Snags Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Nice work. That's a pretty darn big fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Argh.... Tipsy.... that is my controller. It has the exact same lean on the interface as mine. Good job mate and trust me, you will never look back now. One thing I am going to change with my setup is to get rid of the light bulb and introduce a Reptile Heat Cord as then there is no worry of a globe blowing etc. Good job mate! PS. I love the fridge!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 That is a great fridge Tipsy [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusty1 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Billk, Thanks for the inspiration!! BAM, right there. no wonder you're tippsy and you stagger. Great set up. Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 In regards to the pricing, if you want to use cheap quality, chinese made crap, that's fine. The products I was discussing were QUALITY AUSTRALIAN made products that are industry standard. I own 2 of these STC's (3rd one imminent) and find them wonderful, personally I dont give 2 flying fu_ks wether thay are Australian, slovenian, or from China, if they are cheap and they work.. good enough for me and my brewery[rightful] If I had the same set up from from local supplied companies I would be out of pocket hundreds of dollars... (tempmate / brewmate) I persoanlly have a heat pad (soon to be 2) that I place in the fridge but not under the FV, Probe also insulated and placed up againsed the middle of the FV, as you are reading the wort temp (well the temp of the FV at least) there is minimal cycling on and off and (also have fridge outside) find that of a night the heat is definatly required to maintain a constant temp.. my range is +/- 0.3'c and I find that this is just right for my setup, minimal power usage. dont knock them till youve tried them.. they ROCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Just wondering, but in the case of my fridge, seeing as it doesn't work, and I'm just using it basically because it's still insulated from excess heat and cold, would I be able to connect one of those Fridgemate things to only control when the heat light turns on and off? With sub-zero temperatures at night, the only problem I have at the moment is worrying about it dropping too low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipsy Mcstaga Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Sure can, They can heat and cool, All you need to do is only wire up the heating when you put it all together, I could not believe how easy it was to put together! Total cost to make the unit was around $20, I had all the electrical stuff in the shed [bandit] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Nice! Might jump on ebay now![biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusty1 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Just wondering, but in the case of my fridge, seeing as it doesn't work, and I'm just using it basically because it's still insulated from excess heat and cold, would I be able to connect one of those Fridgemate things to only control when the heat light turns on and off? With sub-zero temperatures at night, the only problem I have at the moment is worrying about it dropping too low. IN THIS CASE, THE BEST BET IS TO HOOK YOUR HEAT PAD UP TO A timer. there are two main types, 15 minute cycles and 1.5hr cycles. Paul has a 15min job, I think he does 15 minutes each hour to keep the right brew temp. I have a 1.5 gig and have one cycle from about midnight. All cool. I have a thermowatsigiga, but haven't hooked'er up yet.[pinched] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I would wire both heating and cooling up though as it is minimal effort in the first instant, just don't plug anything in the cooling side of it, simple. This way you will have it ready for when you want to use it and saves having to pull it apart just to wire the cooling when ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 if you wire them up to power points mounted on the box, as like in the photo above, just like I have mine, then you are good to go with whatever you want to plug into them. Simple and effective, this way you dont have to give your heat pad or whatever the chop, just plug it in, switch on, set, walk away. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snags Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Excellent, thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Hi all I have been lurking around here for a while now and thought I should contribute something. I started brewing just after last winter and set up a brewing fridge with a Tempmate for the summer. So far I haven't had to use a heat source and have just had the fridge connected. I plan on getting either a heat pad or heat belt for the fridge but was wondering where to place it in the fridge. The fridge is tall but skinny so there is plenty of room above or below the FV but not much either side. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Welcome Terry [biggrin] If you could place a heat pad on a shelf below the fermentor it would be good. A cheaper and effective source of heat is to use a small terracotta pot with a light bulb. You can make a nifty little lamp with the pot as a lamp shade (the pot is put on upside down as opposed to normal lamp shade. Retpile heaters are also the go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Welcome on board the very slippery slope Terry... sounds like youre hooked already[lol] in my opinion.. you cant get cheaper use of power than the equipment in the earlier photos from bill.. (links are earlier in the topic) and the same as I use myself... any device you use if not regulated is bound to use excess power and cause uncontrolled temperature fluctuation in your wort.. yes it can be done with ad hok equipment and timers etc.. yawn.. life is too short to have to pay such attention when a little device does all your monitoring for you[love] of course, this is because over the last 12 months, with the help of topics like this, from a number of forums, that my equipment has upgraded. There was certainly a time when my on hand equipment limited my control over my brews... this is no longer the case and I for one relish the extra time I have on hand for it[happy] and of course the resulting brews have been much better as well[whistling I also use a heat pad under the reinforced shelf of my fridge. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 Thanks guys. Bottom shelf it is then. After I struggled to maintain a constant temp with my 2nd brew I got myself a tempmate, arranged for a mate who is a sparky to wire it up and haven't looked back. Cheers Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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