Blichmann brewmometer calibration

[mrbobble]

Hi Folks,
Have any of you that have purchased the Blichmann brewmometers had to calibrate them? If so, what do you use for a reference thermometer?
I've been troubleshooting my mashes and how thin my beer has been tasting.
I've done the following.
1. Purchased a mill (MM3), conditioned my grain and set a relatively tight gap of about .38.
2. PH meter and measured PH. I don't have my water report back from the lab so I haven't been super accurate but using the all in one PH 5.2 buffer pack I got the PH within the 5's in mash and sparge.
3. Sparged slowly (approx 45 min)
4. Added extra extra grains pretty much at every opportunity. If the recipe called for 2.5 lbs of something, I ran with 3lbs.
5. Used carapils dex for added body.
6. Ran my mash at what I thought were higher temps of just below 160.
7. Checked and double checked my water volumes.
I think thats it.

What I found was that my brewmometers were not in alignment with other thermometers I was sticking into the mash. I ran down to the LHBS and picked up a sealed glass thermometer (old school medical style) and used that as a comparison in a pot of 160 degree water. The 3 Blichmanns were off and one of them were off by about 20 degrees. I think what had been happening was that I never even got up to beta amylase thus the thinness of my mash. I calibrated them but now after last Tuesdays double brew session I have about 30 gallons of what amounts to a high lovibond, nicely hopped Coors light that I have to run through.
I guess there could be worse ways to face your weekend
Has anyone ever run into this and if so, what did they do use as a reference temperature gague?

 

[Catt22]

Yep, been there although not specifically with Blichmann thermometers. I no longer use the bi-metal dial type thermometers. I found them to be fragile and easily damaged. Mine was off about 12 degrees when I discovered the problem. Worse yet, it was inconsistent and would not hold calibration well. I went thermocouple digital but I still use one of these as my benchmark:

http://www.carolina.com/product/equ...).do?keyword=745416&sortby=bestMatches&page=1

Best $12 I've spent in a long time. Accurate, reliable and relatively inexpensive too. You can't go wrong.

 

[wildwest450]

Calibrate them all you want, it won't last. My $400 bk reads 140f at boiling.


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[samc]

Add me to the list of "brewmometer" haters. I gave up trying to make it work and it now just approximates how cool my wort is coming from the plate chiller. I have to give it a good punch to get it to change readings when it reads 85 & I know the wort is 10 F cooler.

Blichmann was nice enough to ignore my emails.

 

[mrbobble]

Calibrate them all you want, it won't last. My $400 bk reads 140f at boiling.

_

That's crazy dude. Hey, dig the avatar and absolutely love your brewery. Best I've seen (yet)

 

[wildwest450]

That's crazy dude. Hey, dig the avatar and absolutely love your brewery. Best I've seen (yet)

I don't know about that, but thanks.


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[mrbobble]

I know about that and your brew house is sweeeeet.
Just ordered a Thermapen after reading through Kal's build out at theelectricbrewery.com. Hopefully they aren't as innacurate as what I'm using now.

 

[wildwest450]

I know about that and your brew house is sweeeeet.
Just ordered a Thermapen after reading through Kal's build out at theelectricbrewery.com. Hopefully they aren't as innacurate as what I'm using now.

You won't regret that purchase, they rule.


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[kindbrewer]

I blew my first batch of all grain because I assumed my awesome Brewmometer was right and my cheapo probe thermometers were wrong. It is off by about 12 degrees (says boiling is 212 at 6200') and I can't get it adjusted. When I contacted Blichmann tech support via email their response was only to turn the calibration screw.

Which way? How far? I've fiddled with it over and over and can't make it right. I guess I'll have to spend the $5.99 for the plug for my nice Blichmann kettle. Bummer.

 

[Catt22]

Which way? How far? I've fiddled with it over and over and can't make it right. I guess I'll have to spend the $5.99 for the plug for my nice Blichmann kettle. Bummer.

You have my deepest sympathy. IIRC, the adjustment screw on the large dial thermometers simply rotates the numbered face of dial relative to the pointer hand. It does not alter the mechanics of the thermometer. Much lower tech that that.

 

[kindbrewer]

You have my deepest sympathy. IIRC, the adjustment screw on the large dial thermometers simply rotates the numbered face of dial relative to the pointer hand. It does not alter the mechanics of the thermometer. Much lower tech that that.

Thanks Catt22 - I guess that makes sense. However when I turn the screw either direction the dial doesn't move at all. Maybe mine is broken?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes, sounds broken to me. The plate inside that has the numbers on it should turn when the screw is turned.

 

[mrbobble]

The thing that gets me is that while I was trying to calibrate the brewmometers, on the back of them I noticed that they have a warning saying something to the effect of don't get the metal on the thermometers above 150? That seems kinda like soft temp restrictions for something that has to be attached to blazing hot stainless metal.

METAL!

 

[shortyjacobs]

Wow, I have 3 brewmometers and have never had a problem. BK one always reads 212, my HLT and MLT ones are always dead to nuts on, (I check frequently with a digital one that I calibrate in boiling/ice water). I've had them for 2 years, never even touched the screws.

 

[kmk1012]

i bought mine, and had a coupler welded on my keggle on advise from this website, now hearing all this? So far mine has been very accurate but, maybe shows me that I should take everything said here with a grain of salt. Too many opinions without enough hands on experience. Oh well-it was only $100. I hope mine is the exception-I have a sturdy guard for the sensor on the inside and a nice heat shield on the outside-hopefully that will be enough for longevity.

 

[kindbrewer]

Wow, I have 3 brewmometers and have never had a problem. BK one always reads 212, my HLT and MLT ones are always dead to nuts on, (I check frequently with a digital one that I calibrate in boiling/ice water). I've had them for 2 years, never even touched the screws.

Mine reads dead on 212 at boil too. The only problem is that I live 5000' so it should read 200-203 depending on the barometric pressure at the time.

 

[Catt22]

i bought mine, and had a coupler welded on my keggle on advise from this website, now hearing all this? So far mine has been very accurate but, maybe shows me that I should take everything said here with a grain of salt. Too many opinions without enough hands on experience. Oh well-it was only $100. I hope mine is the exception-I have a sturdy guard for the sensor on the inside and a nice heat shield on the outside-hopefully that will be enough for longevity.

Yes, absolutely do look at everything with a skeptical eye. That's wise in most any case. I only had about $55 invested in my big dial thermometer. I thought that was a lot at the time of purchase. Not anymore! I think monitoring and controlling temperatures is one of the most important factors in home brewing at every step. It's too easy to be cavalier about it and just go with whatever reading you get from whatever thermometer, which is what I see a lot of home brewers doing. They could easily be off 10*F and remain completely unaware of the discrepancy. Errors that large or larger will surely affect the end product.

Just about every piece of equipment has it's fans and some disgruntled users. This is actually a good thing as it highlights potential problems, some of which can often be avoided with a little common sense and preventive maintenance. You can usually spot the cheerleaders and/or the inept/disgruntled with little trouble. I normally just sprinkle those with some of that salt you mentioned.

 

[Catt22]

Mine reads dead on 212 at boil too. The only problem is that I live 5000' so it should read 200-203 depending on the barometric pressure at the time.

I've played around with the boiling water and found that the temperature right at the surface can often fall below boiling. I think that the water actually boils near the kettle bottom and it loses some heat on it's way to the surface. OTOH, it could have been a problem with my measuring or the thermometer. Ice bath seems to be a little better. An ice slurry the consistency of a slushy drink works well. I use snow when available in the winter. A water and ice cube mixture should read a couple of degrees higher than 32 or even more. That's too much wobble room for calibration. The slush is better, but the downside to the ice batch is that the temp is far away from the 150* mash temp range and the thermometer errors are not likely linear, so that makes extrapolation dicey.

 

[samc]

Blichmann thermos won't calibrate with an icy slush - why? Because the temp scale only goes down to 60F.


Am I inept, disgruntled or a cheerleader?

LOL

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm not trying to be a hater but people do realize that branded gear is not necessarily the Cadillac of brewing equipment. I can have brewhardware silk screened on the face of a thermometer for a whole $50 out of pocket.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Cadillac makes brewing thermometers???? Sweet!

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes but you have to move to a retirement community in Florida to use it.

 

[wildwest450]

Yes but you have to move to a retirement community in Florida to use it.

Or not.

 

[mrbobble]

Wow, I have 3 brewmometers and have never had a problem. BK one always reads 212, my HLT and MLT ones are always dead to nuts on, (I check frequently with a digital one that I calibrate in boiling/ice water). I've had them for 2 years, never even touched the screws.

Oh my Brewmometers show up great at boil too. Showed up right in the little box between "boiling" and the N in Blichmann. But anyone can eyeball a boil (Is it boiling? Yep! Well there ya go). My thermometers agreed at the 64 degrees in my garage too. They just got out of whack around 140-160 which is where accuracy is the most important. I loved my brewmometers too until I realized that they were off. It was the Brewmometers that were killing my beer. The cool thing is that during troubleshooting, I picked up an MM3, a PH meter a thermapen and a whole bunch of other cool crap to try and troubleshoot my little $30 brewmometer beer problem. I'm just bummed that these super rad dials don't work seem to work right at every temp. I'm sad/glad to hear that I'm not the only one though.