Hey All
Yesterday I took my chest freezer and plugged in an inkbird 308 temp controller to make my “fermentation chamber” for a brew I did yesterday. I have it set to 68. The problem I am having is it will cool down to 64 or so before climbing back up. Anyone have an idea which setting might better keep it from doing that?
thanks
Where is your probe?
Up to now, it was suspended in air inside freezer. I been googling all morning and just put a jug of water in freezer and probe inside that. Not sure if that will help or not
That will help. I like to attach the probe to the side of the fermenter with some foam and tape.
thanks. I was going to do that but now that carboy is in cooler, the carboy wasnt dry enough for tape to stick. Lesson, put tape on before putting it in cooler!
So I think the probe in water is helping some. Right now, I have it set to 68. I watched a whole cycle. The compressor kicks on at 69 and then kicks off at 68. But even at that it gets down to 66.4 before starting to climb again and this takes some time. It stayed at 66.4 for 30 minutes before starting to creep up. Is this in range or should it be able to dial in better than that?
Other thing I didnt think about is setting on freezer. It has 5 settings from coldest to warmest. It came factory set in middle. Would one way or other be better?
Setting in the freezer won’t make a difference. The overshoot is just they way it is. The coils in the wall are crazy cold and will continue to cool the space. Probe on the fermenter will help.
My fermenters are in milk crates (don’t steal) and I wedge the probe against the fermenter with some foam. In the past I used a nylon strap with an adjustable buckle to hold it in place.
I have silicon dehumidifiers along with computer fans in my freezer to keep air moving. This helps keep the moisture down. I unplug the fans about 30 minutes before opening he fermenter to let the air calm down. Letting the moisture go unchecked will create lots of mold.
thanks stevie
So if I am shooting for 68 and it varies from 69 down to 66 wont cause any issues?
Not really if attached to the side of the fermenter. Once you do that, the temp will be within 67-69 for a 68° set point.
thank you
You don’t want it to maintain a tight air temperature range because quick cycling is bad for the freezer, which is designed to operate for longer periods below freezing. The jug of water is what I do if I have multiple kegs for conditioning or serving. If you’re fermenting, measure the beer temp directly by attaching it to the side like others have mentioned. Air temperature is basically irrelevant, as it is not that conductive.
thanks. I watched the cycle and once it stopped at 66.4 it took almost two hours to climb back to 69 so hopefully that is good for the compressor
I have my Inkbird set up for celcius, and have the min/max levels set to +/-1c of my target temp, and a cooling delay of 3 mins. With an undercounter fridge stored indoors, it doesn’t cycle on/off particularly frequently. I tend to ferment between 18-22c, so it’s generally around room temp anyway, and when I’m trying to cold crash, it’s pretty much running constantly to get down to 4c before I package.
I had a similar issue and went with the option of placing the probe inside a large water bottle next to the fermenter. I have also taped it to the side of the fermenter and covered it with some plastic for insulation. Both options are better than nothing, but I a thermowell through the fermenter lid would be much, much more accurate and better on your freezer’s compressor since it’d cycle less.
Thermowells have major drawbacks when using “dumb” thermostats. By the time the probe hits the set point, the outside of the beer and the chamber are much colder. I get a much greater overshoot with my thermowell compared to the side of the fermenter. PID based thermostats are a different story.
In my experience you don’t get overshoot of beer temperature unless you’re chilling 20+ degrees to lager temp all at once. During fermentation beer temperature cycles no more than 1 degree lower. Air is not that conductive, so unless the fermentor is up against the wall of the freezer it’s not cooling that quickly.
It doesn’t matter what temperature the chamber is; it’s the beer temperature that matters. Glycol is cooling the outside of a conical at a much lower temp than the set point.
I use this stuff to stick the temp probe to the side of the FV
I stick the probe to the side of my fermenter with blue painter’s tape. One or two strips usually suffice, although you wanna make sure the surface is dry.