in search of fast thermometer...

[silverneedles]

my thermometer disappeared...
.... I CANT MAKE MY TEA !
..............just kidding,
but i got used to looking at the numbers

Taylor TruTemp #3516 Instant Read Digital Thermometer @ Target
just F no C
silly on-off switch
&
Taylor TruTemp #3519 Instant Read Digital Thermometer @ Target
nicer buttons

both of those, temp reading:
painfully SLOW at least 20seconds (when i spaced out...) to reach a stable reading (i was in store with these 2 side by side) [i had one bought at radioshack, 9$ sale, took ~7 seconds]

i'm buying this
CDN Q2-450 Proaccurate Quicktip Digital Thermometer on a rope
(13$, well 20$ with tax and s&h :\) from Target.com (at least i can return to store if it sucks

there's supposedly this list from Cooks Illustrated which ranked the "good" thermometers:
Thermoworks Super-Fast Thermapen 211-476
CDN ProAccurate Quick Tip Digital Cooking Thermometer DTQ450
Maverick Redi-Chek Professional Chef's Digital Thermometer DT-01
CDN ProAccurate Quick Tip Digital Cooking Thermometer on a Rope Q2-450
Polder Instant-Read Thermometer 371
CDN ProAccurate Candy & All-Purpose Thermometer DTC375
Fieldpiece SPK1 Thermometer
Comark PDT300 Thermometer
Taylor Classic Instant Read Thermometer 9840
Thermoworks RT-301 Thermometer
DeltaTRAK 11000 Thermometer
Cooper-Atkins Waterproof Digital Thermometer DPP400W

[silverneedles]

CDN Q2-450 Proaccurate Quicktip Digital Thermometer on a rope

yup its fast
5 seconds jumps to approx temp, then about 5 more seconds to stabilize reading.

buttons are not comfortable, no feedback(no click), only the _middle_ of the top of the button is depressed ?!

plastic body feels solid, waterproof

good display, large numbers.

not really worth 20$ but i'll keep it...

more notes on it >> http://tgfop.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/c ... on-a-rope/

video of me playing with it >> youtube

[Garrett]

I recently purchased this one from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Digital-Co ... 713&sr=8-2

So far, so good. Plus, it's eligible for free shipping and I bought it as part of a 4-for-3 promo with other tea items, so it ended up being a damn good deal.

[silverneedles]

here's the one i had from radioshack...



http://www.chinatraderonline.com/BBQ-Ou ... 225914693/

haha EBAY http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Thermometer ... 08636739QQ

NOT the same thing i had. these are slow pokes.

[Chip]

For years, the Polder were much faster in the mechanical and the digital versions than the Taylor counterparts.

Finally Taylor figured that out and seems to have corrected this shortcoming ON THEIR NEWER MODELS.

[silverneedles]

to me they all look like its the same china product with a different company label

i dont know if they test them for certain specifications for their brand, but they are not worth the price they sell at.

taylor

cdn

polder

[pedantic]

I'm guessing the Thermoworks Super-Fast Thermapen is outside of many of our price range.

[fmoreira272]

i was having a lot of trouble brewing high quality tea as the process of monitoring the temperature and time. after few "instant read" thermometers i came across a connoisseur item. the price is a little high but totally worth, specially if you can make use of the 4 for 3 promotion on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Connoissue ... 591&sr=8-1,
after 2-3 cups of perfect tea i have ordered a few to give as gifts for my tea's lovers friends.


it works great. there are preset temperatures and steeping times for white, green, black, puerh, oolong, darjeeling and herbal teas. the only problem i had was to be able to clip the thermometer to small cups, then i use a little pitcher or small teapot.
since most of the tea i drink is green i have to cool the freshly boiled water anyway.

highly recommended if you want full control of temperature and time in one nice little gadget.

[Herb_Master]

Does anyone know how fast the water temperature drops, if you pour it from the kettle into a receiving vessel in which the thermometer is sitting?

On receiving my Kamjove I did a practice assessment of the temeperatures that it was supposed to be delivering. I preheated the cup/mug from another kettle - emptied it - inserted the thermometer - and when the Kamjove light changed colour poured the water in - it seemed to be delivering the temperature I wanted.

But at that time being new to Oolongs and taking the perceived advice I was looking for about 85-90c

Recently whilst trying to experiment with the near boiling recommendations of so many esteemed TeaChatters I had reason to check the temperatures being delivered by Mr. Kamjove.

Quick they were to drop significantly - so much so that I am wondering how my initial calibration was successful.

Trying to use near boil water seems impossible!!!!

Steam is issuing forth from the Kamjove many seconds before it decides to switch off - but the temperature never seems to get above 95?

Are we talking of the temperature in the Kettle?
Do I need to put my thermometer in the kettle ?
Is my thermometer past it's use by date ?

Has anyone come across a suitable testing vessel, something like a tall thin graduated cylinder that would be more suitable for taking temperature checks?

[Chip]

after 2-3 cups of perfect tea i have ordered a few to give as gifts for my tea's lovers friends.

it works great. there are preset temperatures and steeping times for white, green, black, puerh, oolong, darjeeling and herbal teas. the only problem i had was to be able to clip the thermometer to small cups, then i use a little pitcher or small teapot.
since most of the tea i drink is green i have to cool the freshly boiled water anyway.

highly recommended if you want full control of temperature and time in one nice little gadget.

I would like you to consider me your friend!

I have not seen the tea version, but have a regular one. It is nice.

[MarshalN]

Which is why it's rather pointless to try to measure temperatures

[Herb_Master]

Which is why it's rather pointless to try to measure temperatures

Thank you!

A conclusion I was coming to myself.

All these months I had been happy stumbling along.

Find a kettle you like, a setup you are comfortable with, heat the water in consistently the same way that you find achieves the results you want and continue likewise.

But when other TeaChat posters start telling you precisely which temperatures give the best results treat it with a certain amount of discretion and modify your own water heating preferences up or down accordingly to see if you can detect any differences / enhancements ?

[scruffmcgruff]

<OT rant>

Honestly... I don't understand the fascination with reaching a totally impractical temperature. If you live any altitude above sea level you will never ever reach a 100C boil. It's simple physics. It's also simple physics that some of the thermal energy will be absorbed by the teapot material to reach an equilibrium temperature; unless you are heating your teapot and leaves to above 100C in the oven prior to or during use, you will never have boiling water in the teapot. Most likely, you will always be brewing with temperatures well below boiling.

Just preheat as best you can... that's what the rest of us do. Temperatures are only guidelines, and they only work on a specific set of teaware. Heat your water to the recommended temperature (most people check the temperature in the kettle); if it doesn't taste good, change the temperature accordingly. Buying a graduated cylinder is not going to help; not only is it a waste of time, money, and effort, but a using a tall and thin cylinder is actually counter-productive. Because it is tall/thin, you have a lot more surface area and it will likely cool down faster than in your teapot, and you will still have the problem of losing thermal energy by heating the container. More importantly, it isn't your teapot, so the temperature reading you get is completely irrelevant.

Sorry for being a bit obnoxious, but I've seen this way too many times. Water temperature is somewhat important (though most experienced brewers will agree that exact values are not required or even practical), but the people giving temperature guidelines do not use sophisticated laboratory equipment to determine them. They use regular teaware, so there is no reason to get so flustered about it.

</OT rant>

Edit: I started writing this before the previous post came up. Sorry if I misinterpreted the earlier post as being a bit loony!

[Herb_Master]

<OT rant></OT rant>

Edit: I started writing this before the previous post came up. Sorry if I misinterpreted the earlier post as being a bit loony!

No problem - hard hitting emphasizes nicely!

Giving deference to certain Tea Chatters who proudly announce they are brewing at 100c or EVEN 105c was giving me serious concerns

Not least because if they were achieving that I could not imagine it would improve the results in my cup

Now I can sleep easy and carry on happily where I was before!