$20 Device any good for tempature control?

Hi,
I came across this item on evilbay. At the moment I am using brew belts, and because room temps can go up and down, my wort tempature is up and down also... I am learning that wort tempature is very important... Thinking of buying a few of these, am thinking of dropping the probe down in to the middle of the wort, or selotape it to the side of my brewing container?
You think this will work? Anyone else use anything like this?
Item shown is 220v version, with converter for UK style plug socket, 110v US version can also be got.

Thanks,

rhinofarts

I probably would skip that. What works for me is putting the fermenter in a water bath, and then using an aquarium heater (very small wattage!) in the water bath when it's very very cold. The water bath also helps with temperature fluctuations, as it provides more mass and so it doesn't really change temperature very much at all in the course of a day.

But, how cold is your house or where you are fermenting that you need a brewbelt? Most of us struggle to keep our fermentation temperatures cool enough, not warm enough. If your fermentation area is 14C, or even above, it'd be perfect for ales.

It looks like a standard temp controlled switch so it will work.
It will turn on the brewbelt heater if the temp drops, off if it rises but it won't drop it below ambient temp.
check its amp rating before using a fridge/freezer with it.

Yooper (Wow you are great to reply to my posts!),
My temps in the house vary from between 16 - 26 C. I have brewed before without the use of a brew belt and found that the temps were really up and down (Night and day) and got bad results, I found that the belt improved my beers. But I know the temps are too high (Even for extract kits), I would rather be around 20 C or so, so I was going to buy this device and set it to 20 C. Let the belt kick in and out when necessary, I could put the fermenters in a colder part of the house so temp doesn't go over 20C from ambient heat?

rhinofarts said:

Yooper (Wow you are great to reply to my posts!),
My temps in the house vary from between 16 - 26 C. I have brewed before without the use of a brew belt and found that the temps were really up and down (Night and day) and got bad results, I found that the belt improved my beers. But I know the temps are too high (Even for extract kits), I would rather be around 20 C or so, so I was going to buy this device and set it to 20 C. Let the belt kick in and out when necessary, I could put the fermenters in a colder part of the house so temp doesn't go over 20C from ambient heat?

Click to expand...

Howya I also use a belt but I have my FV in the garage where it is a lot cooler, the temp with the belt stays between 18 & 21c usually. I'm in Galway so if there was some where outside your house it would be more manageable.

Yooper said:

I probably would skip that. What works for me is putting the fermenter in a water bath, and then using an aquarium heater (very small wattage!) in the water bath when it's very very cold. The water bath also helps with temperature fluctuations, as it provides more mass and so it doesn't really change temperature very much at all in the course of a day.

.

Click to expand...

I am doing the same for my Saisons, seems to work very well. Hell, probably got the idea from you. Now if only keeping ales cooler was as cheap and easy.

rhinofarts said:

Yooper (Wow you are great to reply to my posts!),
My temps in the house vary from between 16 - 26 C. I have brewed before without the use of a brew belt and found that the temps were really up and down (Night and day) and got bad results, I found that the belt improved my beers. But I know the temps are too high (Even for extract kits), I would rather be around 20 C or so, so I was going to buy this device and set it to 20 C. Let the belt kick in and out when necessary, I could put the fermenters in a colder part of the house so temp doesn't go over 20C from ambient heat?

Click to expand...

If your house goes from 16-26, the cheapest and easiest fix might be to just put the fermenters in a water bath, up to the level of the beer, to keep the temp stable. After all, 16C-20C is the perfect temp for ales. You don't want to go over 22C in most cases, with the ideal being a tad under 20C.

I don't have the space for a water bath, problem is also, right now its sunny out and my house is getting good solar gains, but tonight it is to go to minus temps, last night it was minus 3. So my beer is going to suffer up and down temps if i do not control it... I don't know where you guys live, but in this house we have one bath, and thats for washing bodies!

Make yourslef one of these: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/ I've made two and they work great. If your interested here's my fermentation chamber where I use both of my temperature controllers. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/dual-fermentation-chamber-build-318098/

rhinofarts said:

Hi,
I came across this item on evilbay. At the moment I am using brew belts, and because room temps can go up and down, my wort tempature is up and down also... I am learning that wort tempature is very important... Thinking of buying a few of these, am thinking of dropping the probe down in to the middle of the wort, or selotape it to the side of my brewing container?
You think this will work? Anyone else use anything like this?
Item shown is 220v version, with converter for UK style plug socket, 110v US version can also be got.

Thanks,

rhinofarts

Click to expand...

Hi,

I just bought one of these from eBay for $12 including postage. I plugged it in and it works!!! It's currently holding my coopers sparkling ale at 19 degrees and I'm happy.

So I recommend it so long as this cheap Chinese temperature controller does not burn my house down.

Oh and this is my first brew.

Cheers.

How does this device work and what is the purpose exactly ? I am new to this and wanting to learn all that I can.

You plug the temperature controller into your power point, plug your fermentation heater into the controller, then tape the temperature probe onto the side of the fermenter.

On the controller you need to set the temperature then change the controller from cooling mode (green light next to set) to heating mode (red light net to set).

Have a look at my photo in my previous post and it should make sense.

Oh and what it does. It keeps your fermenter at a set temperature.

Thanks edge brew I appreciate the help !

Well, the temperature controller didn't burn my house down and it created this beer.