Thermometer broken glass, clever wife saves my...

[ou8amaus]

It was wine making night. I was on the third kit of the evening. Reconstituted the kit, added oak and homemade must pack. Checked temperature while stirring. heard a "rolling/scratching" noise coming from bottom of bucket. Figured it was crystalized sugar from the kit or larger peices of the wood chips. Pull out the thermometer and pitched the yeast. THEN I took a look at the thermometer. The broken thermometer.

All the beads had fallen into the bottom of the primary! What are they made of? Do they contain lead? Panic went through me. I began to plan on how to pour the kit/must through seives, maybe coffee filters, to get the beads out. The adding more oad, pitching more yeast, etc... basically panicking.

Then my wonderful wife took a metal skewer, sanitized it, attached a strong magnet, and fished out all the beads in a matter of 30 seconds. (The glass will come out when I rack). I think I will call this batch Mel's Magnetic Merlot. She is awesome.

So in case you did not know, beads used to weight down one end of a thermometer are magnetic. And there is a reason married men live 5 years longer then unmarried ones.

 

[sour_grapes]

She's a keeper, for sure!

 

[bkisel]

As the saying goes... All is well that ends well. Your post may save someone from doing the same to their thermometer.

How do you make certain that the broken glass won't be an issue?

 

[BernardSmith]

It was wine making night. I was on the third kit of the evening. Reconstituted the kit, added oak and homemade must pack. Checked temperature while stirring. heard a "rolling/scratching" noise coming from bottom of bucket. Figured it was crystalized sugar from the kit or larger peices of the wood chips. Pull out the thermometer and pitched the yeast. THEN I took a look at the thermometer. The broken thermometer.

All the beads had fallen into the bottom of the primary! What are they made of? Do they contain lead? Panic went through me. I began to plan on how to pour the kit/must through seives, maybe coffee filters, to get the beads out. The adding more oad, pitching more yeast, etc... basically panicking.

Then my wonderful wife took a metal skewer, sanitized it, attached a strong magnet, and fished out all the beads in a matter of 30 seconds. (The glass will come out when I rack). I think I will call this batch Mel's Magnetic Merlot. She is awesome.

So in case you did not know, beads used to weight down one end of a thermometer are magnetic. And there is a reason married men live 5 years longer then unmarried ones.

You married someone who knows how to think.. but that said, I would be wary about assuming that all the glass will be filtered when you rack. Am I being over-anxious?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Wow...you mean she didn't say "I told you not to do that"

Interesting...

 

[seth8530]

Pretty cool, I did not know that those guys were magnetic. BTW, I would also take great care to make sure that the glass comes out from this batch. I would be tempted to pass it through a filter just to be super safe.

 

[ou8amaus]

Most of the glass was in one piece and came up along with the pellets on the first fishing expedition (pinched between the magnet and a clump of the pellets). I plan on putting this batch through a filter after some aging just to be sure...

 

[ou8amaus]

Wow...you mean she didn't say "I told you not to do that"

Interesting...

I am well familiar with statement...

 

[dangerdave]

Cool story! I switched to a digital metal probe thermometer for this very reason. Now, if I could just find an indestructable hydrometer...

 

[jamesngalveston]

I also use a digital probe thermometer...and have a digital hydrometer on order, hopefully, and long awaited...we shall see.

 

[ou8amaus]

Cool story! I switched to a digital metal probe thermometer for this very reason. Now, if I could just find an indestructable hydrometer...

I actually have a digital thermometer in the kitchen... and now I definitely have a reason to use it! Hydrometers I am used to breaking... but they always break in bunches, no matter how many backups I may have, once one breaks I go the next day to the lhbs.

 

[ou8amaus]

I also use a digital probe thermometer...and have a digital hydrometer on order, hopefully, and long awaited...we shall see.

They make digital hydrometers?! What is the approx cost?