STC-1000 issue

[jpeebs]

Just moved to a new house and a small chest freezer was left behind. Decided to turn it into a fermentation chamber to free up room in the house. Got the STC-1000, wired it up, tested it, works fine. I didn't have anything fermenting, but did have some hard coder to bottle. So after bottling, I set the STC1000 where I wanted it, set the bottles in and let them sit comfortably at about 68F with only the heating unit (a fermwrap) plugged in; no cooling unit plugged in to the STC.

The chest freezer sits in the garage in what was a workshop and what is slowly turning into a brewery so it stays pretty cool. Currently it's about 40F here. It's been about a week since I bottled the cider, and I've checked on it about every day as I go out there to do random things. It's always been sitting within 1/2 a degree of where I set it, but when I took some bottles out today, it was sitting at 34C (about 93F). I was very stretched for time as I had to leave for work in about 5 minutes so I quickly plugged in the chest freezer to the STC and hoped it would be able to sort itself out.

Well, I was wrong. I got home and went to check on it after dinner; -9C (16F)...Which of course means the cider is frozen, as well as a few random bottles I'd saved from past brews that I wanted to try after about a year. So I currently have the freezer unplugged, the lid open, the fermwrap sitting outside of the freezer, and a space heater pointed in the general direction of the freezer.

I don't really know what went wrong. I never touch the STC when I go out to check on them, and the fermwrap can't possibly get that hot that it would shoot up like that.

Is my cider and beer going to be ok after letting it thaw and sitting back at about 68F?

Thanks.

 

[brandonhagen1]

Should be fine check for broken bottles though

 

[Doed]

I don't really know what went wrong. I never touch the STC when I go out to check on them, and the fermwrap can't possibly get that hot that it would shoot up like that.

Is my cider and beer going to be ok after letting it thaw and sitting back at about 68F?

Beer and cider will most likely be fine.

Just a thought on your STC, it could be that you have the outlets mixed up. You might have the heater plugged into the cold outlet and the freezer plugged into the heat outlet. Maybe?

 

[MindenMan]

How was the temperature probe being used? Was it in another container of liquid? Was it just taped on to the side of the fermenter? Was it taped on and covered with foam? Your problem sounds like one I had, I thought my sensor was taped up tightly to my fermenter, and it wasn't. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, because I had tested the probe first. So, even though it doesn't seem like much,that could be it. Maybe the sensor, but it also sounds like, in your rush to get out the door, the plugs got switched.

 

[jpeebs]

Beer and cider will most likely be fine.

Just a thought on your STC, it could be that you have the outlets mixed up. You might have the heater plugged into the cold outlet and the freezer plugged into the heat outlet. Maybe?

I made sure to label the outlet when I wired it up and did thorough testing to make sure I labelled it right. haha. I did consider that though.

How was the temperature probe being used? Was it in another container of liquid? Was it just taped on to the side of the fermenter? Was it taped on and covered with foam? Your problem sounds like one I had, I thought my sensor was taped up tightly to my fermenter, and it wasn't. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, because I had tested the probe first. So, even though it doesn't seem like much,that could be it. Maybe the sensor, but it also sounds like, in your rush to get out the door, the plugs got switched.

The probe is floating at the furthest point from the fermwrap I could get it. I have not taped it to anything. No fermenters in there yet so not too worried about exact temp, but 93F was a little too high for me.

After leaving the fermwrap out of the chamber and unplugging the freezer for about 24 hours, I put the fermwrap back in and let it warm up a bit to see if it would do it again and it is holding steady at 20.7C (+-.5C),which is where I had it set and haven't changed since I fired it up. So I have my bottles back in there and am just hoping it doesn't happen again. No clue what happened but I'll be keeping my eye on it. Thanks guys.

 

[Newsman]

Keep in mind that ambient temp, even in an enclosed space like the freezer, will vary from end to end. Might want to consider putting a couple PC fans in there to circulate the air.

 

[jpeebs]

not a bad idea. I'll look into that. Thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

Check the probe wires and their connection to the STC-1000. A faulty probe or wires can send the wrong info to the controller.

 

[Beernik]

Did you remove the bridge between the two plugs? If you don't remove the bridge, both plugs are on all the time.

 

[jpeebs]

I have not checked the probe wires. Sounds like a good thing to do though.

I definitely did remove the bridge. The only thing that has power going to it (besides the STC unit) is the fermwrap; the cooler has only been plugged in in my rush to leave for work and unplugged as soon as I got home.

 

[Shred]

Keep in mind that ambient temp, even in an enclosed space like the freezer, will vary from end to end. Might want to consider putting a couple PC fans in there to circulate the air.

I have a mini space heater in my ferm chamber. It's got a built in fan so when it kicks on it moves the air around and keeps it pretty consistent (even in my beast of a 16 cubic foot freezer).

 

[johnnv]

I suggest check connections, I am not real familiar with that controller, check the program. factory default on most is 30 degrees temp differential, should be set to 2, most devices should be p=2, at least something to check.

 

[Beernik]

I have not checked the probe wires. Sounds like a good thing to do though.

I definitely did remove the bridge. The only thing that has power going to it (besides the STC unit) is the fermwrap; the cooler has only been plugged in in my rush to leave for work and unplugged as soon as I got home.

Then I would suggest that unless you have a fan in there, the reason the bottles froze is an air flow or probe placement problem.

I had a carboy cold crashing in my freezer and the probe taped to it. Next to it, I had a case of beer. I froze the bottled beer solid while the carboy never dropped below 38F.

I have a desk fan in there now until I can sacrifice a PC fan to the beer fridge.

 

[jpeebs]

Fixed. Finally. Rechecked the outlet and the tab actually was not broken. So I was wrong. When I plugged my heater back into the unit, it wouldn't hear up so I tried plugging something random in it to see if there was power; the outlet I assumed was hot was not getting power. Thought it was broken. Turned out that, since both outlets were getting power, and I didn't bother to check to see if both we're getting power at the same time, the one I had labelled as hot was actually cold. So that was an easy "fix". I'll take my bonehead trophy now.

 

[Shred]

Glad you got it straightened out. You had me nervous about my STC-1000 malfunctioning.