New to the home brew - How's my driving?

[XavierZ]

Good morning/afternoon/evening to all where ever you may be!

 

Being new to the home brew family, just wanted to get myself out

into the community and see what's happening. Seems like a lively

bunch here.

 

I haven't physically started my first brew as yet, due to the fact

that the house and garage temperatures vary so widely and quickly.

From just reading around the different forums, I discovered that

this is a bad thing.

 

Thus I have started with the creation of a fermenting and

storage cupboard. Not exactly a cupboard, but a 430L freezer with

temperature control to be more precise. If anyone has done

anything like this before, any hints, tips or information would

be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Xavier.

[Muddy Waters]

G'day Xavier - Welcome to the site [biggrin]

 

I use a fridge for my brewing and control the temp with a TempMate

 

You can get cheaper ones off ebay but I'm happy with my TempMate.

 

 

[XavierZ]

Cheers Muddy!

 

I was thinking about a fridge, but the only difference between a

freezer and fridge just happens to be the thermostat setting and

the refrigerant gas compression. Since the freezer is about 40

years old, it probably can only chill down to around zero anyway

[lol].

 

I initially saw the TempMate, and in my search for a cheaper list

price I found one very similar for $26 on a "very popular auction

site"[annoyed].

 

Cheers for the info all the same though. Very much appreciated.

 

[Kearnage]

I bought the same very popular auction site temp controller. Jatz crackered if I can wire the thing though, so it's going to cost a whole lot more [crying]

[rossm]

Kearnage...send me some info and I may be able to help you out...it can't be that hard, if I had the instructions I might be able to convert them to laymens terms for you...I'm a sparky, not a house wiring sparky a proper sparkey![roll]

[XavierZ]

Should be pretty easy to setup.'

 

240Vac for the Power in terminals 1&2.

 

The sensor in terminals 3&4.

 

The heat source active wire in line through terminals 5&6 for the

Heating relay (I'm using a 200W Mini Ceramic Heater).

 

The fridge thermostat connections go to terminals 7&8 to control

the fridge compressor for the cooling relay.

 

I'll draw up a schematic tomorrow and post it up on the blog to

help out. Oh... one big thing, if you make any changes to the

240Vac circuit, like I will be, get an electrician to wire it up.

If you are going to make it a DIY job, get him/her to check it

out. Better to be safe than dead!

[Kearnage]

Thanks for the offers to help, I really appreciate it.

I followed one schematic, was hopeless at getting the wires securely into the terminal block, did it eventually, and then worked out that the posted scheme ignored the earth wires so I figure I have to start again. [unsure]

 

STC 1000 instructions

 

Above is a link to the instructions that came with it. (It will download a pdf file)

There is a probably very helpful sheet that also came with it, I could scan and post that tomorrow if helpful.

 

I think the person on another forum who gave the advice to someone trying to wire it up along the lines of "If you need to ask these questions you shouldn't be trying it' may have a point.

Being a sparky where any mistake could lead to death or fire must be hard work.

 

Cheers

 

Dan

 

 

[Trusty1]

Kearnage - that is the forum to go back to and print off the photos of some of the set ups. think about what the system is trying to do, look at the photos and you should get it. If not just get a sparky/tech mate to hook it up for ya. I did mine and it was pretty basic. If you Pm me I can send you the photos to save you dredging the forum.

 

HERE is the link to the forum in Q.

 

Xavier - you inquire about hooking up your freezer to use normally on your blog, just making sure you were not going to hard wire the freezer to the temp controller? check out the forum for a few different ways to set it up. An easy way is to use extension leads, or even power points on the side of the unit housing (check out the forum and it will become apparent).

 

good luck with it.

 

BTW cool name, I have an 18 month old son named Xavier (Xavi), he is a terror[rightful] !!!

[Kearnage]

Thanks Trusty.

I trawled the forum and found the info. The instructions there make much more sense. I'll give it a go and take it to a sparky to be checked, or straight to my electrician if I'm still at all confused.

 

Cheers

 

Dan

 

[Kearnage]

Apologies to the OP for hijacking this thread, but many many thanks for the help wiring my temp controller. I bought a new terminal block (the screws on the cheapy I got first just jammed and didn't hold properly) and I followed the instructions (!!). After less than half an hour of tinkering, it's working just perfectly.

You guys rock!

 

Cheers

 

Dan

 

[Muddy Waters]

Nice one Dan [biggrin]

 

Remember, a temp controller is for Christmas but electrocution is for life [bandit]

[Kearnage]

It's OK Muddy, I was wearing gumboots and sunglasses [cool]

 

Seriously, it all checks out as per the diagram and common sense and works fine, but the final decision rests with my electrician. If he tells me I'm an idiot and have built a death trap, I won't argue.

 

I met (in a professional capacity) an electrician who put the wrong wires together some years back. Warnings don't come more graphic than that.

 

Dan

[XavierZ]

@Kearnage - Ok, my Schematic link is up on the Blog. Hopefully

it's easy to understand. It is for my setup which controls the

ceramic heater and the freezer's compressor. [happy]

Just like previously mentioned, a licensed electrician can wire it

up for you well within an hour.

 

@Trusty1 - [lol] there was no way I was going to hook the entire

freezer to the controller. I'm replacing the in-freezer thermostat

with the digital temperature controller relay. It will rely on the

supplied sensor with the STC-1000 controller. Thus I'm controlling

the compressor only for the cooling cycle.

 

(btw, the name Xavier is synonymous with words like terror and

such throughout the life time! [devil])

[Trusty1]

Xavier, sorry, I didn't mean don't hook a freezer up, what I meant was that the cooling unit, in your case the freezer (which some people have done), should just plug into a female plug (extension lead etc) that has been wired into the temp controller, i.e. no need to cut the freezer cord etc. It sounds like you are using it in a different way than most, i.e. you are using it to replace the thermo in the freezer (if I am reading your plan corrctly), so just continue with your cunning plan[cool]. What are you using as a heat source, pad, belt?

Good luck.

[XavierZ]

Not to worry Trusty. I am doing something a bit different to the

majority I have seen on the net. I'm trying to document as much as

possible to limit confusion.

 

Due to the fact that the thermostat was located inside the freezer

itself and not just it's temperature sensor, with the years of

moisture, it has rusted it ineffective. Instead of trying to source

and replace the thermostat, the digital temp controller will take

it's place as well as controlling heating. The next blog post will

actually show how I achieved this (last night in actual fact).

 

As per the heating, the blog post Hot, Cold and Control shows a

picture of a little black 200W Ceramic Heater with built in fan.

Perfect for heating such a small space.

 

Let me know if you see something that looks wrong or out of place.

I want to make sure I cover all bases if possible.