Wilko 12" Spirit Thermometer

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MyQul

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Are these accurate? Just tested my cheapo fleabay probe one and its out by 0.5 at the top and 2.5 at the bottom end. It used to be out by 0.8 at both ends so I could use it but it's going to have to be binned now.
 
I have one of these and found it reads 102.5 in boiling water and reads about 1 DegC higher than my digital one at 70 Dec c and reads the same as my digital one at 40 Deg C. (digital one reads 99.9 or something in boiling water) ..so I only use it as a back up.
 
I still quite like my M&S £15 pen one. ,,probably a bit expensive but it stabilises quickly and I think its pretty accurate. Order online and picked it up in the shop. Thought I'd lost it a couple of months ago so have 2 now.

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I use a Youngs spirit thermometer which seems to be the most accurate one I have used, I bought a £6 digital thermometer off ebay which is almost 15 degrees out! This could be why my first brews OG was so low, I'm going to stick with my spirit thermometer unless I can find a more accurate digital thermometer.
 
The problem with cheap scientific instruments is not accuracy, but calibration.

If my mate MyQul, for instance, identified what the **** Wilko thermometer read at room (20C) and boiling (100C) and then used that information to re-calibrate the scale that is on it, then there is little issue with accuracy. It's just that, er, that should be their problem, not mine.

My cheap-ish Wilko thermometer gave me some great beers, courtesy of being about minus four C on all readings. This meant that instead of high ABV beers mashed at 64, I got high malty beers at 68C mash temps. Does make a real difference, so worth calibrating even the more expensive instruments before you believe them over the immutable laws of physics.

On the plus side, I aim now for the higher end on the mashing temps scale, even with a probe device, with a constantly changing LED display, as that suits my palate at the moment.
 
........ to re-calibrate the scale that is on it, .........

I inherited a great thermometer from my brother when he died.

It's a Fahrenheit thermometer and spot-on for accuracy from 32 to 212 degrees; but it is so old that the black numbering has disappeared!

By the time I read the temperature from the numbers engraved on the stem it isn't representative any more, so any ideas as to what I can use to permanently reinstate the numbers without poisoning myself? :confused:

PS

It's lasted so long because it sits in its own chrome-plated brass container. Must have cost our Joe a mint when he bought it sometime around 1960!!
 
I've got a funky probe electronic thermometer that's particuraly accurate until I dropped it in my sparge water.
Thankfully the day before, my daughter's boyfriend's dad gave me his old alcohol thermometer. That saved my BIAB brew session.
Now that the electronic thermometer is all dried out, I am glad of having a good old-fashioned back-up thermometer.
That's a minimum from now on. :thumb:
 
I inherited a great thermometer from my brother when he died.

It's a Fahrenheit thermometer and spot-on for accuracy from 32 to 212 degrees; but it is so old that the black numbering has disappeared!

By the time I read the temperature from the numbers engraved on the stem it isn't representative any more, so any ideas as to what I can use to permanently reinstate the numbers without poisoning myself? :confused:

PS

It's lasted so long because it sits in its own chrome-plated brass container. Must have cost our Joe a mint when he bought it sometime around 1960!!

That is an interesting one, right enough. The easy one is to see where boiling point is using water vapour from a kettle. Then it must be possible to establish the "triple point" of water at 0C. Since it is a basically sound instrument you can make the assumption that the correct scale in between will be roughly linear.

(Linear just means that 50C is half way between 0C and 100C on the thermometer, and so on.)

How you would re-mark your instrument is beyond me, I just know something of the physics. The place to ask the question may be on the General Beer Brewing Equipment Discussion part of the forum.

If the device is just for brewing you might only need a few markers. Say, 20C for pitching indicator, 65C for mashing indicative reading, 80C for sparging sort of temps. Something like that?
 
That is an interesting one, right enough. The easy one is to see where boiling point is using water vapour from a kettle. Then it must be possible to establish the "triple point" of water at 0C. Since it is a basically sound instrument you can make the assumption that the correct scale in between will be roughly linear.

(Linear just means that 50C is half way between 0C and 100C on the thermometer, and so on.)

How you would re-mark your instrument is beyond me, I just know something of the physics. The place to ask the question may be on the General Beer Brewing Equipment Discussion part of the forum.

If the device is just for brewing you might only need a few markers. Say, 20C for pitching indicator, 65C for mashing indicative reading, 80C for sparging sort of temps. Something like that?

What's this "triple point" then? (please explain in laymans terms:D)
 
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