help please

[stumpwater]

brewing a batch today ( right now) and broke my thermometer in my wort , got all them little black balls in my dam beer ... I strained it as best as i could do but not sure if its safe .. Its the floating kind that i bought with my starter kit a couple of years ago.
what do i do?

 

[boxofjibboo]

pretty sure they have mercury in them and its poisonous to humans. i dont think you can drink that beer. but wait for other replies before you throw it out

 

[kilted_brews]

The little black balls are probably lead shot to weight the tip down and the liquid inside used to measure the temperature is mercury. Unless you are 100% sure that the liquid in the thermometer's inner chamber didn't leak and are equally sure that you have removed ALL of the lead shot from the brew then the beer is probably not safe to consume. Even if you were "sure" that you cleaned up all the broken glass and internal parts, I'd suggest tossing it. Better safe then sorry - heavy metal poisoning yadda yadda...

 

[stumpwater]

thats what i was thinkin but not sure... Thanks. i got 5 and a half gals boiling now. Damn i hate to throw it out

 

[ALF]

wow. i've had all kind of things fall in my wort...screwdrivers, pliers and the occasional bee. i'm not really sure what those pellets are made of, but if they are magnetic that may be a clue.

 

[stumpwater]

I cant believe this..... the damn thing just broke itself and i have a brand new one in my kit

 

[Conan]

I broke one in the kettle a few months back. Modern thermometers aren't mercury, or rather probably aren't, so you're good. Google the make/ model of the thermo and check it out. Also, I wouldn't worry about the shot at the bottom. Never checked to see if mine was filled with steel or lead, but as somebody else said you could use a magnet to check. I doubt they would be stainless steel.

Did the entire unit break apart, or just a hole in the bottom? When mine went, only the bulb at the very bottom holding the shot broke. I think the "mercury" is in an independent tube within the outer shell, anyway. Kyle

edit: as kilted said, there are probably still going to be glass shards in the beer. However, leave a little bit of wort in the kettle. When you rack off of yeast, leave the trub behind. If you keg, there'll still be trub in the bottom of that vessel. The glass will be the first thing to settle out of suspension (well, the shot first I guess) so it'll be covered by the trub. Zero concern here.

 

[stumpwater]

just the bottom with the shot,, the other tube with the reading lines is still intact

 

[Conan]

Well, in that case definitely continue as if nothing happened. I used a floating thermo exactly 1/2. Yes, not even one full batch. Kyle

 

[stumpwater]

what about glass? Just the bottom tip was broken

 

[Conan]

As kilted said, there are probably still going to be glass shards in the beer. However, leave a little bit of wort in the kettle. When you rack off of yeast, leave the trub behind. If you keg, there'll still be trub in the bottom of that vessel. The glass will be the first thing to settle out of suspension (well, the shot first I guess) so it'll be covered by the trub.

Kyle

 

[stumpwater]

Hell its just a batch of the best beer i have ever brewed, maybe the best in the world ! I'll toss it , no need in gettin a glass shard hung in my gullet

 

[barneygumble]

I cannot comment on the material that is those beads. If you can still read the liquid side of things accurately then you didn't puncture the vessel that contains whatever liquid it is.

One thing I can comment on is your glass issue. Rack it out of the kettle when cooled through a cheesecloth over a fine mesh strainer, leaving the trub behind. This is definitely a batch I would use secondary for as well, racking carefully with a hop bag on the end of the hose, leaving the trub behind. Ditto when racking to keg or bottling bucket.

 

[Conan]

Like barney said, don't toss it. Just leave a little trub behind each time you rack. The glass will be on the bottom of the vessel, beer will have been moved, and you'll have your problem solved. Kyle