Thermometers and controllers

Temperature is the one number that quietly decides everything. Mash too hot and the beer finishes thin. Ferment too warm and you get solvent notes nobody asked for. A thermometer is the cheapest way to stop guessing.

Match the tool to the job. For fermenters, the Morgans LCD self adhesive strip reads 10 to 40C off the outside of the vessel and costs almost nothing. For general brewing and cooking, the Kegland digital pocket thermometer with probe covers minus 50 to 300C, and there is a digital unit reading to 500C. Traditional glass and red spirit thermometers are still the easiest to read at a glance, from minus 10 to 50C, minus 10 to 110C and minus 10 to 150C, while the LoTox at 305mm long reaches minus 20 to 360C for deeper vessels. Distillers should look at the Pure Distilling thermometer with a beeping alarm. For a cellar or curing room, the analogue TFA max and min cellar thermometer and the TFA thermohygrometer at 0 to 100 per cent humidity tell you what the space does overnight. Cheese makers, the Incasa milk probe and Mad Millie boxed thermometer are yours. On the control side, the Kegland 2400 Watt power controller lets you dial back an element instead of running it flat out.

Check a new thermometer in iced water before you trust it. Two minutes now saves a batch later.

We are at Laverton North and Epping. See also brewing temperature control, hydrometers and refractometers and pH meters and strips.