TempMate Fermentation Control

[Doublehoppy]

I've just bought and installed one of these

It's brilliant, you set the target temperature and it will either switch on the fridge or a heating device depending on where the current temperature is. You also set the tolerance, to a minimum of 0.5C. i.e. If the target temp is 20C, the current temp is 16C and the tolerance is 0.5C the heater will operate until 20C is reached, then switch off. It will switch on again if it drops to 19.5C. The fridge will switch on and off in the same way.

Means of course that the seasons now play no part in brewing!!

I bought the fridge at an auction for $10. The TempMate itself cost about $110 including shipping and the project box to house it for $20. I'm using a heater pad which was $60.

The wiring is relatively easy, but you need to decide whether to do it yourself or get a sparky. Googling TempMate will take you to a thread on AussieHomeBrewer which has wiring diagrams.

I've wrapped the fermenter in an insulation layer (a camp roll) so that I can jam the probe between the two to closely record the actual beer temperature, rather than the air temperature.

By the way the jiffy box that CraftBrewer sell to house this isn't big enough.

Highly recommended

[Ged]

If you have -EE or EE on the screen your sensor is open or shorted...IF its reading a temp readout then you are bang on the button...One thing to be aware of is the big stainless steel thermostats - (about 10 inches long and $30 from craftbrewer) that sit inside the wort to get an accurate reading dont work with the tempmate. They only work with the fridgemate. Thanks denimglen. Checked the part numbers and they are what I had originally...Must have been my dodgy soldering or a dodgy connector.

[denimglen]

Cheers will keep that in mind. I read on AHB that the long probe didn't work and Ross from craftbrewer mentioned that they're working on bringing one out that's compatible with the tempmate.

[Riggwelted]

Denimglen, realise this is an old post but was wondering how you got on with sensor? Just got a chest freezer and tempmate arrived this morning so before i go and pend some more readdies thought i'd see what other people had been upto. cheers mate

[Riggwelted]

cheers mate - here's to many happy hours brewing over what looks to be ramping up for another korka of a wellington winter !!!

[Nick T]

Looks great, have ordered the parts so I don't stuff up the fermentation temp on my second batch of beer! One question - some people are using fridges, others chest freezers - which is more efficient? Can a fridge get down to cold-conditioning temperatures for an ale (ie from 18deg to say 2-5 deg) quickly enough, or is a freezer a better bet? Also, are both equally good at holding say 18 deg when a new batch is going crazy and producing heaps of its own warmth? (Had this problem on my first batch)?

Seperate question, would there be any advantage in adding an on/off switch to your design?

[vdog]

Chest freezers will always be more efficient - if only for the fact that when you open the door all the cold (dense) air can't fall out like it does on a fridge. A fridge is plenty cold enough - the main limiting factor for how quickly it brings down the temp is the starting temp of your beer and the volume. More volume = longer to get it down.

[denimglen]

I agree with vdog.

I'll put my fermenter into the serving fridge to cool it for a few days before racking to the keg, and it comes down to the temp of the fridge (from ~20C to 8C) in like 26 - 48 hours. Which I think is fine.

Also you'll have a lot more room in a chest freezer, most decent size ones will hold two fermenters easily, while a standard size fridge will usually only hold one fermenter. The downside to the chest freezer is that it takes up more floor space, the upside is it gives you another workbench :-)

[Nick T]

However if you are trying to keep a fermenter warm instead of cold, do you have the opposite problem, with all the warm air eascaping when you open the lid of a freezer? (nothing is easy is it!) Or is this less of a problem? I did read somewhere about a system with a fridge where an internal three level front vertical cover or air barrier had been constructed in it to prevent cold air escaping when you opened it to check on progress. I suppose on the other hand either system is going to be an improvement on my fermenter sittng in the spare bathroom with the household temperature fluctuting between 16-21 degrees through the night/day!

[vdog]

Totally agree - the efficiency thing is more about how hard your fermentation fridge/freezer has to work. If you don't open it every ten minutes to check, a fridge is probably about as good as a freezer anyway. =)

[denimglen]

Yeah exactly.

The way to go is to chill your beer after the boil, put it in your fermentation 'chamber', use your chamber to get it to fermentation temperature, then pitch your yeast. Now you on;y have to combat with the exothermic activity of the yeast fermenting, and if you have something like a tempmate set at 0.5C difference, then you're doing very little work to keep it at the temp.

It's easier than we all make it out to be, I reckon the biggest difference between fridge and freezer is the extra space you have with the freezer.

[Stu McKinlay]

While we're on this topic... came across this recently:

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.pdf?PHPSESSID=cd5f9f41e4fbfb000a7acf...

[JoKing]

Good research Stu. That circuit board looks like a bit of a challenge though... even for a pleb DIYer like myself!