kombat
Well-Known Member
Like many, I have a chest freezer I'm using for fermentation, connected to a temperature controller with a temperature probe. I have the probe just dangling in the air inside the freezer.
However, I've read in multiple places that ideally, the temperature probe should be taped to the side of the carboy, and covered with insulation, so that it detects the temperature of the wort, and not the air in the freezer.
Wouldn't this cause wild swings in temperatures inside the freezer?
I mean, it seems to me that once the temperature of the wort rose to the "threshold" that caused the controller to turn on the freezer, the temperature controller would run the freezer until the temperature of the probe gets back below the threshold. However, since the probe is attached to the carboy, and insulated from the rest of the freezer, this will take a very long time, won't it? The freezer will run until the beer finally drops to the desired temperature, and since it's a large volume of liquid, that will be a while, right? By the time it finally drops low enough, wouldn't the ambient temperature in the freezer be well below freezing? And then, as the hours pass, the freezer would warm up, but the beer (again, due to having a large thermal mass) will change temperature more slowly. By the time the beer finally warms up to a degree or two above threshold, won't the temperature of the rest of the freezer be practically equal to the room temperature?
I guess I just don't understand why such a configuration is preferable to just keeping the temperature inside the freezer at precisely 45° F (or whatever). It seems taping the probe to the carboy and insulating it would cause wild temperature swings, and a "full-throttle/hibernate" demand on the freezer's compressor. What am I missing?
However, I've read in multiple places that ideally, the temperature probe should be taped to the side of the carboy, and covered with insulation, so that it detects the temperature of the wort, and not the air in the freezer.
Wouldn't this cause wild swings in temperatures inside the freezer?
I mean, it seems to me that once the temperature of the wort rose to the "threshold" that caused the controller to turn on the freezer, the temperature controller would run the freezer until the temperature of the probe gets back below the threshold. However, since the probe is attached to the carboy, and insulated from the rest of the freezer, this will take a very long time, won't it? The freezer will run until the beer finally drops to the desired temperature, and since it's a large volume of liquid, that will be a while, right? By the time it finally drops low enough, wouldn't the ambient temperature in the freezer be well below freezing? And then, as the hours pass, the freezer would warm up, but the beer (again, due to having a large thermal mass) will change temperature more slowly. By the time the beer finally warms up to a degree or two above threshold, won't the temperature of the rest of the freezer be practically equal to the room temperature?
I guess I just don't understand why such a configuration is preferable to just keeping the temperature inside the freezer at precisely 45° F (or whatever). It seems taping the probe to the carboy and insulating it would cause wild temperature swings, and a "full-throttle/hibernate" demand on the freezer's compressor. What am I missing?