Thermometers?

[DW]

What's the best kind of thermometer to use for measuring mash temps?  I do extract brew mostly, with the occasional all grain in an Igloo cooler.  For my boils/cool downs in the kettle I have the blichman thermometer attached to the kettle, and that works well.  A while back I bought a cheap little electric one that ceased to allow me to calibrate it.  What's the best bang for the buck? 

[blatz]

Thermapen.  Multi-functional - you can actually use it in the kitchen - I use mine almost everytime I cook.

[Jimmy K]

I like mine - it's quick read, water resistant, and also has an IR temp reader. The IR reader is of minimal use, but it will read wort temperature through a carboy pretty well. The handheld probe (vs a termometer mounted in the tun wall) is good because you can move it around to see if temperatures are even. Remove the IR and it's pretty similar to a thermapen, which is very popular.

Edit: I forgot the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Professional-9306-Thermocouple-Thermometer/dp/B000XS7WTG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

And I also use it all the time for cooking.

[HydraulicSammich]

Thermapen

[tomsawyer]

Inexpensive bimetal thermometer.  Stir the mash good before taking readings.  Theres no real reason for super accuracy with a cooler MLT, there'll be a little gradient across the mash anyway.  being within a degree or two of where you want, is fine.

[klickitat jim]

Installed brewmometer in 15 gallon SS MT. Only need to calibrate if you take it apart.

[denny]

Inexpensive bimetal thermometer.  Stir the mash good before taking readings.  Theres no real reason for super accuracy with a cooler MLT, there'll be a little gradient across the mash anyway.  being within a degree or two of where you want, is fine.

Agreed.

[Pinski]

Thermapen

Third.
Simple, fast, accurate, versatile, durable.

[kramerog]

To me the real value of a Thermapen in mashing is to figure out if you got a robust procedure for mixing your grains and water as evidenced by a fairly uniform temp distribution at the start of the mash (and a lack of malt/grain balls).  Now that I've figured out what works for me, I could get by with almost any accurate thermometer.

[HoosierBrew]

I posted a link to this thermometer last night in a different thread :


http://www.thomassci.com/Instruments/Digital-Thermometers/_/Thomas-Traceable-Lollipop-ShockWaterproof-Thermometer/

Can't say enough good things about this one.  It's affordable, NIST-traceable, and has a long stem (8") which reaches easily into the center of my mash cooler. I've checked it a few times against a laboratory reference thermometer and it stays within 1/2 a degree F. It sells on Amazon fairly often for even less.

EDIT  -  I bought the cheaper of the two in this link.

[fmader]

I posted a link to this thermometer last night in a different thread :


http://www.thomassci.com/Instruments/Digital-Thermometers/_/Thomas-Traceable-Lollipop-ShockWaterproof-Thermometer/

Can't say enough good things about this one.  It's affordable, NIST-traceable, and has a long stem (8") which reaches easily into the center of my mash cooler. I've checked it a few times against a laboratory reference thermometer and it stays within 1/2 a degree F. It sells on Amazon fairly often for even less.

EDIT  -  I bought the cheaper of the two in this link.

And I seconded this last night too! Quality piece of equipment!

[HoosierBrew]

Love mine !

[coastsidemike]

I use one of these for the mash temps.  You can toss the probe into the middle of the mash and leave it with a lid on:  http://www.amazon.com/Polder-Digital-In-Oven-Thermometer-Graphite/dp/B000P6FLOY

Thermapen for everything else. 

[theoman]

Super happy with my narwhal (what my wife calls my Thermapen).

[cornershot]

Glass lab thermometer. Very accurate, fast reading, and costs ~$7.