EWildcat7 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I have been looking at recipes and they all have a range for the temperature to ferment the wort. However, I have read both a) that this is the ideal temperature of the wort and b) that this is the ideal temperature of the ambient air around it. Since I am going to use an inkbird temperature controller for the first time, knowing where to place the probe and which temperature to set is kind of important. Can anybody help steer me towards how to interpret the temperature in the recipes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 wort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Tape the probe to the side of the fermenter underneath some packing foam or similar. This will basically measure the wort temp rather than the ambient, which is largely irrelevant. The ambient obviously needs to be a certain temperature to keep the brew at the desired temperature, but depending on what stage the fermentation is at, it will vary and you don't really know where it should be. If you measure and control the brew temp, it will always be where you want it. Also, don't use a range, use a specific temperature like 18 for (most) ales. Set the differential (how far it allows the temp to drift before kicking in heating or cooling) on the controller to its lowest setting, usually 0.3 or 0.5 depending on the unit. This will keep the brew temp stable. Because it's measuring brew temp which doesn't change quickly, your fridge won't be rapidly switching on and off. As an example, mine comes on for 6-7 minutes to cool the brew down 0.3 degrees, then sits turned off for 14-15 minutes while it warms up that amount again, and so on and so forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silmaril Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I chopped up an old stubby cooler to use as insulation for the probe. And duct tape. Lots of duct tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean's of Ale- Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 I read on other forums that some brewers put there ink bird probe into a cup of water in the fridge or freezer, personally ive never done this, i lay some stro-foam over the probe and tape over it... Anyway welcome to the world of temperature controlled brewing, your beer will inprove ten fold wild kat brother! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 11 minutes ago, blurred said: I read on other forums that some brewers put there ink bird probe into a cup of water in the fridge or They're wasting their time. A cup of water doesn't behave the same as a 20 odd litre fermentation. It will just sit at the ambient fridge temp and not really move. Fermentation can put the brew temp a few degrees higher than the ambient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 2 hours ago, Silmaril said: I chopped up an old stubby cooler to use as insulation for the probe. And duct tape. Lots of duct tape. +1. Stubby cooler is the best for the job IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean's of Ale- Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 (Absolutely, the yeast munching sugar's in your fermenter create a temperature all of its own, much different to the ambient temperature of the fridge.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said: They're wasting their time. i have mine in a 2 litre pet wedged between two fvs. works for me. the best option would be a probe in the wort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocean's of Ale- Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Agreed benny, the probe in the fv would hands down be the most accurate way to know the brewing temperatures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dozer71 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 3 hours ago, Silmaril said: I chopped up an old stubby cooler to use as insulation for the probe. And duct tape. Lots of duct tape. +1 to this method Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dozer71 Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 18 minutes ago, blurred said: Agreed benny, the probe in the fv would hands down be the most accurate way to know the brewing temperatures. Agree. Most accurate, but also most likely to introduce an infection if dropping a probe into the wort. More work involved sanitising unless it is a set up with thermo-well that is clean/santised with the FV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 Ben you probably saw David's testing of different probe placements on the acb forum; the probe taped to the side was pretty much the same as it being in the brew itself. That's good enough for me to not bother with thermowells and shit. If I remember correctly it was just water rather than a fermenting brew, but it works well. I have tested the temp of samples taken which have been pretty much the same as the reading on the stc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWildcat7 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 thank you all for your replies One last question - do I need to use the heating side of the inkbird? Can I just plug in the fridge into the "cool" side and nothing into the "heat" side? If I do that, should I set the heat temperature to the same as the cooling temperature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 No need to plug anything into the heating side if you don't need it. I never do even though I wired it in to my controller. Figured just in case. You only set one temperature, the one you want the brew to sit at. The differential thing is simply how far it is allowed to rise or fall before the controller kicks in the cooling or heating to bring it back to that set temp. To maintain an essentially constant temp it's best to set this as low as the controller allows. You probably won't see it drop below the set temp at this time of year though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWildcat7 Posted December 20, 2018 Author Share Posted December 20, 2018 I just finished making up a batch and now I am having the opposite problem that I had with my last brew. This one is too cold. I tried to learn from my past mistake and put the water in the fridge overnight so that it would be cold when I put it in the FV. Well, I guess I put in too much cold water because the temp is now showing 18.3 and I have the inkbird set to 21. I don't have any heating element since I didn't think that making the brew warmer would be an issue at this time of year. Can I just leave the fridge door open until the air in my garage warms it above 21 and then shut the door and let the inkbird do its thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 18 is ideal for almost all ales yeast. it will produce it's own heat and warm up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWildcat7 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 I am making the Aztec Gold recipe - I don't know what kind of yeast came with the can https://www.diybeer.com/au/recipe/aztec-gold.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 It comes with the ale/lager blend. 18 degrees is actually better than 21 for that one. I'd be changing the set temperature to 18, differential to 0.3 or 0.5 whatever its lowest is. Then your brew will only move between 18 and 18.3/18.5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 The Mexican Cerveza has a Ale/Lager yeast blend. See this link. I think it would prefer 18 compared to 21 anyway. Cheers Shamus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 OVB beat me to it by that much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWildcat7 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 I was out for a few hours and I am only seeing these recent posts now. Before I left, I took the FV out of the fridge and let it sit in the garage. When I got home just now, according to the inkbird, the temp was 22.2. So I just put it back in the fridge, closed the door and set the inkbird to 19 with a variance of 0.3. I chose 19 as a compromise between the 21 that the recipe calls for and the 18 that you all are suggesting. Was the time that it moved from 18 to 22 enough to cause damage? I finished making the brew about 6 hours ago. I have read that these first few hours are critical to getting the temperature right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 1 hour ago, EWildcat7 said: Was the time that it moved from 18 to 22 enough to cause damage? no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EWildcat7 Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 So, I got up this morning and went to take a look at my brew; it has been fermenting for about 22 hours. Based on my last batches, I expected to see some krausen on it as there was none when I went to sleep last night. There might be some evidence that it came and went and was about 3 cm high, but I wanted to get your opinions. Photo 1 is my overall setup with the inkbird settings and photo 2 is my attempt to capture what might be krausen residue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 Do not panic yet. 22 hours is not unusual for still not seeing much activity. It does look like their is a skin of bubbles/foam on the surface. Condensation on the inside of the fermenter and lid are also a clue. I doubt that you have had an overnight krausen. The wort is still pretty clear. Once fermentation kicks in it will cloud up. You will have seen this before on other brews. If it had fermented quickly I would still expect it to be very cloudy. Give it some more time. Cheers Shamus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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