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I'm sure someone's done this.  I didn't bother to look before posting.  So if you beat me to it, i commend you.

I was trying to calibrate the temperature inside the machine.  At first i had a few magnetic thermometers inside, which i'd open and look at.  Or one inside the bottle door.  These were helpful, but they didnt tell me what i really needed to know.  What temperature the beverages were on each of the shelves.

I decided to make a bottle with a built in instant-read thermometer.

It's pretty simple. 

1 6 dollar harbor freight thermometer.  (if you're thrifty you'll use the 20% of coupon that is everywhere)
13 ounces of 40% isopropyl alcohol
1 empty beer bottle
1 bottle cap
1 bottle capper
1 drill (or drill press)
1 drill bit
1 tube of seal-all fuel resistant adhesive (this is the only thing i could find that alcohol does't dissolve)

smack it all together and you have yourself a thermometer you can read directly from the bottle window.  One that won't freeze until 0 degrees fahrenheit.

in my case the bottle shelves range from 33.8 on the bottle to 34 on the top.  So I'd say it's pretty dialed in

        Thanks for posting those results, that's interesting!

         Glad to see you are having so much fun with your first machine, we guarantee it won't be your last  :happydrinkers:

Ingenious.
Thanks for the idea.

Great Idea for sure,, I've done that in sliders with the bottle upright , but never thought of sealing it .. I'll have to make one.

That’s a good idea , wish I had done that at Thanksgiving before I froze everything in my antique refrigerator. Replaced the thermostat with a coke machine thermostat and just set it on 4 and walked away.