MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Howdy, probably covered a billion times.... I’m jack of the wet towel/ice brick routine. Can someone point me in the direction of decent temp control methods and or devices to get me through brewing in a QLD summer? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeastyBoy Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Hearing you MB. I have just dug the old fridge out of the farm shed, purchased a Inkbird ITC 308 which is a fairly simple plug and play system from flea bay. Was only $40 when I brought one a day ago now $50 go figure? Gimme a week & I will let you know how I went!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackgym Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Grab a secondhand fridge off Gumtree, and like YEASTYBOY says, an Inkbird temp controller from Ebay. Easy set up instructions come with the Inkbird or you can watch how on Youtube. There's a heap of stuff about it all on this forum too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy1987 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Definitely the way to go - Here is the thread when I got mine. I am by no means a handy person and setup was a breeze. Now I just throw the fermenter in and forget about it for 2 weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 1 hour ago, YeastyBoy said: Hearing you MB. I have just dug the old fridge out of the farm shed, purchased a Inkbird ITC 308 which is a fairly simple plug and play system from flea bay. Was only $40 when I brought one a day ago now $50 go figure? Gimme a week & I will let you know how I went!! Thanks mate, just had a squiz, looks simple enough. just curious....do these work only with fridges? I’ve got a stand alone freezer in the garage I’d need to sell before investing in a fridge.....wondering if you could do the same but with a freezer? might it over work the freezer?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 It can be done with freezers as well. In fact it would probably work less hard with a freezer due to their better insulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Buying a brew fridge is like buying a car. Older models gobble the fuel. Invest a little more and you can potentially save the additional outlay on electricity cost in the first year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 I use a chesty freezer that holds two FVs. Controlled with a keg king MKII controller. Works a treat. I find it crashes quickly and is very efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 +1 chest freezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Thanks all. Guess I’ve got the answer currently sitting in my garage holding nothing but a packet of salmon fillets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nannaspeed Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Thumbs up for ITC 308 temp controller; cheap, easy and reliable. As has been said many times here, temp control is a real turning point in making good beer, you won't look back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeastyBoy Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Yeah that would be the goods. Go the chest freezer with the Inkbird would work for the reasons above. My chest freezer is full of my Xmas Porkers. On the cost of power, the variable cost is bugger all as the electricity monopoly here screws us on fixed charges so a flaky fridge does not cost much more to run than a 5 star fridge. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 3 hours ago, YeastyBoy said: Hearing you MB. I have just dug the old fridge out of the farm shed, purchased a Inkbird ITC 308 which is a fairly simple plug and play system from flea bay. Was only $40 when I brought one a day ago now $50 go figure? Gimme a week & I will let you know how I went!! Just purchased me an ink bird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 The fridge isn't running constantly either like it is when used for its usual purpose. Obviously it will vary depending on the fridge and conditions but mine only runs about a third of the total time. Probably only uses a few cents a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 21 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: The fridge isn't running constantly either like it is when used for its usual purpose Good to know. Cheers m8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Hi Mitch Lots have said it already, but I temperature control with a chest freezer hooked up to an Inkbird. Just have to work on getting a second freezer or a fridge to run two brews at once. Cheers Shamus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said: Hi Mitch Lots have said it already, but I temperature control with a chest freezer hooked up to an Inkbird. Just have to work on getting a second freezer or a fridge to run two brews at once. Cheers Shamus Thanks mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarrx207 Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 I have two old chest freezers that I converted, one to a brew cabinet and one to a cheese cave. Yes, I also make my own cheeses, and yes it’s important to remember not to store the cheese near the brewing chest, brevibacterium linens in the beer is a bad look and worse taste. Both freezers are barely running when in use because the insulation is so good, I estimate maybe a handful of dollars a year in running cost. The advantage of a chest freezer is that even on the hottest days the temperature barely changes when I open them to check on the brews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Another thing I do is tape the probe to the side of the fermenter underneath some packing foam. I know it's not quite like it being in the brew itself but it's still far more accurate than just dangling it in the fridge. A guy did some tests on this on another forum and it was pretty much the same as the probe being in the brew so I'm happy with it. The temp doesn't move when I open the fridge doing this either unless I leave it open for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeastyBoy Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 FV Fridge test. All good. The Inkbird is so easy to use, set up. Possum was not happy its home was removed from the farm shed to the house shed. Smells a tad better & it works!! Think I have the how to attach the sensor to the FV, thanks OVB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 2 hours ago, YeastyBoy said: FV Fridge test. All good. The Inkbird is so easy to use, set up. Possum was not happy its home was removed from the farm shed to the house shed. Smells a tad better & it works!! Think I have the how to attach the sensor to the FV, thanks OVB. I’ve just kicked off my first ferment using the inkbird. Bloody good piece of gear so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeastyBoy Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 17 hours ago, MitchBastard said: I’ve just kicked off my first ferment using the inkbird. Bloody good piece of gear so far. I would agree & my seals are doing well considering. Just started my Unreal Ale, Day 2 & been struggling to get it to 18c so in she goes. Pic at the start of the cooling to 18c (19.5), FV is there at 18c in about an hour or two so happy days. Set up the whole deal, enjoying this temp control without the hassle factor. What have you gone with for your heating & cooling differentials? I have dialed in 0.5c & yet to set the alarms. Cheers Pic to show the rural set up (thank someone for duct tape!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchBastard Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 38 minutes ago, YeastyBoy said: I would agree & my seals are doing well considering. Just started my Unreal Ale, Day 2 & been struggling to get it to 18c so in she goes. Pic at the start of the cooling to 18c (19.5), FV is there at 18c in about an hour or two so happy days. Set up the whole deal, enjoying this temp control without the hassle factor. What have you gone with for your heating & cooling differentials? I have dialed in 0.5c & yet to set the alarms. Cheers Pic to show the rural set up (thank someone for duct tape!!) Nice. Im using an actual stand alone freezer to store my FVs during ferment. Ive got the CD and HD set at .5 and the PT set at 10. Its fairly tight in terms of fitting my FV in there. Fits the Craft size in easily but only just for the full size which I dont think is a bad thing as it gets to temp super quick and holds it there as I guess a freezer insulation is pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Yep if you've got the probe against the fermenter then the differential can be set quite low. I use 0.3 on mine as that's as low as it goes. Liquid doesn't change temp that quickly so the fridge and subsequently the compressor doesn't come on that much. Less than when it's just used like a normal fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeastyBoy Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said: Yep if you've got the probe against the fermenter then the differential can be set quite low. I use 0.3 on mine as that's as low as it goes. Liquid doesn't change temp that quickly so the fridge and subsequently the compressor doesn't come on that much. Less than when it's just used like a normal fridge. Yeap temp fluctuations are slow. Think the brew has moved .1c in 5 hours. Warmish day here & tin shed so a good result. You have set your PT = 0 or some other value? I left it at default being 3 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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