What are you pitching? My yeast starter or even hydrated yeast takes off quick.
Active yeast in 77F wort, stuck in my chest freezer set at 5F got down to 75 and stayed there for several hours and absolutely after fermentation had started.
5 degrees Farenheit....... Effing freezing. Unless you fill the thing with glycol, it aint gonna work like that.
Methinks your thermometer taped to the side isn't getting the true story.
Pitching Notty, usually trub from mason jars in the fridge.
I have theorized that the outer wort will get colder, quicker, and the middle of the wort will be a bit warmer. But since active fermentation stirs everything around pretty good, it equalizes quickly enough for me.
What can be done and what's a good home brewing practice may be very different. IMO, being nonchalant about temps (pitching or fermenting) when you have the tools (like a thermometer and a nice STC-1000 fermenter chamber) to do it right is like doing woodwork without bothering to use a measuring tape and a square.
Temperatures are what I pay the most careful attention to. It doesn't take extraordinary effort and it pays off big dividends. For me, part of the enjoyment of the brewing hobby is crafting something that compares favorably to good store-bought craft beer and which I'm happy to share with friends/fellow brewers.
Good analogy, but I Dont see it that way. Woodworking without measuring would certainly result in an inferior product, noticeably different from its intended dimensions/shape.
My nonchalant attitude towards variance of a few degrees in pitching temps, and yeast for that matter (never make starters, just approximate amount of trub for the gravity) has no
noticeable ill effects on the finished product according to its number one consumer -- Me
. The two-hearted clone keg that just kicked could a fooled me, but I'll admit I have an unsophisticated palate.
The analogy that comes to mind with my practices is this:
Sure, its better to purchase full-synthetic oil, and a $30 dollar filter to put on my car, but it's not a Mercedes and good 'ol Dino oil with a $7 Bosch works just as well.
Please, nobody take what I do as "the proper way", as stated in the earlier post. If y'all are going at it 110%, and brew stuff that rivals any commercial craft brew, Good on ya! I'd love to try one sometime.
For me though, I'm happy with what I'm producing and see no need to fix what ain't broken