Best temp gauge choice to monitor your beer?

[IPAAAA]

So I have this floating thermometer but I don't like it. What do you guys use to monitor the temp while you are brewing?

Also, I am using a 6 gallon bucket to ferment in. I don't have a fridge so I was gonna put it in a 20 gallon trash can with water and frozen water bottles around it. I have seen the temperature sticker you can put on a carboy but nothing for a jug. Anything I can use to monitor that temp? Will putting the lid on the trash can cause any issues?

 

[BendBrewer]

What do you mean by 'jug'? Those stick on thermometers work fine on plastic buckets.

 

[Got Trub?]

I use to use the stick on thermometers from the aquarium store. Never liked those floating thermometers, had to expose my beer to read them, hard to read and anything glass had a tendency to break. Currently I have a temperature controller.

DD

 

[EricT]

If you are using the stick on thermometer and submerging your fermenting bucket in water, you need to keep the thermometer above the water. I submerged mine and even after drying it out it was ruined. I know people have modified bungs to insert a thermometer into their Wort. May want to look into that, as long as it has an airtight seal around the temperature probe and is sanitized, there shouldnt be any issues. I been thinking about this myself for a more accurate reading of my Wort temp in my SOF. I would use small rubber grommets and drill a seperate hole in the lid of the bucked so I would have one fore the Airlock and another for the temp probe.

 

[IPAAAA]

What do you mean by 'jug'? Those stick on thermometers work fine on plastic buckets.

Ment to say bucket.

I use to use the stick on thermometers from the aquarium store. Never liked those floating thermometers, had to expose my beer to read them, hard to read and anything glass had a tendency to break. Currently I have a temperature controller.

DD

So any pet store in the aquarium section should have them? They any different from the ones at the brew store? A pet store is 10x closer to me.

If you are using the stick on thermometer and submerging your fermenting bucket in water, you need to keep the thermometer above the water. I submerged mine and even after drying it out it was ruined. I know people have modified bungs to insert a thermometer into their Wort. May want to look into that, as long as it has an airtight seal around the temperature probe and is sanitized, there shouldnt be any issues. I been thinking about this myself for a more accurate reading of my Wort temp in my SOF. I would use small rubber grommets and drill a seperate hole in the lid of the bucked so I would have one fore the Airlock and another for the temp probe.

So do you think it will get an accurate reading with the stick on thermometer even though it has to read through the thick plastic and is enclosed in a trash can with water? My concern is it will get the cold air on the outside in the read but that probably isn't the case.

 

[EricT]

[QUOTE
So do you think it will get an accurate reading with the stick on thermometer even though it has to read through the thick plastic and is enclosed in a trash can with water? My concern is it will get the cold air on the outside in the read but that probably isn't the case.[/QUOTE]

This is my concern as well, Not sure how accurate it is. I have them on my glass carboy as well.

 

[IPAAAA]

Anyone else have some input on this?

 

[Wellshooter]

IR guns are handy tools, may be some cheaper than this one.

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/ir/irgun.html