Any thoughts on a inferred instant read thermometer?
I bought one pretty early on in my brewing experience because I had a Lowes gift card and wanted a nice thermometer. It works okay, but really you still need a second thermometer to be sure of your mash temps, as the infrared thermometers only read the surface temp, and won't work as well on refletective or clear materials. That makes getting your strike water right on the money can be tricky since the water is clear, and most brew kettles are somewhat reflective. Also, steam can really mess with them.
One method that I found helped get a little bit more stable temperature for strike water is to put something like a plastic/silicone spoon/spatula in the water, and take the reading off the surface of that when it is submerged underwater.
I calibrated mine once, and found that it had been reading about 4* too hot for awhile too. I can adjust for it, but it loses a little bit of precision when doing that sort of thing. I let my brother borrow it to check out some cold spots in his house, and I didn't have it for my last 2 brews and only used my ol' stainless steel analog-dial thermometer, and it was probably a little easier that way, even though it isn't instant-read.
Thermapens sound nice, and if you are thinking of spending the kind of money a good infrared costs you might want to go that route as it works better for brewing. People swear by them, I have never used one, but I am a pretty cheap guy. If I hadn't had a Lowes gift card and wanted something that I can also use around the house, I would have never stopped using my analog thermometer probably.
trying to do too many things at the same time
