Fermenter Thermowell

I see there are thermowell's out there that you can put in the top of your carboy and will go deep down inside it to monitor the temp of it during fermentation. Not sure I really understand the idea. I made the aquarium temp controller. But the sensor is just hanging inside the fridge. Works great.

So what is the idea? If I make one and put it in my fermenter, will it cycle the fridge less and when it does come on, it will stay on longer?

Not sure I understand the intent of these.

From what I understand, ambient temperature (i.e., the air inside your fridge) can vary from the temp of your fermentation because the air can change rapidly, but it takes time for the actual liquid to change. That, plus fermentation actually produces heat. So you could have a 2-3 degree difference.

What's important to monitor is the actual fermentation temperature. The chamber temp, not so much.

You could just suspend your therm sensor in a mason jar of water. That would take care of the rapidly changing temps. But you wouldn't know what temp the beer actually was.

In the grand scheme, however, I don't think it's that critical.

I tape the sensor to the outside of the fermenter. It reads close to the liquid temp.

Wayne

BargainFittings said:

I tape the sensor to the outside of the fermenter. It reads close to the liquid temp.

Wayne

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That's how you want to do it. This subject has come up a million times in the past.

+1 to what Wayne said. Taping it to the carboy with masking tape is my preferred method as well. A thermowell is just another thing to clean and possibly cause an infection in your beer in my opinion.

Thanks for the input fellas. Did a search on it and didnt come up with anything. Probably wrong key words.