Questions About Temperature

[thanme]

2 quick questions!

1. Prior to getting my first HB kit, I'd like to monitor temperatures in various spots in my house. How do people do this? Given i'm out most of the day, I was thinking a cheapish weather station that logs temperature? Is there something simple I'm missing?

2. As far as stabalising temperatures of fermenters, how do those heat pads go? I've seen one for sale at my LHBS and I thought I'd ask.

 

[Scruffy]

you could buy a minimum/maximum indoor/outdoor thermometer for $15 Ebay, Bunnings etc...

i would suggest the problem may be keeping your fermenting vessel cool rather than buying a heatpad... esp for the lagers.

 

[KGB]

A stable temp is important as well, not just the max/min temp your brew reaches. If you can get some kind of data logger to record temps throughout you house then go for it but I'm not sure of any that are cheap - In which case you may as well hunt down an old bar fridge and buy a fridgemate temp controller. Thats what I'm doing now and I got my fridge for free.
In your house, I'd suggest you look for areas with a large thermal mass such as a tiled or concrete floor.

Heat pads work OK, the main problem is controlling the heating so your brew doesn't get too hot. Again, a fridgemate is your friend. You can hook it up to a brew belt as well because you can set it to control heating or cooling.
Alternatively, make a cheapo 'brew cupboard' out of polystyrene and cardboard or scrap wood and then use a light ulb for heating. In an insulated enclosure like this you wont need much heating, don't forget the brew itself will generate a little heat as well.

One other suggestion is to brew to the seasons - winter is the best (possibly only) time some people can brew a proper lager and keep it cool if they don't have temp control. Real lager yeast is best used at 10-12 degrees.

 

[KGB]

Free chest freezer in Perth! GO GO GO GO GO!
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry471053

Grab that and a fridemate and you're laughing.

 

[thanme]

Awesome!! Thanks for the heads up KGB
I get to pick it up this weekend. One comment Doug made was it might be a bit tricky getting the fermenter in and out of the freezer. What do you reckon?
Also, given I'm not overly handy with electrics and wiring, is it recommended that I put a fridgemate together myself? Or should I find someone else to help me out?

 

[Beermatt]

If you're looking for a thermostat controller probably best to get the Tempmate instead of the fridgemate it has Auto switching from heat to cool.

Check out craftbrewer - http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2592

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[KGB]

Sweeeet, good score there NME. I had also thought about the issue of getting it in and out of the chesty but for the price I think its worth a crack! My advice would be to rig up a pulley (or even better a block and tackle) from a beam above and use that to raise and lower it. Putting the fermenter in a milk crate should make things much easier to control as well.

I think the fridgemate is pretty easy to wire up but I'm reasonably handy with tools and I'm a science teacher so have a reasonable knowledge of electricity. Even so, I wired mine up and then had a sparky friend check it over before putting it into action. For a sparky they would be a piece of pi$$ to wire up so if you have any friends that might help I'd lean on them.
There is a gigantic thread or even multiple threads on here about fridgemates and f m wiring if you need it. I haven't looked into the tempmate beermatt mentioned but it sounds like it could also be worth a look.

 

[muckey]

got a tempmate on the last trip to brisvega$. Luckily my brother-in-law is a sparky so it was wired before I got home.
fantastic unit works a treat.

From posts I've seen on AHB, lethacorpse is the resident sparky expert and has posted info on wiring fridgemates/ tempmates and the associated risks. It is worth remembering these things have 240v and can be dangerous if not done properly

 

[Bizier]

Score there NME! Good stuff.

+1 for tempmate if you can spare the extra outlay. It is more accurate and does heating and cooling.

If have to ask if you are OK to wire a 240v unit, I would suggest not doing it and calling on a handy friend.

 

[KGB]

By "heating and cooling" for the tempmate, do you guys mean it can control both at once? Compared to the fridgemate which can control heating OR cooling (not at once). I remember reading briefly about the tempmate when it was released but have forgotten now.

 

[thanme]

Cool, thanks.
The tempmate doesn't seem that much more expensive, but what would I need the heating part for??

Also, does no-one suggest these for a reason:
http://www.brewmart.com.au/index.php?menu_...B356UMIfNS7l2I2

Is it just the price, or are they actually crap?

 

[KGB]

Heating can be used for brewing ales in winter, when you want to keep the brew at around 20 degrees. Sydney has been max ~17-18 degrees for most of this week and its only the first week of winter. Brewing colder wont really hurt your brew I think, except it will make it slower to ferment out completely. This can be a problem at the start of the ferment where you want the yeast to get crankin quickly and become the dominant "species" before wild yeasts and bacteria can take hold and ruin your brew. I guess even this can be avoided by mixing your wort will hot or cold water to get a good start temp. I usually mix mine and pitch at around 24-25 degrees and then put it straight into the fermenting fridge.

I've never seen that brewmart controller before but it looks like it might do the same thing as a FM, except for twice the price. I'm confused by the fan controller part in the description as well. Admittedly it does look like its plug-and-play but still seems expensive to me.