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

[Reviled]

"it like trying to start a car thats in gear...not pretty..sounds awful..lots of jerking but it'll probably start..until your starter motor falls off :)"

:o) Made me laugh so hard! I remember a mate driving a Mitsi Mirage around with no clutch for about 3 months, if he had to stop hed just kill the engine, then to get going again, hed put it in first, and crank the starter motor untill it puttered along :o) hahahaha, was hilarious! Needless to say it didnt last

[Ged]

When we drove manuals back in the UK - haven't even seen one now for 5 years.....

My wife called me from a carpark to inform me she had rearended someone...Apparently the car leapt ahead and she definitely wasn't touching the accelerator when she started it..At which point it clicked that she also wasn't touching the clutch and had it in first gear...

[Reviled]

Hahaha classic...

But..... "haven't even seen one now for 5 years....."

WTF man, are you kidding me???

[Ged]

Seriously...Every car I ever had in Scotland was a manual and auto's were a thing of rarity..They used to drive autos in London because people's left leg fell off chugging the clutch in and out 25 times a minute.So now and again they would ship a few north and add 2K to the asking price as everything else was a a manual...Come to CChurch and every car I've been in is an auto and i've only seen a few manuals advertised...Wierd how things go round in circles like that...Must be because I'm in the lower half of the earth :)

[Rusty Chch]

I bought an autol last time out.

I nearly sent SWMBO through the window a few weeks ago, trying to clutch while I was waiting to turn right across traffic

[denimglen]

Wired and assembled mine this weekend, haven't tested it yet and don't have anything to control with it yet haha.

[Reviled]

Mate, nice! Whered you get that box? Saw something similair on AHB this morning, looks tidy as!

[denimglen]

Jaycar. Got all the bits there. Ended up costing me almost as much as the controller itself...oops.

[Reviled]

lol, hilarious! Nice job tho for sure!!!

[Ged]

Nice denimglen....I tried the sensor as a plugin module as well but for some reason it kept shorting and displaying EE..I wiggled it and all was well again for another 2 mins then EE again..Eventually ended up hardwiring it and all good.. What female connection did you use for the box and also for the male bit that the end of the sensor wire is soldered to?? Might give it another shot seeing as yours looks so good. I had a hell of a time finding a box and ended up shelling out $25 dollars then sawing / melting away half of the inside to get the bloody thing to fit well

[Doublehoppy]

That looks great denimglen - very tidy. I also ended spending a stupid amount on wiring, the box etc.

I've used my controller for about 3 brews now and it's working brilliantly.

[denimglen]

Hey mate, got all the bits from jaycar.co.nz.

Part numbers (just type in the search box) PP0511 and PS0524 for the sensor. HB5910 ($27) for the box - fits everything inside all good and the faceplates, front and back, are removeable so easy to hack away at to install everything.

Hope that helps (and hope my sensor works, you've got me worried! haha)