VirginiaHops1
Well-Known Member
I'm on brew batch #6 now and I've begun to question whether attaching my temp controller probe to the side of the fermenter is the best method. What I'm noticing is when the chest freezer turns on it shoots the fermenter temp pretty far past the target. I just pitched on my current batch this morning and set the temp at 67, I checked on it at lunch and it was at 62(chest freezer was off). I think what happens is the liquid temp moves much slower than ambient air temp, so the chest freezer is plugging along cooling and by the time the fermenter reached target temp(67), the ambient air temp is much much lower so the fermenter will continue getting colder for awhile. I just brewed last night and left the wort in the fermenter overnight to get down to pitching temp, so it's possible the chest freezer insulation is extra cold because of all that work and it will stabilize a bit. But I'm definitely seeing 3-4 degree swings throughout fermentation on prior batches.
I'm thinking a better method might be to measure ambient air temp, and put a stick-on thermometer on the fermenter to monitor that temp and I can then dial in the optimal setting. To hold 67 with the least amount of swings maybe I'd want ambient air at 62 or 63. Anyone have thoughts on this?
I'm thinking a better method might be to measure ambient air temp, and put a stick-on thermometer on the fermenter to monitor that temp and I can then dial in the optimal setting. To hold 67 with the least amount of swings maybe I'd want ambient air at 62 or 63. Anyone have thoughts on this?