mgortel
Well-Known Member
LMAO....we should just say the hell with the discussion and get together for some homebrews! Sound like (2) politicians....haha
This isn't a matter of opinion; what you're arguing is observably false. It makes no difference if you're using a fridge or just setting the fermenter in a basement corner; the beer will always be 3-10 degrees warmer than the ambient air during peak fermentation. Clearly you've never tested your pet theory.Agree to disagree. I'm not saying that fermentation does not occur without an added heat. But if you have a unit that is fairly precise at regulating temperatures, then the miniscule amount of heat emitted by active fermentation per hour will be re-adjusted by the cooling fan in a matter of seconds, thus negating the effects of any heat driven off via fermentation and balancing the temperature back to what you originally set it at. This is not the case when the fermentor is sitting at ambient room temps. because your home's atmosphere is not nearly as precise at controlling temperature as a chest cooler. That is sort of the whole reason people get chest coolers!
Simply 100% patently false. Indeed the chest cooler will hover around 65F and the beer will be around 70F for a couple days. You're arguing against what everyone knows to be fact based on our own observations.Do you think that somehow, if you place a carboy inside a regulated 65 F chest cooler, that active fermentation will magically raise the wort temperature to 70-72 F so quickly that the chest cooler has a difficult time maintaining the original 65 F temperature originally set forth? Because it doesn't work that way my friend. The chest cooler will have no problem maintaining temp. increases in a matter of seconds... Which is much faster that active fermentation could ever raise the temperature by several degrees.
it's odd that you believe the 65 F air conditioned unit with a powerful cooling fan is incapable of nonstop temp. regulation, or penetrating the wort through a carboy, which in your opinion must be several degrees higher during active fermentation, rendering the chest cooler useless if not also set several degrees lower than desired fermentation temperature. And who's everyone? It makes me think if YOU ever tested your theory.
Regulation which can penetrate wort through a carboy... which in your opinion must be always be several degrees higher during active fermentation, thus rendering the chest cooler completely useless if not also set several degrees lower than desired fermentation temperature.
Bob...I think you would significantly increase the quality of your beer if you would listen to what we are saying
Monitor the ambient temperature and the ACTUAL beer temperature for the fisrt 36-48 hours.....just check both every 8-12 hours and write it down. Stick a adhesive backed fermometer on your carboy or ale pail.
As a refrigeration tech, here are my thoughts, FWIW. Heat flows only one way, from heat to "less heat". The fermenting beer is creating heat, being removed by various means. Water bath evaporation, freezer evap coil, etc.
As the "beer container" creates heat, the temp increases in the surrounding "secondary" refrigerant, air or water or whatever is being cooled that is in turn cooling the beer. For this to happen there must absolutely be a temperature difference, the beer must be warmer than the cooling medium. Laws of thermodynamics etc as stated above. Can a good setup get the air temp back to setpoint in a few seconds as bobbrew states? Sure, absolutely.
Does this immediately get the beer to the setpoint? No, it doesnt work that way.
LOL. A somewhat simpler solution is to simply turn that little t'stat knob just 3-5 degrees lower. Thanks anyway.You are guys are doing all wrong!! I have found the best solution is too ferment in a water bath and use a stainless sanke keg as your carboy. You can control the temperature of the water bath via an aquarium heater(heat) and a pump and immersion chiller (cool)....
In that small, temp. controlled space, it's odd that you believe the 65 F air conditioned unit with a powerful cooling fan (which activates every couple minutes) is incapable of nonstop temp. regulation. Regulation which can penetrate wort through a carboy... which in your opinion must be always be several degrees higher during active fermentation, thus rendering the chest cooler completely useless if not also set several degrees lower than desired fermentation temperature.
Not sure what you mean, since this statement doesn't actually make any sense. Say you have a t'stat with 1F differential. You can put the probe in the beer, and you'll always get swings of 1F in the actual beer temp. OTOH, you could leave the probe in the air, and you'll see less than 1F swings in the beer temp due to the thermal capacitance. But here, you're no longer measuring beer temp, but rather air temp, so you have to monitor beer temp then and set the t'stat lower than desired beer temp..... fermentation temp will be much more accurate if the temp probe is in the beer as opposed to the ambient temp. ....
You're completely wrong here. Cooling 5 gallon of liquid does not happen immediately.
I've also moved to a water bath solution. Tested with thermowell and found that the bath is never a degree off from the wort temperature. Below is an extreme example of what I would get trying to control wort temperature by ambient air. One thermometer probe is hanging in the air, the other is taped to a glass carboy. During early fermentation I had to set the temperature control up to 10 degrees colder than I wanted the wort to be. As fermentation slowed, I’d gradually increase the temperature control over the first few days until it matched the wort temperature. PITA!You are guys are doing all wrong!! I have found the best solution is too ferment in a water bath . . .
Thankfully I never said that.
In that small, temp. controlled space, it's odd that you believe the 65 F air conditioned unit with a powerful cooling fan (which activates every couple minutes) is incapable of nonstop temp. regulation. Regulation which can penetrate wort through a carboy... which in your opinion must be always be several degrees higher during active fermentation, thus rendering the chest cooler completely useless if not also set several degrees lower than desired fermentation temperature.
But let's go back to what you're wrong on... A 5-10 F increase of 5 gallons of liquid in a temperature controlled cooler does not happen immediately.
Not sure what you mean, since this statement doesn't actually make any sense. Say you have a t'stat with 1F differential. You can put the probe in the beer, and you'll always get swings of 1F in the actual beer temp. OTOH, you could leave the probe in the air, and you'll see less than 1F swings in the beer temp due to the thermal capacitance. But here, you're no longer measuring beer temp, but rather air temp, so you have to monitor beer temp then and set the t'stat lower than desired beer temp.
So the issue is not "accuracy" but rather how much temperature swings or hassle you're willing to accept.
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