- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
- Messages
- 3,362
- Reaction score
- 4,269
- Location
- Either in the brewery or on the road
Wouldn't you know it would happen.
Finally got a decent day to brew outside, had all the ingredients set and ready to go, yeast propagating on the stir plate, you know the drill. It's been nearly 9 months since the last brew session and the pipeline is WAY behind. Even had to resort to actually BUYING beer. Oh, the horrors!
The session went extremely well. Numbers all came up pretty much spot on with the predicted values, even a couple points higher on the post boil gravity. After chilling and pumping to a sealed fermenter, the remarkably clear wort from the @EdWort Haus Pale Ale recipe was all set the chill to slightly below the optimum yeast pitch temperature when "click"; the temperature controller box failed to boot up. Power supply, connections, cabling are all good, but the box just up and quit at the worst possible time. Partially my fault, I guess. I remember that the On/Off switch was getting hard to operate even last summer, and I failed to be proactive in replacing it. Now I've got wort in the fermenter and no replacement to manage the duty.
Actually, it's not quite that dire. I do have an FTS controller for a SS Brewtech Chronical that is performing triage duties for the time being, but it's lower capacity and doesn't have heating capability. I looked on the SSBT website and the cheapest (only) solution appears to be a heating apparatus upgrade that has the actual heating pad, power supply and cabling in addition to 'legacy' controller box. All I actually need is the controller, and I really don't need the extra pieces. Or pumps. Or tubing. Or swag. Just a damn controller.
Anybody got a recommendation for a stand-alone controller? Ink Bird perhaps, or something more durable that what I've got? The "built-in" look of the OEM gear is good looking, but I'll take function over form just about any day of the week.
Finally got a decent day to brew outside, had all the ingredients set and ready to go, yeast propagating on the stir plate, you know the drill. It's been nearly 9 months since the last brew session and the pipeline is WAY behind. Even had to resort to actually BUYING beer. Oh, the horrors!
The session went extremely well. Numbers all came up pretty much spot on with the predicted values, even a couple points higher on the post boil gravity. After chilling and pumping to a sealed fermenter, the remarkably clear wort from the @EdWort Haus Pale Ale recipe was all set the chill to slightly below the optimum yeast pitch temperature when "click"; the temperature controller box failed to boot up. Power supply, connections, cabling are all good, but the box just up and quit at the worst possible time. Partially my fault, I guess. I remember that the On/Off switch was getting hard to operate even last summer, and I failed to be proactive in replacing it. Now I've got wort in the fermenter and no replacement to manage the duty.
Actually, it's not quite that dire. I do have an FTS controller for a SS Brewtech Chronical that is performing triage duties for the time being, but it's lower capacity and doesn't have heating capability. I looked on the SSBT website and the cheapest (only) solution appears to be a heating apparatus upgrade that has the actual heating pad, power supply and cabling in addition to 'legacy' controller box. All I actually need is the controller, and I really don't need the extra pieces. Or pumps. Or tubing. Or swag. Just a damn controller.
Anybody got a recommendation for a stand-alone controller? Ink Bird perhaps, or something more durable that what I've got? The "built-in" look of the OEM gear is good looking, but I'll take function over form just about any day of the week.
