Conical Fermenter temperture control

[qtd3612]

I bought a 14.5 gallon conical fermenter (Blichmann) and have it my shed/office with a room temp of around 69. I added a thermowell to it and am measuring the temp with a ranco temp control probe to the inside. After the primary it took out some beer to measure the Gravity and it the temp was 60 deg but the probe measured 68. Is this normal to have that big of difference? i have looked on this site for ways to heat it and seem like building a cabinet or using a freeze is a way to go but I am confused why the probe to the inside of the beer would not yield a closer reading? Just want to get get to a number I can trust and call my temp.

Thanks

 

[prandlesc]

There could be a couple of things going on. The first is that the middle of a fermenting batch will almost always be warmer than the outside surfaces. Fermentation generates heat. The other is that your controller may not be calibrated correctly. You should test it by measuring the temperature of some water at freezing and at about 150 degrees with your probe. Use a couple of standard thermometers to establish the actual temperature of the water, then adjust your controller if you find it's off. The instructions should tell you how to calibrate the controller, and I believe you will have about 10 degrees adjustment available. I also have a stick on strip thermometer on the outside of my fermenters as a quick reference. They help me monitor the activity of the fermenter, too.

Best of luck!

 

[Brew-boy]

I use a Ranco with a fermwrap around my conical to heat it.
http://morebeer.com/products/fermwrap-heater.html

 

[qtd3612]

Prandlesc- i guess that was a "duh" monment for me. I checked the probe in a glass of tap water and my other 2 mercury and dial (alchol) both read 60 and the probe was 68. did not do the ice water or 150 due to time issues but based on this I figured my probe is off about 8-9 degrees so I will be checking that after this brew and see if I can calibrate it. I was making a Black IPA with WLP 001 and it finished within about 5 days and the FG was right on so I assume the that I was on the low end of the chart at about 62 to 63. I took out the yeast and added my dry hops and added a ferm wrap like brew boy showed and it did not do much due to the lack of contact so I added a blanket around it and was able to get the temp up to around 65 roughly about 4-5 5 degree more then my primary so not sure what if anything that will do but in any case I appericate the feed back.

as for the black IPA I am not really sure how it is going to turn out when I tasted it even being sick with no real sense of taste the roasted barley was coming through big time. It was a 1o gallon all grain and i was using up a bunch of grains so at game time we had 1 lb of roasted barley and i asked my brew buddy 1/2 lb or 1 lb and he says add it all. I looked back at some of my stout batches and I never added more then 1/2 lb so during boil it the roasted was very overpower and hoping all the hops will come thru after some time.

Game plan is to drink ths during spring break at Mytrle beach with my brew partner and our familys while on the beach....