Finally committed and bought an Ss 7 gal stainless brew bucket. Very excited about this. I also picked up one of the thermwells to install as I will be using a Johnson controller to control fermentation temps.
Does anyone have any recommendations on where to place it on the brew bucket? Initial thoughts were on the side but out of the way of rotating racking arm but now thinking maybe in the top is better. This seems easier and also will allow me to wrap a fermwrap heating element around the outside during the cooler months a lot easier. It will submerge the probe down to about the 4gal mark if installed up top which seems sufficient as I more or less always will brew 5.5 gal batches. Any thoughts?
I’m still planning on installing some thermowells on my brew bucket mini’s, I was planning on installing through the lid. That way the joint will not be submerged (Less chance of cleaning issues). My other thought is if you screw up, a new lid is cheap. If you screw up the side, you need to get a whole new fermenter. Easier to drill on a flat lid also.
At <5" long, I imagine the lid isn’t ideal for the larger fermenters.
Install? Are going to drill into your new toy? I use a stopper that has two holes. One for the probe and one for air lock.
I just tapped a folded up shop towel on mine and stick the temp probe in it against the outside
So I guess my question is more about the best place to measure temps within a fermenter. Is the top two inches of wort going to be much different than 8-10 inches down in the fermenter
At our volumes, not really.
I wasn’t sure what size he has. SS Brewtech has thermowell’s up to 300 mm (~1 ft) long, which should be plenty long enough for the lid.
Interesting. I was going off of the size listed as brewbucket accessories.
I have a stopper/bung with two holes and one hole has a thermowell about 12 inches long through the hole, so I just snake the probe down to the bottom of the thermowell and the other hole gets the airlock. It may not be perfect, but it registers from the center of the fermenting wort, about 12" down from the top of the bung…and seems to be a reasonable location. I am sure that there are currents and temperature differentials of some measurable degree, but I just live with what I have and it seems to work pretty ok.
I use the FTSs chiller accessory from SS Brewtech. It comes with a new lid that is fitted with a chiller coil and thermowell. Plus comes with a temp controller and probe… pump for recirculating cold water and hoses.
I tape the probe to the side of the fermenter. I checked the disparity between that and a submerged reading and it was less that a degree