When steaming and frothing milk to prepare that perfect coffee an important factor to consider is the temperature of your milk. Regularly calibrating your thermometer will ensure consistent milk temperature and then of course great tasting coffee every time. The simplest way to calibrate a milk thermometer is with the use of ice water.
Calibration in Ice Water
- Add crushed ice and distilled water to a clean container or glass to form a watery slush.
- Place thermometer probe into slush for at least one minute taking care to not let the probe contact the container.
- If the thermometer reads between 1-4°C adjust to 0°C. Non-adjustable thermometers should be removed from use.
Thermometers that are found to be inaccurate should either be manually adjusted or serviced by a professional. Thermometers that have a history of deviating from actual temperature measurements should be discarded and replaced. Thermometers that cannot be easily calibrated through direct immersion in ice water can be calibrated by comparing readings with another calibrated thermometer. When doing this it is important that the thermometer used for the comparison has been calibrated recently. All thermometers should be calibrated regularly, depending on the volume of your operations. Any thermometer that has been subjected to abuse, such as being dropped on the floor, should be immediately recalibrated to assure accuracy.
