IR Thermometer

[rcbaughn]

I recently purchased a pretty nice Klein IR thermometer and was going to use it last night to temp my stainless steel sauté pan before I added the butter and mushrooms to precook them a bit before going on the pizza and it only registered that the pan was at 245 degrees. When I did put the butter in it was just so hot that it burned instantly. I know that if I would've used my hand and held it over the pan or done a drop of water I would've known this, but I wanted to be a bit more accurate with the IR.

Has anyone else had problems temping stainless steel with these kind of thermometers? Or any other kind of metal? I am going to be pretty aggravated if an IR won't work with stainless since that is basically all I am cooking with these days. Rarely ever do I use cast iron or non stick pans due to deglazing purposes.

[PizzaPolice]

it only registered that the pan was at 245 degrees.

'nuff said

[rcbaughn]

Any tips to getting it to read it correctly?

[TXCraig1]

Any tips to getting it to read it correctly?

Send it back? Stainless shouldn't be a problem. IR is IR, the emitting material shouldn't matter.

[PizzaPolice]

Brother...  245F and butter are mortal enemies.  Stainless takes some practice.  It is very serious and suffers no fools.  You need to sneak up on it slowly.  Remember, you are sauteing your mushrooms.  Like a dance... slowly add the butter and let it melt in..  Wait for a little spatter then slowly add your mushrooms.   Remember, it's a dance and just know she is going home with you... so take your time.  Bathe them with the butter and salt as you add the rest of them to the pan.  Your heat should be slow.  once they are all coated stand back and watch them reduce. Stir a little bit.  They darken a might but the unmistakeable aroma will tell you they are done.

[rcbaughn]

I guess that is what I'll do or maybe give Klein a call to see what they say. It's been reading other things pretty well. I did some research though and it said that certain reflective materials can affect readings. Only upscale thermometers with adjustable emissivity say that they can read accurately over an array of materials. I don't know how that would affect this but I do know that I want to be able to read stainless since that is what I cook with all the time.

[rcbaughn]

Brother...  245F and butter are mortal enemies.  Stainless takes some practice.  It is very serious and suffers no fools.  You need to sneak up on it slowly.  Remember, you are sauteing your mushrooms.  Like a dance... slowly add the butter and let it melt in..  Wait for a little spatter then slowly add your mushrooms.   Remember, it's a dance and just know she is going home with you... so take your time.  Bathe them with the butter and salt as you add the rest of them to the pan.  Your heat should be slow.  once they are all coated stand back and watch them reduce. Stir a little bit.  They darken a might but the unmistakeable aroma will tell you they are done.

Haha, what a great post. I have cooked a lot of mushrooms in the past and have always used the method of low and slow, I just wanted to try to get a reading of the pan before I added the butter to test out the new therm. Butter has a smoke point of 265 from what I've read so if that holds true then I don't think it should've burned, but I do think the thermometer was lying to me. I suspect it was upwards of 350 or higher.

Oh, and I love adding peppers when I sauté too, helps get those great brown bits to form all over the bottom of the pan before I hit it with some white wine.

[weemis]

Has anyone else had problems temping stainless steel with these kind of thermometers?

My mobile WFO is wrapped in stainless steel and it always reads wrong (low). Not sure what's the deal, but yes, i've had problems as well. My wife bought me the IR thermometer for christmas and it was a cheapo. Not sure if a more expensive model would do you better or not. Lemme know if you find any answers!

[pizzaneer]

Wikilink:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_thermometer

"Specifications of portable handheld sensors available to the home user will include ratings of temperature accuracy (usually with measurement uncertainty of ±2 °C/±4 °F) and other parameters.

The distance-to-spot ratio (D:S) is the ratio of the distance to the object and the diameter of the temperature measurement area. For instance if the D:S ratio is 12:1, measurement of an object 12 inches (30 cm) away will average the temperature over a 1-inch-diameter (25 mm) area. The sensor may have an adjustable emissivity setting, which can be set to measure the temperature of reflective (shiny) and non-reflective surfaces.

A non-adjustable thermometer sometimes can be used to measure the temperature of a shiny surface by applying a non-shiny paint or tape to the surface, if the allowed measurement error is acceptable.

The most common infrared thermometers are the:

Spot Infrared Thermometer or Infrared Pyrometer, which measures the temperature at a spot on a surface (actually a relatively small area determined by the D:S ratio)."




Sounds like your best best is to paint a small area on your cookware that you can use to get accurate readings.

[buceriasdon]

What sort of paint can be applied to stainless that one, will stick and two be food safe? None that I know of.
Don

[pizzaneer]

Food safe?  I was thinking on the outside, maybe on the side under the handle. 

The instructions on painting below are for an exhaust pipe- another high temp application for SS.

Things You'll Need
Trisodium phosphate cleanser
Steel wool
Water hose


Instructions
1
Ensure that the exhaust is cool.

2
Clean the stainless steel exhaust with a trisodium phosphate cleanser, using steel wool. Rinse the exhaust, using a water hose. Wait 2 to 4 hours for the exhaust to dry.

3
Cover areas you do not want painted with masking paper, plastic coverings and painter's tape. Protect the surface beneath the exhaust with heavy-duty drop cloths.

4
Coat the clean stainless steel exhaust with galvanized metal etching spray primer. Hold the can of etching primer 8 inches from the exhaust as you apply. Wait six hours for the primed exhaust to dry.

5
Coat the primed exhaust with oil-based spray enamel. Hold the can of enamel 8 inches from the exhaust as you apply. Wait six hours for the enamel to dry.

Tips & Warnings
Use an oil-based high temperature spray enamel on exhausts that raise in temperature.

Never apply etching primer directly over a dirty exhaust or you will have problems with adhesion.

Do not apply enamel directly over an unprimed exhaust or the finish will chip.

Do not use ordinary acrylic, latex or oil-based primer on stainless steel exhausts or the finish will peel.

[pizzaneer]

If this sounds like waaay too much work (and I bet it does), you could look up the emissivity coefficient of stainless and get used to calculating your actual as opposed to read temperature.

[rcbaughn]

I like the idea of putting a small dot on the outside of the pan, I just hope that it would reflect the temperature of the middle fairly well. I have some red caliper paint that I used on my car a few years back so I may give that a go. That stuff is made to take extremely hot temps so it should hold up well.