Get Rid of Thermometer?

[neon0107]

Hello All,

I have the 10 gallon kettle from spike (love it) that has the two ports at the bottom. One has the ball valve and the other has the thermometer. I was thinking of ditching the thermometer to avoid a possible bag tear and was thinking of putting another ball valve there so I could connect the two with my pump to do whirlpool. Will that work or do you need to have the whirlpool port a little higher up?

Down the road I am going to go electric and will send the kettle back to spike to put a try clamp on for the heating element so if needed may put a whirl pool port in also (I don't trust myself doing it. ) and will then use the old thermometer port for the electric probe.

Thoughts?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

a whirlpool will work half way up just fine, mine is just like your describing

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

 

[wilserbrewer]

Up to you, if you’re mindful and a little careful, the temp probe should not be a problem.
You want to begin lifting the bag manually, perhaps pushing the bag clear of the probe with your mash paddle until the ball of grain is at the top of the kettle, then spin the bag to be sur it is free prior to hoisting w/ a pulley. Or just initially using the pulley gently a couple clicks at a time being sure the bag is free.

DO NOT attach the pulley and start hoisting like your moving hay bales to the loft lol. If the bag is resisting, do not get a friend to help pull harder lol.

Most folks I’ve encountered snagging the bag on the temp probe admitted to being foolish and user error.

 

[Specz79]

Just out of curiosity will putting the probe in a extension so it isn’t sticking far into the kettle cause temp errors? I could se the bag preventing circulation of the wort into the probe without circulating it through a T.

 

[mongoose33]

Just out of curiosity will putting the probe in a extension so it isn’t sticking far into the kettle cause temp errors? I could se the bag preventing circulation of the wort into the probe without circulating it through a T.

You can get thermometers with different-length probes; if you like the thermometer you could either try to back it out a bit (not sure what fittings would do that), or get one with a shorter probe.

And no reason why you can't do the whirlpool thing, though you'll find you likely also have to shield the whirlpool tube as you withdraw the bag from the kettle so it doesn't move it or snag on it.

I liked having the thermometer when I did BIAB; it let me tell, at a glance, when temps were close to what I wanted so I could fine-tune the burner to accommodate them. Especially important as the wort comes up to boil.

You can, of course, do this without an installed thermometer, it's just not as convenient.

 

[ChaosB]

Consider this product for whirlpool. Then you could just get a shorter temp Probe.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/spincycleoverboard.htm

 

[MaxStout]

Before you hoist the bag, shoehorn the mash paddle alongside the thermo probe to keep the bag away. Slowly hoist-- use a ratchet pulley. Hoist a little, check the bag, hoist a little more, etc.