Temp control in fridge.

[mattyo76]

Hi guys.
I've just acquired an old fridge that I want to use to control my fermentation temp. I can fit two 30 litre fermenters in there but this being the first first time I've done this I need some help. Best place to buy the control unit, easiest way to install etc. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers!

 

[whatwhat]

Mate check out one of the site sponsors. Easy to install, you can just place the probe wire through the fringe seal or drill a small hole. They plug directly into a 240 v supply.

Good Luck

 

[mattyo76]

Thanks mate, I forgot to mention the fridge works perfectly so will that make a difference or will I need to alter anything. Probably a stupid question but I don't want to stuff the fridge if I can help it. Cheers.

 

[QldKev]

Lots use the stc-1000 from ebay (I've got about 4 of them). You need to wire it up into a box. Then you end up with a box the you plug into the wall, and the fridge plugs into the box. The fridge thermostat is then set to the coldest setting and the stc throws the power at what ever temperature you have set it too, a bit like you switching the fridge off and on at the wall.

If you are not that good with electrical stuff/ don't have an electrician mate, then keg king sell them pre-built.

 

[mattyo76]

Thanks Kev, I will look into it now. It sounds like the way to go. I'm useless with electrical stuff so I will check out keg king. Ironically my old man is a sparky..
Cheers!

 

[brentice]

Another vote for the stc-1000. True story

 

[SimoB]

just bought my STC1000 - waiting for it to arrive. can you use a heating pad in a fridge? sorry to hijack

 

[sponge]

I have a heat pad sitting at the bottom of the fridge to help warm brews up over the colder months - haven't had any issues. Works best installing a computer fan for circulation though.

Although I do get a bit of mould growing in the fridge when the heater is on. I'm about to (this evening) give it a good clean with white vinegar to hopefully remove it and keep it away for a while.

 

[Adr_0]

Sounds like you want one of the Keg King examples.

I've got a heating belt that I loosely throw over the top of a fermenter, or between a pair. It does seem to make a bit of a difference but not that much; it does enough though and at least isn't creating any hot spots in the beer.

A lot of people put their temp probe directly in the beer. That's fine if you can do it and not introduce air gaps and don't have areas on the probe that can harvest bacteria, but when you drop temperatures - for e.g. dancing up and down when doing a lager - you should probably set increments of 0.2-0.5°C to give the fridge a break as it basically won't turn off until your beer hits the temperature. It does give the most accurate fermentation temps, but recommended temps on AHB for a particular strain might be fridge or beer temps and may vary by a couple of degrees. Pays to give it a go yourself.

The alternative is taping it to the side of the fermenter and going past the seal. When you drop your temperature, the fridge will run for a little while but it takes a few goes to get the beer down to that temperature (i.e. where it's not just cycling on and off every few minutes). You can give it a 1°C drop and not be too concerned, vs your fridge staying on for an hour at a time.

Whatever works for you is key.

 

[mattyo76]

Cheers guys, I have a heat pad and a belt for the colder months (out of the fridge) and can keep the temp fairly consistent but now it's going to start warming up I need to get my fridge sorted. I'm going with the STC 1000 as everyone seems to recommend it and seems fairly straight forward. If I was to use it in colder months though I would need a Heating element or heat light in the fridge also?

 

[KingKong]

I have a heat pad sitting at the bottom of the fridge to help warm brews up over the colder months - haven't had any issues. Works best installing a computer fan for circulation though.

Although I do get a bit of mould growing in the fridge when the heater is on. I'm about to (this evening) give it a good clean with white vinegar to hopefully remove it and keep it away for a while.

Off topic but,

Sponge,

Ages ago, my fridge had a few mould spots growing. I cleaned it with warm soapy water and then sprayed the **** out of it with star san and let it air dry. That was 12 months ago and have not had any mould since....

May be worth a try.

 

[brente1982]

Cheers guys, I have a heat pad and a belt for the colder months (out of the fridge) and can keep the temp fairly consistent but now it's going to start warming up I need to get my fridge sorted. I'm going with the STC 1000 as everyone seems to recommend it and seems fairly straight forward. If I was to use it in colder months though I would need a Heating element or heat light in the fridge also?

I dont know whether the stc-1000 is dual cool/heat (can plug both a fridge and heat pad in at the same time)

but i know the tempmate is http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2592
Its what i use, set you temperature, plus the fridge in the fridge point, and the heat pad in the heat point and let it control both how it sees fit to maintain the temperature you have set. Ofcourse this one needs to be wired up in a box.

 

[Rocker1986]

The STC-1000 is dual yes. When I got mine I wired up both heating and cooling, just in case. As yet, I haven't found a need to use the heating side of it. I've currently got an amber ale in the FV in the fridge which has been largely steady at 18 since Monday. With over night temps hitting single figures, it has dropped 0.1 to 0.3C overnight, and then started to warm back up again during the day. The thing is, to greatly change the temperature of that volume of liquid takes a lot of time - a lot more time than a few hours, especially inside an insulated fridge largely protected from the outside elements. I'm not really that concerned about half a degree, given it will warm back up during the day anyway.

But, that is my personal situation, others may be needing heating sources to stop it getting too low, or bring the wort up to pitching temps, or whatever it might be. Point being the STC is able to be used for both at the same time.

 

[Khellendros13]

I have 2 of the STC-1000 pre built from Keg King. The ferment fridge has a variance of .1c, with the probe wire and a lamp cord going between the door seal. Low wattage lamp in the crisper keeps it perfect.

 

[Brewjohno]

I use the STC-1000. Originally I used to just dangle the probe inside the fridge, hanging in space, but I soon noticed that when I opened the door to have a look the air temperature dropped instantly kicking the fridge off, even though the wort temp wouldn't have changed at all in the 1 minute I was looking.

After that I left a cup of water in the fridge and dangled the probe into that. Every now and then I would just top it up as it evaporated.

I have also read of a person who took one of the gel like freezer bricks for camping. They are like a jelly in a foil packet. The punched a hole in the packet and buried the probe in the jelly. This way the water didn't evaporate like in my case.

Somewhere online I found the instructions for wiring up a Fridgemate. I have the document but I don' know where I got it from. It a pdf that's about 800kb. If anybody wants it just PM me and I can email it.

http://www.fileserve.com/file/undV2mg/How to wire a Fridgemate.pdf

 

[Rocker1986]

Leaving a cup of water in the fridge isn't really much use. For a start, you have about a 100th of the volume of liquid, which will change temperature a lot faster than the 23 odd litres of wort. Secondly, it isn't fermenting and generating heat, so the wort will still be 2-3 degrees or whatever higher than the cup of water.

I've also noticed with my fridge (don't know about any others) but, for cold crashing, if I just drop the temp on the STC straight to CCing temps, the fridge obviously kicks in - but it starts acting like it normally would without any outside interference. So basically the fridge thermostat over rides the STC, and it just keeps cycling on and off without turning off the fridge completely like it normally does when using the STC, until it gets down to the temp set on the STC. I was under the impression that the thing just continuously ran until it hit the temp but in my case at least, it doesn't. Handy to know.

 

[blackeuge]

Is the fridge thermostat set to max power?

 

[Rocker1986]

It's set to the coldest possible setting. On this fridge it's about 0.6 degrees C. I think what's happening is that the air temperature is clearly decreasing at a much faster rate than the beer temperature (as it would), and going below the lowest temp that the fridge thermostat will allow for and thus the fridge itself is controlling the temp, as opposed to the STC turning the whole thing on and off. Once the beer temp reaches the 0.6C the STC switches the fridge off, and does its normal routine as it would at fermentation temps.

 

[MetalDan]

For Christmas I bought myself an STC-1000, and now have it connected up to a small bar fridge in my apartment. Currently there are 2 cubes sitting in the fridge (due to space issues), one 10l and the other 15l. Both have a Cider I made using re-cultured Old Rosie cider yeast. A user from another forum said to age the cider in these secondary's for a few months in 12 degree temp to get the MLF reaction going.

Currently the STC-1000 probe is wrapped in 2 layers of bubble wrap, and taped to the side of the 15L cube about half way up. Does this sound like a good approach to try and get a correct temperature reading of my cider?

See below for some times and temps of when the fridge is turning on/off, and what the probe is reading. Currently it's about 22C weather in Sydney this morning.

9.41am - Fridge kicks in as temp probe reads 12.5C
9.46am - Fridge turns off as temp probe reads 12.0C
9:53am - Temp probe drops to 11.6C even though fridge is off
10.23am - Fridge kicks back in as temp probe reads 12.5C


Are these the kind of cycling times I can expect?

 

[pat86]

For Christmas I bought myself an STC-1000, and now have it connected up to a small bar fridge in my apartment. Currently there are 2 cubes sitting in the fridge (due to space issues), one 10l and the other 15l. Both have a Cider I made using re-cultured Old Rosie cider yeast. A user from another forum said to age the cider in these secondary's for a few months in 12 degree temp to get the MLF reaction going.

Currently the STC-1000 probe is wrapped in 2 layers of bubble wrap, and taped to the side of the 15L cube about half way up. Does this sound like a good approach to try and get a correct temperature reading of my cider?

See below for some times and temps of when the fridge is turning on/off, and what the probe is reading. Currently it's about 22C weather in Sydney this morning.

9.41am - Fridge kicks in as temp probe reads 12.5C
9.46am - Fridge turns off as temp probe reads 12.0C
9:53am - Temp probe drops to 11.6C even though fridge is off
10.23am - Fridge kicks back in as temp probe reads 12.5C


Are these the kind of cycling times I can expect?

Haven't had mine for long, but sounds about right and I'm in Sydney too. I don't really check it much, but on a hot day it can definitely kick on more than once in half an hour. I use part of an old stubby holder taped to the middle side of the FV with the probe tightly in there (taped on 3 sides) to insulate - as recommended by someone on an older STC 1000 thread. It also depends on how wide you want the temp range and also of course you can choose how long a delay you want between cycles if you think it is kicking on to quickly (which couldn't easily happen unless you keep opening the door or have the variance set to like .1 degrees).

Wish I had the link but quite a few people have tested different placements for the temp probe and the general consensus is that insulated probe on the side is fairly close to actually putting the probe directly in the beer, without any risks of infection etc. Both of those are > the bottle of water which is > just the probe dangling in the fridge.