Best temperature controller for the money

[sidewinder1987]

Hi guys I know I want a digital one but my question is which one is really good for the money I tried the ink bird 308 out on my regular freezer for a day and I don't know if i like it or not is it normal when set at 38 degrees for it to cool down to around 19 degrees and then take forever to get back up to 38? I had everything in the setting set right too from what I could tell
Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

If you have your controller probe dangling in an empty chest freezer, what you're seeing is expected.
There's no appreciable thermal mass to give up heat, plus a freezer will continue to cool for a few minutes after the compressor stops because the evaporator is full of refrigerant that's going to go through phase transition come hell or high water.
Thus the over-shoot.

As for the long recovery, unless you add a heat source, you're seeing the cabinet insulation doing its thing, isolating the internal volume from the external ambient temperature. Add a small heat source and recovery will be rapid indeed.

The Inkbird ITC-308 has been well-vetted by HBT members, but there's always the chance for a dud...

Cheers!

 

[mongoose33]

I have four of the Inkbird ITC-308 controllers. If you're letting the probe dangle next to the side of the freezer where it gets really cold, it will read that until it warms up, then rinse and repeat.

I have my probes either in a jar of water in the keezer, or I press it against the side of a fermenter using a piece of closed-cell foam and a bungee cord. As day_tripper says, there has to be some thermal mass to moderate the swings.

I've included a pic below showing how I press the probe against a fermenter; the foam insulates the probe from ambient so it takes the temperature from the wort, not the air. Some people will do something similar with a keg, and that works fine too so long as the probe is on a part of the keg where it's full.

 

[sidewinder1987]

Thanks guys I did have it in a cup of water but not taped just dangling in it. Is a heat source necessary or do a lot of guys just let the freezer come back up to temp on its own?

 

[day_trippr]

I don't have a heat source in my keezer. I do have seven kegs in it, filled to varying degree.
They provide a substantial thermal mass that isn't rapidly temperature-shifted.
As a result the compressor turns on only 4-5 times per day, running for ~45 minutes each cycle.
And the beer temperature is maintained within +/-1°F of set point...

Cheers!

 

[Konadog]

Does it over shoot like that all the time, or was this the first cycle after you started it up? If it was the first cycle, the freezer most likely was freezing up before the water cooled down, and over shot.

 

[mongoose33]

Thanks guys I did have it in a cup of water but not taped just dangling in it. Is a heat source necessary or do a lot of guys just let the freezer come back up to temp on its own?

I think we're missing something here. In my keezer I have a canning jar w/ lid. It's filled halfway with some liquid. I poked a hole in the canning lid and put the temp probe through that. But what I do NOT do is have that jar next to the side of the freezer. The sides are what cool and they will be substantially colder than the air in keezer, substantially colder than the beer.

If your cup of water--use more, btw--is right next to the side of the freezer, even when the Inkbird says "turn off", guess what's still happening? That cup of water is still cooling, cooling, cooling.

The less water you have in that cup, the greater the overshoot is going to appear to be--but unless a keg has the same amount of beer, the beer in those kegs will never get that cold.

****************

Now here's another question: if you have a cup of water and the probe is in that water, and the water is getting down to 19 degrees, why isn't that water freezing? That's why I think we're missing something here.

 

[sidewinder1987]

I didn't test it for very long cause it's a standup freezer that is not the one I'm using for the keezer I don't have my best freezer yet should be here Tomoro I just tested for one day so maybe it wasn't long enough for the water to freeze going down to 19 then back up to 38-40. What are the best temps to serve beers at nice and cold but also with no worry of freezing them

 

[PADave]

Without liquid in the freezer, you are going to have big temp swings. Liquid has a much larger thermal mass than air. Get some full kegs in there, let things cool down and settle in for a day or two, and you'll see things stabilize. Even in my fermentation chamber I keep full jugs of water to take up space and act as a heat sink.

 

[sidewinder1987]

Thanks for the reply what's the best option as to where to put the temp probe I'm going to have 2 one for the inkbird and another secondary gauge too I don't really wanna attach them to the kegs because I'll have to take them off every time I need to change a keg out

 

[JDXX1971]

I did a lot of reading about this when I set up my kezzer. I had the best intentions of setting up my probe in water or something like that, but I was in a hurry at the time. So I dangled my probe in the center of my keezer, between but not touching the kegs. Been that way for over a year now and my beer is always at exactly the temperature I want it. There is a three degree offset from what my ink bird 308 reads and is set to, I just compensate and it works for me. I know it shouldn't but it does.

 

[MaxStout]

Thanks for the reply what's the best option as to where to put the temp probe I'm going to have 2 one for the inkbird and another secondary gauge too I don't really wanna attach them to the kegs because I'll have to take them off every time I need to change a keg out

Do like Mongoose did in his picture. Use a bungee around the keg and a piece of foam to insulate the probe from the air. Easy on, easy off.

 

[JDXX1971]

Yeah I use a 308 in my ferm chamber too, the probe is in bubble wrap taped to the side of the fermenter. This set up seems to work good, every time I have taken a sample it has been within a degree or at most two, of what I set it to. I have never tried doing it like that in the keezer.