probe anymore, so while sending that for free was a nice gesture, it'll probably never leave the packaging.

Now onto some speculation. The needle probe has been 50% off for a bit. I wonder if they're just trying to clear inventory because of this issue? To me, it would be better to just give a disclaimer and recommend the 12" for brewers.

The bottom line is, I'm happy with the Chefalarm unit and Thermoworks, but you SHOULD NOT get the needle probe for measuring mash temps. Actually, the tried and true bet is to just get a Thermapen and call it a day.

I also experienced temps being off in my pro series probe. I'm sticking to just using the standard probe that came with the unit and not completely submerging it.

I really like the ability to set high and low temperature alarms with this thermometer. I can get my strike water going and not have to constantly keep looking at it while I perform other brewday tasks. I've also used the low alarm to let me know when chilling is done.

The first unit I received was defective...the alarm portion didn't work. Thermoworks sent me a replacement free of charge and didn't require me to send the old one back. The customer service was incredible.

Yeah, another option would be to shrink wrap the stock probe with some tubing and use it fully submerged.

I haven't tested the alarms (on my Chefalarm!) on the unit yet! Gotta do that. But yes, like you said, customer support is great.

Or maybe we should just give up on probe thermometers for brewing, as they all suck. I wish I had the money I wasted on all of them over the years.

LandoLincoln said:

Or maybe we should just give up on probe thermometers for brewing, as they all suck. I wish I had the money I wasted on all of them over the years.

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What are you using now?

I just bought the probe to go with the Dot. Mainly boil kettle and deep frying. Darn it!

flars said:

I just bought the probe to go with the Dot. Mainly boil kettle and deep frying. Darn it!

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I was told that the Pro-Series Needle probe would work fine in oil, and certainly fine in water. But keep away from wort.

WortUp said:

What are you using now?

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A stick thermometer to test the beginning of the mash and an RTD probe that checks the mash temperature as it recirculates through my HERMS coil.

My advice to those of you that don't recirculate is to take a reading at the beginning of the mash and leave your mash covered and insulated and then check the temperature again when the mash is done to verify that nothing screwy happened.

Had the same problem with the ChefAlarm probes. They were great about replacing them, but eventually I gave up and straightened out one of the braided probes and J-B welded it into a thermowell. Using it with a DOT now. About 20 batches used through the entire mash and still working great.

AnOldUR said:

Had the same problem with the ChefAlarm probes. They were great about replacing them, but eventually I gave up and straightened out one of the braided probes and J-B welded it into a thermowell. Using it with a DOT now. About 20 batches used through the entire mash and still working great.

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Cool! How did you straighten out the probe? I figured I could potentially ruin it so I didn't even try.

WortUp said:

Cool! How did you straighten out the probe? I figured I could potentially ruin it so I didn't even try.

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Thought the same thing, but had an extra so put it in a milling vise and carefully bent it by hand to get most of the angle out and used the vise itself to finish it. I did it to another one that I gave to a friend. It's really not that bad (or maybe I was lucky ).

I haven't heard of this being a problem before, but then again, I haven't had any problems with my probe(yet). I've got 5 or 6 brews on it so far.
I'll be watching it like a hawk now! Luckily, I have a thermapen as well to verify.
Thanks for the heads up!

Ok, mine's blown now. It reads boiling at 203-at my elevation boiling is 210 using a thermopen.
No wonder my mash efficiency has been swinging from 75-90+% the last few batches.
Luckily I discovered it while doing a boil-off test