Why is Range good for homebrewing?
A while ago, John got the chance to hang out with Jay from Austin Homebrew Supply and his friends who were brewing on a beautiful Austin Sunday. Trevor was hosting in his garage, with a custom-made double-burner rig, and previous successes on tap. Jay got to try out his new Kickstarter reward, an Aqua Range, with his iPad, and it came in handy with two batches in different stages going at the same time.
Whenever it came time to clean (frequently), the business end of Range got dropped in the tray filled with sanitation solution along with the rest of the equipment (the silicone and stainless assembly is easy to clean), and then it was back to work. In testing next to Trevor’s existing ‘dumb’ thermometer, Range won the brewmasters’ trust by matching it degree for degree. We put a lot of effort into making Range accurate, but that’s not the only reason it’s good for homebrewing.
With remote alerts for time and temperature, you know won’t miss anything while you’re taking care of other tasks. Perhaps best of all, Range also allows you to see a graph of the temperature over time — and export that data to pore over later so you can see exactly what happened with each batch as you perfect your process.
The next update of the free Range app will give you even more awareness of what’s happening. We’ve developed Rangefinders to visually show the temperature bands that brewers (and candy makers, and grillers) care about, and give you a little notice when your mash has entered or exited a band. Further, since brewers constantly tweak variables like temperature on their recipes, you’ll be able to make your own Rangefinders as well.
Back when we brewed our first batch of SupermechanicALE solo with a recipe from Austin Homebrew Supply, we were worried about the results, but it turned out decidedly beer-like. If you’re like us and trying new things to become a better brewer, tools like Range give you information you can use to learn and mark your progress. Happy brewing! Have a beer.
