Killer Brew
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Ink Bird Controllers
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sp0rk
Mayor of Pooptown
My Inkbird ITC-310T just got here
Will report back on it some time soon
Will report back on it some time soon
sp0rk
Mayor of Pooptown
This is the one I won in the last comp on here (which was drawn mid july...)
I sent them my details on 26/8, they replied saying sorry for the late reply on 30/8 and it appeared in my office just now, was sent via untracked Parcel Post
I sent them my details on 26/8, they replied saying sorry for the late reply on 30/8 and it appeared in my office just now, was sent via untracked Parcel Post
Patrick_BCB
Well-Known Member
You sure canBKBrews said:
MartinOC
Insert something suitably witty here
At a pinch, yes. I tried it on my system awhile back. The problem is that they don't wait until the target rest temperature is reached before starting a timed rest period. You need to know your system's ramping rate & add the ramping period to your rest period.VP Brewing said:
Yep, exactly what I experienced. You get fluctuations above/below the set-point just like an STC-1000. If accuracy is what you're after, a PID is the way to go.sp0rk said:
I picked it up from the post office this morning and I must say, for $45 and the ease of use, I couldn't be happier. Plugged in and set up within 30 seconds. The only thing they could do better is having either a longer cooling/heating cord or building the heating/cooling sockets into the body. I want to hang it on the side of my fridge, but the socket makes it a bit awkward.
What does everyone normally set the compressor delay at? I left mine at the default 2min until I hear otherwise. I also left it with a 1 degree heating and cooling leeway.
What does everyone normally set the compressor delay at? I left mine at the default 2min until I hear otherwise. I also left it with a 1 degree heating and cooling leeway.
The board with sockets has mounting holes on the back, for a secure fix to the wall. The control unit has a hanging hook. I think the idea is that you mount the sockets board and hang the control unit. You can then pickup the control unit to work it, if required. You always have the option to just loop the cable and mount both side by side. If you don't want to drill, some heavy duty double-sided adhesive tape will do the trick.
I have my compressor delay at 1 min. Cooling delta at 0.6C and heating delta at 1C. The delta temperatures will probably depend very much on the thermal characteristics of the entire system. My setting have so far resulted in minimal amount of cooling or heating cycles. I'm sure if you set the delta values too small, have poor air circulation or mount the probe in a sub-optimal location, you would end up with overshoot and the system would constantly switch between heating and cooling.
I have my compressor delay at 1 min. Cooling delta at 0.6C and heating delta at 1C. The delta temperatures will probably depend very much on the thermal characteristics of the entire system. My setting have so far resulted in minimal amount of cooling or heating cycles. I'm sure if you set the delta values too small, have poor air circulation or mount the probe in a sub-optimal location, you would end up with overshoot and the system would constantly switch between heating and cooling.
Didn't notice the mounting points on the socket - will check that out better tonight. Either way, I'm going to get one of those 3M picture hooks to mount the control unit to the side of my fridge.
I'll leave my compressor setting and cooling/heating deltas at 1 degree and see how it goes. Anything will be better than the fluctuations my brews would have been going through in my cupboard haha.
I also plan on getting a ss brewtech brewmaster bucket before the end of the year, so the temp probe will likely be permanently installed in the thermowell of that.
So I set it up this morning and probably need to play a bit with the fridge itself to get the right level of cooling when it turns on. I set the temp to 19 degrees on the ink bird with a 1 degree +- variance and it appears to drop to 18 degrees pretty quickly and then slowly rise to 20 degrees before quickly going back to 18 when the fridge kicks back in. Don't know what I was expecting but it still doesn't seem like a perfect control!
The location of the probe will be critical. Ideally you want the probe to measure mainly the temperature of the fermenting vessel and it's contents, but you do want some degree of ambient temperature influence.
I positioned the 30cm probe against the side of the fermenter, ensuring that it makes good contact with the vessel for most of the length of the probe. I have not insulated the probe against ambient temperature at all. My fermentation chamber (converted freezer) has an IP55 rated (noisy) fan for air circulation and that makes a big difference to the efficiency of heat exchange and as a result the accuracy of the temperature.
With a converted freezer, there is not much control over the cooling capacity. It just goes hard when it's on. As a result you get condensation and rapid temperature drop.
I did have some choice in terms of heating. I did a bit of research and found out that to raise the temperature of approximately 20-25 litres of water by one degree Celsius in one hour, I would need a heat source somewhere around 25W. I figured I did not really want the temperature to go up any faster than that. I ended up buying a heat cable designed for terrariums, which is moisture proof and the heating segment of the cable is 3m long. The one I ordered from an Australia vendor came with suction cups, which made it very easy to mount the heat cable on the plastic insides of the freezer. Having the heat source evenly distributed over a large area and completely flexible allows various options, including wrapping the cable around the fermenter if you need to get more heat into the vessel.
Also, be aware that this is a simple controller, so you are never going to get a steady ambient temperature. You would need a much more complex system for that. However, when you take it into perspective, ambient variations of 2C are perfectly fine for fermenting beer. As long as you can dissipate the excess heat produced by the fermentation and compensate for cold ambient temperatures, your beer should be fine. A fermenter left in the back room at my place would see ambient fluctuations of 20C or more and worse still, it would be impossible to keep the wort/beer under about 25C for most of the year.
I positioned the 30cm probe against the side of the fermenter, ensuring that it makes good contact with the vessel for most of the length of the probe. I have not insulated the probe against ambient temperature at all. My fermentation chamber (converted freezer) has an IP55 rated (noisy) fan for air circulation and that makes a big difference to the efficiency of heat exchange and as a result the accuracy of the temperature.
With a converted freezer, there is not much control over the cooling capacity. It just goes hard when it's on. As a result you get condensation and rapid temperature drop.
I did have some choice in terms of heating. I did a bit of research and found out that to raise the temperature of approximately 20-25 litres of water by one degree Celsius in one hour, I would need a heat source somewhere around 25W. I figured I did not really want the temperature to go up any faster than that. I ended up buying a heat cable designed for terrariums, which is moisture proof and the heating segment of the cable is 3m long. The one I ordered from an Australia vendor came with suction cups, which made it very easy to mount the heat cable on the plastic insides of the freezer. Having the heat source evenly distributed over a large area and completely flexible allows various options, including wrapping the cable around the fermenter if you need to get more heat into the vessel.
Also, be aware that this is a simple controller, so you are never going to get a steady ambient temperature. You would need a much more complex system for that. However, when you take it into perspective, ambient variations of 2C are perfectly fine for fermenting beer. As long as you can dissipate the excess heat produced by the fermentation and compensate for cold ambient temperatures, your beer should be fine. A fermenter left in the back room at my place would see ambient fluctuations of 20C or more and worse still, it would be impossible to keep the wort/beer under about 25C for most of the year.
Can you explain why having it placed in the thermowell might not be the best place for it?
I keep thinking that it would definitely be the best place, because the ambient temperature will fluctuate so much with the on/off of the fridge cooling. If installed in the thermowell where the vessel/wort fluctuates far less, there will be much less intervention from the controller. The fridge ambient temp might be 20 degrees which would normally kick the fridge back on, but the wort may be optimal at 18 and nothing needs to be done. As the wort will fluctuate far less, you could keep the variance as low as +- 0.5 degrees each side.
What am I missing?
In my case, the cooling is done by a freezer, so dropping the ambient temperature down to -10C is something that can happen very quickly. Outside the fermenter the air is constantly circulated by a fan, so there should be minimal hot/cold spots and fairly good heat exchange. Stainless steel will be even better at heat exchange. On the other hand, the contents of the fermenter are not being agitated and there will be a temperature differential between various locations. Chances are that the outside bottom part of the contents will be much cooler than the top layer near the center. By the time the probe inside a thermowell reads the target temperature, you might have rapidly dropped the temperature on the walls of the fermenter so much that the yeast will go to sleep and flocculate. Of course, with a freezer, you are also looking at a very rapid temperature drop - again something that is not great for the yeast. You want fairly gentle temperature variations during fermentation.
It's better to have a number of short runs that move you towards a target temperature slowly. You do not want to get to target quickly, possibly overshoot and then have the heater fight the temperature the other way.
It's better to have a number of short runs that move you towards a target temperature slowly. You do not want to get to target quickly, possibly overshoot and then have the heater fight the temperature the other way.
TwoCrows
Well-Known Member
You should adjust you thermostat to minimum. Small amount of temp decline.
If this doesn't work then you really need a fridge not a freezer to control wort temp.
If I set my controller to 0.5 degree each side of optimum and also adjust my fridges thermostat control , I can control my temps to 0.5 degree. Overall !! It doesn't drop below my optimum temp. Doesn't get any better then that..
If this doesn't work then you really need a fridge not a freezer to control wort temp.
If I set my controller to 0.5 degree each side of optimum and also adjust my fridges thermostat control , I can control my temps to 0.5 degree. Overall !! It doesn't drop below my optimum temp. Doesn't get any better then that..
Camo6
Relax? Don't worry?? It's not just an internet for
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Sucks when the airlock freezes when crash chilling too. (Pun intended)
I drop temp in a few stages. Gives the compressor a bit of a rest too. Get good results just insulating the probe on the side of the BB.
I drop temp in a few stages. Gives the compressor a bit of a rest too. Get good results just insulating the probe on the side of the BB.
The Inkbird controller is the thermostat. There is no point in fiddling with the fridge or freezer thermostats. The compressor is either on or off, it doesn't spin any slower or faster when you change thermostat temperature. Setting the appropriate delta values on the Inkbird combined with sufficient air circulation and appropriate probe positioning is all that is required. As I said, it works well for me with the probe positioned against the side of the fermenter. The temperature of the wort/beer is within 1C of the target and more importantly there are no wild temperature swings. The compressor and heater are not running very often, so the system seems stable, rather than oscillating, so I'm happy.
