How do i get a temp. probe into a fermenter?

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The_Glue

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I want to heat my swamp coolers in the winter with fish tank/aquarium heaters. I want to monitor those temps and control the fishtank heaters electronically. I have this side covered.
How do i get my temperature probe into the glass fermenter while still having a good seal?

Do i even need to put my sensor into the fermenter? How close is the water bath's temp to the fermenting wort's temp?

I have a probe like this:

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I would avoid putting it directly in the fermenter. Waterbath temperature will most certainly be good enough.
 
I tape my probe to the side of the carboy, underneath some foam for insulation.. that's a fairly common practice.

I've read in multiple places (multiple forums, multiple people) that there is very little temperature discrepancy between the middle of the fermenter and the edge of it.

Seems to work well so far... YMMV.
 
What are you using to control the aquarium heaters? Are you using a PID or something like an STC-1000? I have been using a standard plastic probe from an STC-1000 inserted into a plastic bottle of water inside my keezer for nearly a year. I also bought some replacement stainless steel STC-1000 probes on ebay that I have not used yet. You could probably just place one of those probes into your cooler water and that will maintain the water temp. The big problem I see with that is microbes actually growing in the swamp cooler water. I guess you could add a spoonful of bleach. But then a stainless steel probe would not be a good idea and you'd need to stick to plastic.

If you really want the probe inside your glass fermenter which I assume is a carboy, you'd have to buy a long thermowell and insert it through the stopper.
 
If the waterbath's temperature is really close to the fermenting wort's temperature (even if i heat the waterbath) then i don't want to put my thermometer into the wort.

(btw i gonna use a microcontroller to work somewhat like an stc-1000 plus posting my temp data to the internet so i can monitor my ferm. temps from far away and stuff)
 
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