New Gadget - Infrared Thermometer

[EdWort]

Check this out, for $14 at your local Shack. A non-Contact Infrared Thermometer

For that price, I picked one up. Should be neat to check wort temps without having to stick a thermometer in there.

Plus all the other neat uses!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

ooooooooo, Cool toy. I think I'll have to go pick one up.

 

[Beerrific]

Nice. I was under the impression that these thermometers had to be used on solid surfaces and wouldn't work on liquids, I could be mistaken. Look forward to hearing your report.

 

[k1v1116]

When you said check wort temps you mean for after the boil to make sure its cool enough without having to worry about sterilizing the probe, from what ive read they're not accurate enough to check during the mash. but if you calibrate it and compare it to other thermometers for mashing id love to hear how it works.

 

[Revvy]

Nice. I was under the impression that these thermometers had to be used on solid surfaces and wouldn't work on liquids, I could be mistaken. Look forward to hearing your report.

I just read the owners manual (1 page.)

It said nothing about liquids not reading, but it did say this.

• The thermometer cannot measure through transparent surfaces
such as glass or plastic. It will measure the surface temperature
instead.
• Steam, dust, smoke, and other optical obstructions can prevent
accurate measurement. Hold the thermometer back and at an
angle for an accurate measurement.

As for transparent surfaces like a carboy, the stick on thermometers don't actually measure the temp of the liquid but the temp of the surface (the wall) affected by the liquid.

You could easily calibrate it against an immersed thermometer the first couple times you use it to see how big a difference from wall of carboy or bucket and liguid in bucket, or stick thermometer in a mash and the surface of the mash (or even the inside edge of the cooler.)

And in terms of a boil or mash with steam, it says hold it at an angle...

The other note was that it reads most accurately at a distance of 3-12".

Looks like a handy little gadget to have in the brewery at a great price...Hmmm guess I see a Radio Shack trip in my future.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I have a cheap infrared thermometer, and it works great for some applications. The problem is that it's fixed to read at a particular emissivity, so it gets wildly inaccurate when measuring some surfaces (shiny and/or metallic surfaces seem to be the worst). I've used it to measure the surface temperature of a mash, hot water, and deep fryer oil - all of those were very accurate readings.

To solve the emissivity problem, you need a better thermometer, like this one.

 

[MNBugeater]

Yeah, not sure how accurate this is going to be on surface temps of hot liquid. My guess is that it will read much higher than the actual liquid. The evaporating steam will obviously be a higher temp than the mass of liquid and that may throw it off.

We use infrared thermometers in data rooms to measure air temp entering & existing racks of equipment. It measures the air flow temp but not the temp inside the device.

Let us know how accurate it is...

 

[EdWort]

Yeah, not sure how accurate this is going to be on surface temps of hot liquid. My guess is that it will read much higher than the actual liquid. The evaporating steam will obviously be a higher temp than the mass of liquid and that may throw it off. ..

My thoughts are for checking for yeast pitching temps, which should not be that hot. Steam is long gone at that point. I will report though and compare with my other thermometer which is very accurate and cost a bit more.

Check out a ThermaPen at www.thermoworks.com

 

[MNBugeater]

My thoughts are for checking for yeast pitching temps, which should not be that hot. Steam is long gone at that point. I will report though and compare with my other thermometer which is very accurate and cost a bit more.

Check out a ThermaPen at www.thermoworks.com

Love the ThermaPen. I use it for BBQ, Grilling, and all around cooking.