I have just purchase a new 5.9cu chest freezer and an ITC-308 Dual output temp. controller.
Everything is set up and working great. my concern is it bounces back and forth on temps of 2 degrees
The controller is set for a 1 degree heating and 1 degree cooling activation.
The probe is in a termowell so is measuring actual wort temp.
I set the controller at 68F and its warmer in the garage so it rises to 69F and kicks on. It will cool to 68F and turn off. with the ambient temp in the freezer being cooler. It continues to drive the wort temp down. At 67 degrees my heat light i put in there will bring the ambient temp up. Which in turn raises the wort temp.
The process then repeats it’s self. Is this normal and am i just stressing over 2 degrees. What makes me think there is something wrong, is i hear people on the forum that only have single outputs. If i didn’t have the heating option. who knows how low it would go before it would rise back up.
All I can say is that I have mine set up the same way and don’t seem to have those swings. But mine is in the basement garage with less ambient temp fluctuation. I have the same settings of 1 degree, but my sensor is taped and insulated against the side of my fermenters. The massive volume of wort should not move too quickly in temp by the unit itself going 1-3 degrees higher or lower. I think you’re sweating the small stuff. More experienced people will add to this I’m sure but you’re likely to see similar responses
I have a similar freezer for my fermentation chamber. I would make sure the probe is pushed all the way down in the theromowell. In my setup the freezer will take the temperature down a few degrees past the set point, but the yeast generally get it warmed back up so I don’t sweat it. I would watch out for short cycling (on/off) the freezer that will decrease it’s life.
The issue is carryover. By the time the probe hits temp, the rest of the wort has been over cooled. Try attaching the probe to the side of the fermenter. Also, you likely do not need to have both heat and cooling at the same time.