Thermapen Open Box Sale

I do BIAB and I have to check temp very frequently because the kettle is on an element and can gain or lose some degrees pretty easily. I don't have a thermopen but I did just take advantage of the 15% off site wide to grab a RTC6000C. It'll be a lot more convenient for me.

 

I may be an outlier, but here is how I mash. I divide my water into two pots (my kettle and a smaller pot). This is after I've already added any salts (except for anything I don't want to be in the mash), so the water will be identical in both pots. Except I then bring one pot to near boiling, and the other to about 145°F.

I add my grain to my mash tun and add a fair amount of the 145°F water. Then I measure the temperature and add some hot water to bring it up to mash temp. If I overshoot, I add some more 145°F water, and so forth. I have to thoroughly mix after each addition, of course. I have to be a little careful to get the water/grist ratio right, although I've almost never had any trouble with that.

It's laborious and time-consuming, but I usually manage to measure my mash temp within a few tenths of a degree of the target (however, I never get perfectly uniform measurements across the mash).

[minor edit for clarity]

 

One thing I discovered when I first used the Thermapen is there is quite a bit of variation in my mash tun/cooler, even after what I thought was a lot of stirring. Basically, with my old thermometer I would take a couple of mash temps and it would appear stable, but the thermometer was so slow that it would keep adjusting. I was really surprised to find pockets in the mash that would be 5-8 degrees different from the rest, even after lots of stirring. I don't know that I make better beer now, but I have a much more accurate mash temp and it is easy to see if it is holding or if I need to add a little boiling water.

 

Heat water to properly calculated strike temperature. Dump hot water in tun. Mix in grains. Let sit for 5 minutes. Check mash temperature with my slow, but adequately accurate digital thermometer. Boom...the mash temp is within one degree of what I planned. There are no adjustments, ever.

 

Yeah. I've always assumed pockets were there. I measure temp at the hottest place in the mash tun (this location I keep my thermom at is consistently is the hottest). I figure that as long as I am consistent on this I can use this point to relate temp effects to other observations lie fermentability

 

I alluded to having to sometimes adjust and I believe this is where my glass lab thermometer can fail me. It is easier to make a reading mistake. Of all the advantages people have mentioned, reading a digital screen and durability are the two things that would make me change. I'll consider the cheaper version people mentioned

(Yeah, I have once broken my glass thermom in the mash tun. It was no big deal.and yes I have use cheap digital and dial thermometers that do not hold up to steam very well.)

 

How about this long stem model?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2126165162&pf_rd_i=393284011

 

This is a family website.

 

It's got a big display, it's fast, it's accurate as all getup, and yadda, yadda, yadda. I like the fact that it's not likely to fail me on brew day. like the dozen or so that came before it (hence, it's a far cry cheaper, too!). And, as others have noted, it's superbly suited to cooking. Regarding the short probe, I use it to calibrate my 12" mechanical thermometer so I can read temperatures anywhere I want in the mash bed.

 

If one of my cheapo thermometers fails me (I have 6...3 of which are perm installed) then I guess I'm fucked : )

 

For me the rapid equilibrium is most useful (and not just convenient) when I am heating my strike water for the mash. As the strike water heats up, most of the way I use a typical probe-on-a-wire oven thermometer that constantly measure the temperature. When the water gets close to my calculated strike temperature I whip out the thermapen and carefully monitor while stirring until I hit the desired temperature. I then mix the water into the grain (yes, water into grain), and then use the thermapen to make sure the grain bed is reasonably uniform in temperature. When the mash is done, I again mix again and measure the temperature so that I can calculate the average temp during the mash. I use a well insulated mash tun, so I don't worry about the slight decrease in temp during the mash. I just let the grain bed sit while mashing.

 

First official use of my RT600C -- checking the strike water temp for my saison. After 1 reading, I can say I am still happy with it!

Yeah, I joined the bandwagon (well, one of them), when my turkey meatloaf broke my dial thermometer earlier in the week. What can I say? It wasn't a very good recipe.

Edit: It does seem to take as many as 5 seconds to give a stable reading, so I imagine that all you people with Thermopens have shorter brew days.

 

LOL!

Cheers!

 

Those all of those "5 seconds" really add up

 

And if you want it for non-rip off price:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Splash-Proo...ometer-/281796168254?var=&hash=item419c5c4a3e

 

Thermapenis envy.

 

I bought a second one so I could have one in the kitchen, and one in the brewing/smoking area.

 

I use my thermapens for smoking also. Fast read is great for getting the lid back on the bullet quickly.