Yet Another Fermentation Chamber Question

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AQUILAS

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So it's been a week since I've officially used my minifridge ferm chamber. It's my first time using it since putting it together and I'm happy with the results. Taped the temp probe to 2 coozies, which act as insulation, and tightly taped it to the side of the ferm bucket. My 805 clone has chugged away and hit its final gravity. Tastes real close to the 805. I'm hyped. I added a some willamette hops to dry hop for a week and raised the ferm temp to 70F and will then raise it to 72F in a couple days. Cold crash for a few days thereafter and bottling time.

But one thing is confusing me. I may be overthinking this.

Before having a fermentation chamber, it was rule of thumb that ambient temperature is essentially 'cooler' than fermentation temperature since yeast are an exothermic bunch. Now during this first week of ferm chamber fun, I've been taking notes of 3 temperatures - ambient, probe temp, and fermometer sticker. Ambient temperature is measured using a digital thermometer I took from one of my cigar humidors.

The probe temp and fermometer were always close, as expected, since they were both right on the bucket. Now what confuses me is that the ambient temperature is significantly higher. A few minutes ago, my probe and fermometer were sitting at 70F, but ambient was a high 88F! Of course, due to the rule of thumb I'm used to following, my head panicked.

I can't get my head around this. My fermentation temperature is where I want it, but ambient is out of the ballpark. Does this sound correct at all? Is this what I should expect? The thermometer is on top of my bucket and what I keep telling myself is heat rises, so it should be somewhat hotter at the top of the fridge. I placed another digital thermometer from my cigar humidor in there, at the bottom.
 

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