Coxy Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Got my little temperature controller from ebay today! Yay, 1 week turnaround! Just wondering, for those with a similar one (GrahamB8 I think?) do you think it's worth having the probe in a glass/bottle of water in the fridge so it's measuring the liquid temperature, or just have it measuring air temperature? Just wondering what's more efficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I strap mine to the FV with a small block of foam to insulate - works a treat [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Brew Master Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Hi Coxy, I have my probe strapped to the side of the FV underneath a piece of styrene & cardboard to shield it from the air temperature, that way it is giving me the temperature of the wort.[rightful] Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregT5 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Coxy, I put my sensor probe against the side of the FV & insulate it from the ambient air temp with a piece of foam held in place with an occy strap. This seems to give a pretty true reading of the temp of the wort. Others use foam & foil insulation or even "wetsuit" style stubby holder material to insulate it. I think 23 litres of wort might give a different temp or adjust to temp variances at different times to a glass/bottle of water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 That sounds like a consensus! :-) now...to find some foam to use for insulation...any household items I'm likely to have that might work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I use two layers of a neoprene stubby holder and it works well. You should have heaps of those around the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 A stubby holder or a bit of polystyrene cut from the packaging of any electrical product you may have bought or from a foam box will do the job nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I was using a piece of stubbie holder and a bungie a few brews ago (which works great) but lately I have set my stat to 16\xb0c and just wrap it around the (dare I say it) AIRLOCK !!!!!! [lol] I always insulate the bottom of the FV from the base of the freezer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I'm surprised the website allowed you to include that foul word in your post Graham [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 NOT THE AIRLOCK?!?! [happy] I've got my FV sitting on a shelf in the fridge, so not on the bottom. Have strapped the probe to the side of the FV underneath some foam and a strip of cardboard using an old cloth belt of mine. It seems to be working well, though I'm not sure if the temperature sensor is calibrated. I have another thermometer in there and it's reading more like 10 degrees, but I have the controller set to 14 degrees. Looking at the stick on thermometer on the FV it seems to have the 14 and 12 "lit up" so I'm taking that as meaning it's about 13 degrees. I guess it's just a matter of monitoring it and tweaking settings accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I get scared everytime I see pics like this Coxy do you have the probe insulated against the fermenting FV and the thermometer somewhere random in the fridge? Fermenting wort generates heat, could this be your difference?? Also fridges have hot and cold spots, put the two together and re-check, my thermostat is 1\xb0 out from my digital thermometer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Thanks for the photo Bill! Graham, I initially had the probe of my thermometer and the temp controller dangling side by side in the fridge. The thermometer dropped to about 10 degrees while the controller was still saying 14 degrees. I'm not overly concerned, because as I said, the thermometer on the FV itself is indicating it's 13-14 degrees or so, which is what I'm aiming for. I'll just keep an eye on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Speaking of fermentation generating heat when I brewed the Hop Gobbler My two brew fridges were already full so it got put in my recording room, the air temp over night usually gets down to around 10c inside the house. I pitched the yeast at 21c (US.05). and wrapped a blanket and a doona around it. It happened to be state of origin night so I stayed at a mates house drowning my sorrows, but when I got home the brew was sitting at 25.2c, warmer then the yeast is even supposed to work at! Anyway as usual I do things a little different [happy] My thermostat just sits on the shelf in the fridge. I have it set to 20c. I know the top of the fridge is going to be s little warmer so that's where the carbonating bottles go. I feel safer with an ambient air temp then sticking the thermostat to the fermenter. Its a large mass of liquid that can vary in itself several degrees, do you put the thermostat on the evaporator side of the fridge or near the door, I once had a stuck fermentation from having the thermostat on the fridge door side of the fermenter but the other side near the evaporator got too cold. I also broke a few thermostat wires from having it attached to things, accidentally get caught while opening the door or forgetting it was attached to the fermenter, lol yeah I know sounds stupid , but it happened! [pinched] . So these days it just gets put on the shelf and all is good [lol] Of course its not going to solve any of the temperature variations, but nothing is! Its just another thing I don't have to do on brew day. If I had the time it is very easy to hook up to the original fridge thermostat. Then there would be no pesky cords! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Go and have a look at the small commercial brew places. They might have 50 fermenters in a room, they all don't have a thermostat attached! All done by ambient heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Interesting counter argument, Gavin. I suppose if you keep the door closed as much as possible it doesn't really matter. Because theoretically it should then maintain a stable air temp and that would regulate the temp of the wort. If the fermentation is generating heat, the ambient temp will rise and so the termostat would kick in. I guess my concern was that the ambient air temp is likely to fluctuate more often than the temp of the wort. Thus you're more likely to have the fridge switching on and off more often (while not the least bit a greenie nor particularly concerned about CO2 and the environment, I am concerned about my power bills :P) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Commercial breweries do use jacketed fermenters for their primary fermentations. This is because fermentation is an "exothermic" process \u2013 that is, it generates heat. Because the tanks in a commercial brewery are quite large, the ratio of the surface area to the volume of the tank is low. As a result, there isn't a lot of surface area for heat to dissipate naturally. So, it is necessary to provide this extra level of temperature control to ensure that the product ferments at a consistent temperature, which is important for getting a consistent flavor profile. further reading and snip from HERE Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I wasnt talking full scale brew houses where everything is different, I was talking about smaller places where they still use plastic fermenters. They use large cool rooms, a walk in fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Go and have a look at the small commercial brew places. They might have 50 fermenters in a room' date=' they all don't have a thermostat attached! All done by ambient heat.[/quote'] ....but we forgot to mention that the whole room is a controlled micro climate which keeps wort at the same temps. The major issue with the home brewer is in a fridge the temps can fluctuate so much when the door is opened or closed and in a brewery's dedicated fermenting "room" this is really not an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 There are plenty of factors, even the size of your fridge. Do you have enough air flow space around the fermenter?? Microclimate usually means temperature controlled with a fan.[roll] Even some of the larger breweries I've been to, when they do small test batches they just have an everyday run of the mill cool room! If you are really worried about your temps you would install a fan as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Indeed. And I'm not overly concerned. Just wanting the ability to be able to maintain a reasonably consistent, cool temperature for lagers. And in summer, for ales as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 One other thing too.. [lol] The reason I use dedicated refrigeration controllers and not reptile etc. is they have a settable 'pause' (hmm hangover brain, can't remember the proper term) but they pause before turning on the fridge. so if the temp is hovering around the switching on temp. it doesnt flick on and off. and gives the fridge motor/condenser a break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 A compressor boot delay function [wink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxy Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 One other thing too.. [lol] The reason I use dedicated refrigeration controllers and not reptile etc. is they have a settable 'pause' (hmm hangover brain, can't remember the proper term) but they pause before turning on the fridge. so if the temp is hovering around the switching on temp. it doesnt flick on and off. and gives the fridge motor/condenser a break. Fair call. Is something that concerns me too, however with the one I have it cuts off when the temperature drops below the set level, and only comes back on when it reaches 1 degree above the set level. eg, I have it set to 14. It starts cooling when it ticks over to 15. It shuts off the power when it drops to under 14. So it's not as if it just comes on and off in a hurry. Seems to take 15-20 minutes to drop the temperature down from 15 to under 14, and takes 1-2 hours to go up to 15. Very limited dataset to look at at this point ;-) The more elaborate controllers have 2 fails for me: 1. Cost 2. Wiring This reptile thingy cost me $19 delivered... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gash Slugg Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 thats the one! and I meant compressor too [pinched] I was up till 4am on my silly Justin.Tv channel, everything is a little blurry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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