SlitheryDee
General Manager
Lately I've been trying to cut my brew day down to the absolute minimum possible. I've got a baby due in October, and I don't know how much time I'm going to have to devote to brewing after that. I feel like if I can cut my brew days down to 3 hours or less, I can probably squeeze in some very early sunday morning brews where I get up before anyone is awake and knock it out before I'm even missed by mommy and baby.
I don't have a lot of time to prepare, but my next few brews are going to be experiments with 30 minute mashes and boils to see what I can get away with. That takes down a solid hour right off the top, but I've got to see how much multitasking I can fit in as well to shorten the busywork in between. I've come to realize that one thing that would really help me out is to have some way to know when my mash water is approaching my mash temp without having to drop what I'm doing and go check it with a thermometer. If I can confidently work on whatever other preparations I need to do without worrying that I'm going to massively overshoot my mash temp and thus waste a lot of time waiting for it to cool back down I think I can get more done.
In short, is there some kind of device that I can use to set my target temperature and have it beep or buzz or otherwise notify me when that temperature is being approached? I brew using a simple outdoor propane burner, so I won't be right next to it to read a temperature gauge while I'm inside doing other busywork. I specifically need an auditory notification. Does something like that exist?
I don't have a lot of time to prepare, but my next few brews are going to be experiments with 30 minute mashes and boils to see what I can get away with. That takes down a solid hour right off the top, but I've got to see how much multitasking I can fit in as well to shorten the busywork in between. I've come to realize that one thing that would really help me out is to have some way to know when my mash water is approaching my mash temp without having to drop what I'm doing and go check it with a thermometer. If I can confidently work on whatever other preparations I need to do without worrying that I'm going to massively overshoot my mash temp and thus waste a lot of time waiting for it to cool back down I think I can get more done.
In short, is there some kind of device that I can use to set my target temperature and have it beep or buzz or otherwise notify me when that temperature is being approached? I brew using a simple outdoor propane burner, so I won't be right next to it to read a temperature gauge while I'm inside doing other busywork. I specifically need an auditory notification. Does something like that exist?