Digital Candy Thermometer

[Amber Gold]

I bought a digital candy thermometer (<$30) from Bascom's in December. It worked great for the first 5-gal of syrup, but since then I'm having issues with it. Lately the temp. reading is bouncing all over the place making it difficult to get a good reading. For example, it'll go from reading 236F to 230F w/out a change in boil, then bounce right back again. Because I'm not getting an accurate reading, it's making candy and cream difficult to make.

Anybody having similiar problems and do they know what Bascom's return policy is on something like this?

Thanks

[BryanEx]

I've had issues similar to what you describe with a variety of consumer grade digital candy thermometers of different brands. They seem to work for a while... and then not but for me it seems to be based on how long I leave them exposed to the heat and steam. If I just take a reading and remove they seem okay but if I use the pot clip that many have they seem to crap out in short order. The only one I've had good luck with so far is called the lollipop and is made by DeltaTrak. It's designed to test dishwasher temperatures and so far no trouble even after dropping it in the syrup. It has a short prob but reads fast and has a high temp recall in case you can't see it through the steam.

[Amber Gold]

Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of putting a clip on it...set it and watch until it's done. That's a shame because the digital are easy to read.

Anybody using an analog thermometer similiar to the old style mercury therm.'s? Recommendations on manufacturer/make?

Thanks

[BryanEx]

Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of putting a clip on it...set it and watch until it's done.
One would think so but I'm convinced it needs to be professional or scientific quality to stand up to the sugarin' environment. I'm still searching for that thermometer but in the mean time I've adapted a version of what I found on the New Brunswick Maple Producer's web site using a dial thermometer.

[upsmapleman]

I make lots of candy and cream and have had all the problems you have had. This is how I solved it and now every batch turns out. I bought one of the large dial 0 to 50 with a 9 inch stem. Had a welder put a 1/4 inch adpt. on side of stock pot, Angled down into syrup with tip about 1 inch from bottom. they are very accurate and can be adj. if you need to by boiling a little water. Best thing I did to improve my results.

Dale

[gearpump]

We had the same problem with our probe. If the tip hits the bottom of the pan the reading will be off. I made a S.S. clamp to hold the probe about 1/2" off the bottom and it works great. We use an Omaga digital unit with a 16" themocouple.

[DS Maple]

Josh, are you talking about the "digital candy thermometer with 10" probe" made by Redi Chek? That thing is a piece of junk. I bought one because it read in tenths of a degree up to high temps (the one we currently use reads in tenths up to 199 degrees.) The same thing happened to me with the temperature jumping all over the place and never reading the same as the other one, which has always been tried and true. Then it got dropped/submerged in the boiling syrup pan and that was end. Wrapped it back up and returned it to Bascom's. (The old Hanna digital thermometer that we use has been swimming several times and it always bounces right back.) If you have the original packaging I think they'll take it.

[Amber Gold]

Scott, that's the one I have. Mine hasn't been swimming though. I leave the bottom of the probe about 1/4" off the bottom of the pan.

I do have a 0-50F 6" and 9" dial thermometers. I'll see if the clip from the digital will fit on the probe from the dial or find another way to mount it to the pot.

[DS Maple]

Oh, I see, are you using it to finish syrup? I never used it for that, just on the evaporator and the stem length just wasn't long enough to work in the existing thermometer hole we have through the side of the float box. After trying to mount it other ways, which resulted in it being dropped in the pan, we decided it wasn't worth fighting with.

[KenWP]

I use a scientific thermometer that is goverment tested and even it goes up and down when trying to finish. Baffles me watching it bounce up and down and then when I near syrup it just settles down and goes up. I have a cheapy digital I bought at Wally world that does okay in the house. Can't read it out side in the dark worth beans. I finish most syrup at about 2 in the morning for some reason.

[Amber Gold]

Scott, I'm using it to make cream/candy. It has a clip to mount it to the side of the pot and I leave the end of the probe about 1/4" from the bottom.

I am going to try and drill out the clip from my candy therm. and use one of my dials. I'm not sure if I'll get enough of the probe into the syrup though. We'll see.

[Amber Gold]

I used the digital thermometer last night to make a batch of candy and it worked great. Temp. reading was consistent and the candy came out perfect.