I happen to have one of those laser thermometer doo-dads for a completely unrelated purpose, and I'm finding it come in handy for a number of homebrewing-related stuff. I haven't read this anywhere as standard HB equipment, so I thought I'd mention some uses I've found (or think might be useful):
* Ambient temperature in a room is one thing, but what temperature is the room right around where your fermenter/bottles are? My initial chosen location for bottle conditioning I thought was around 65-70F based on ambient temperature, but after they were there a day I pointed the digital thermometer at the floor next to where they were sitting and found it was as low as 50F in some places! And the bottles themselves? That's the next bullet.
* Remember first that a laser thermometer only gives you the surface temp, so I wouldn't trust it for a damn on the contents of your fermenter... but a 12-oz bottle that has been in a stable environment for a few hours, the surface temp's probably going to be pretty close. I found that while some of my bottles were conditioning at 65F, others were conditioning at 55F, which as I understand it is a little cool for developing good carbonation. Moved them to a different spot, which is not easily accessible -- but it's accessible enough for me to point a laser thermometer at the bottles and confirm their temperature from a distance!
* Again, a laser thermometer is only surface temperature... but if you are waiting for your all-extract wort to cool enough to pitch the yeast, if the surface temperature is too hot then the overall temperature is definitely too hot. Every time you dip your sanitized thermometer in the cooling wort is a chance for contamination, no matter how slight. Last time I checked, microorganisms can't travel on a laser beam. I don't start using the sanitized thermometer to check the overall wort temperature until the laser thermometer tells me the surface at least would be comfortable for yeast.
* On another thread, I saw someone worry about their IC not being fully immersed in the wort. I don't have a chiller yet, but I can tell you this anyway: Point your laser thermometer at the exposed chiller, and if it reads 200F then I guarantee you there is no contamination risk.
I suppose the risk would be if someone didn't understand the difference between surface temperature and internal temperature, and, say, pitched their yeast when the surface temperature of the wort was just tolerable. But if you understand this principle, I've found the digital thermometer to be really handy. I don't think it would be worth it ONLY for homebrew, but if you think you might use it for anything else, hey, go for it. They are fun toys anyway!
* Ambient temperature in a room is one thing, but what temperature is the room right around where your fermenter/bottles are? My initial chosen location for bottle conditioning I thought was around 65-70F based on ambient temperature, but after they were there a day I pointed the digital thermometer at the floor next to where they were sitting and found it was as low as 50F in some places! And the bottles themselves? That's the next bullet.
* Remember first that a laser thermometer only gives you the surface temp, so I wouldn't trust it for a damn on the contents of your fermenter... but a 12-oz bottle that has been in a stable environment for a few hours, the surface temp's probably going to be pretty close. I found that while some of my bottles were conditioning at 65F, others were conditioning at 55F, which as I understand it is a little cool for developing good carbonation. Moved them to a different spot, which is not easily accessible -- but it's accessible enough for me to point a laser thermometer at the bottles and confirm their temperature from a distance!
* Again, a laser thermometer is only surface temperature... but if you are waiting for your all-extract wort to cool enough to pitch the yeast, if the surface temperature is too hot then the overall temperature is definitely too hot. Every time you dip your sanitized thermometer in the cooling wort is a chance for contamination, no matter how slight. Last time I checked, microorganisms can't travel on a laser beam. I don't start using the sanitized thermometer to check the overall wort temperature until the laser thermometer tells me the surface at least would be comfortable for yeast.
* On another thread, I saw someone worry about their IC not being fully immersed in the wort. I don't have a chiller yet, but I can tell you this anyway: Point your laser thermometer at the exposed chiller, and if it reads 200F then I guarantee you there is no contamination risk.
I suppose the risk would be if someone didn't understand the difference between surface temperature and internal temperature, and, say, pitched their yeast when the surface temperature of the wort was just tolerable. But if you understand this principle, I've found the digital thermometer to be really handy. I don't think it would be worth it ONLY for homebrew, but if you think you might use it for anything else, hey, go for it. They are fun toys anyway!
