Auber Instruments DT500 Dual Probe Temperature Controller - Experience/Opinions?

[eric19312]

Anybody have experience with Auber DT500?

After much success controlling temperatures in my fridge based chamber with an STC 1000 I am having difficulty after switching from 6 gallon buckets/carboys to a 16 gallon plastic fermentor (Spiedel). I was reading the BrewPi and StrangeBrew sites and threads enough to get idea that maybe I want to control beer temperature and set limits on ambient temperature to avoid overshoots but several days of searching and reading just have no idea how to do it other than perhaps the Brewpi Spark which looks to be an out of the box solution but seems both way more capable than what I think I need to do and priced to justify that extra capability. I don't want to control an entire brewery from one device and I don't want to have to learn programming languages to make it work.

Then I found this Dual Probe controller on Auber website:
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=671

This sounds exactly like what I want to do. But after lots of searching I am again stuck...can't find any mention here or on other forums of homebrewers using this device. So anybody use one? What do you think? It looks like the probe that is supposed to go in the beer will not fit down my thermowell. Can I switch the probe and use that one for ambient and the other probe in my thermowell?

Any other solutions I should consider?

 

[eric19312]

So I realize I posted this in wrong forum. If I can get a moderator to move this to the DIY Fermentors forum I think it probably belongs there.

Anyway based on a decent number of view and no reactions I've concluded not many people are using this device yet. I went ahead and pulled the trigger and it shipped today. I did reach out to Auber to get answer to questoin about whether the probe would fit my thermowell and they figured out a new product offering based on that request. Now you can get the unit with 2 plain dangling probes which should fit standard thermowell just fine at a significant savings too!

I will post some more feedback here after I try it out.

 

[day_trippr]

Open your original post and click on the "exclamation" icon, it'll open an edit/message pane that moderators will see as soon as you send it...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

[moved to DIY]

 

[FunkedOut]

If all you want to do is limit the air temp, get a second STC-1000 and set to the lowest desired air temp.
Plug your original STC-1000 into the cooling side of the new one.

I do this with a pair of 310s to get programmed steps and it works like a charm.

When you first get the second unit, leave it out of the control loop and just measure how cold the air temp gets when the wort finally gets cold enough to trip the first unit. Then set the second unit to half way between that number and the desired fermentation temp.
That should be really close to ideal. You can fine tune from there.

 

[eric19312]

If all you want to do is limit the air temp, get a second STC-1000 and set to the lowest desired air temp.
Plug your original STC-1000 into the cooling side of the new one.

I do this with a pair of 310s to get programmed steps and it works like a charm.

When you first get the second unit, leave it out of the control loop and just measure how cold the air temp gets when the wort finally gets cold enough to trip the first unit. Then set the second unit to half way between that number and the desired fermentation temp.
That should be really close to ideal. You can fine tune from there.

im not getting it. I'm sure there must be a way to do this with multiple stcs but I couldn't quite figure it out. What I want is tight temperature control of the beer around a set point. Where are you placing the probes on stc1 and stc2? If stc2 is plugged into stc1 where are the refrigerator and heat source plugged in? I think I really need 3 stcs to match what this device does don't I?

I do believe something in my process has changed and my temperature control is not working as well as it was previously. I based this on off flavors in recent batches. Anyway before searching for a solution I tested hypothesis that I'm experiencing significant temp fluctuation by getting a data logger. I was shocked by the fluctuations. Big temp under shoots followed by equally large temperature overshoots. I'm not sure if the change is really the increased fermentor size or the switch from taping prob to outside of carboy with insulation to a thermowell, or something else, but the temp fluctuations were alarming enough for me to try this system. When current batch is done I plan to do some experiments to try to see what was really going on.

 

[FunkedOut]

stc1 set to desired fermentation temp, probe in the thermowell.
stc2 set to ~5-10*F below fermentation temp, probe in air in fermentation chamber.

plug fridge into stc1.
plug stc1 into stc2.
I don't use a heater; I live in Florida.
I'd say plug the heater into stc1, if you insist on having it.

Both, the change in volume and sensor placement have a huge impact on system performance.

 

[eric19312]

stc1 set to desired fermentation temp, probe in the thermowell.
stc2 set to ~5-10*F below fermentation temp, probe in air in fermentation chamber.

plug fridge into stc1.
plug stc1 into stc2.
I don't use a heater; I live in Florida.
I'd say plug the heater into stc1, if you insist on having it.

Both, the change in volume and sensor placement have a huge impact on system performance.

So stc1 is set to 20c and stc2 is set to 17c. Fridge air is 18c so stc1 has no power what temp is the beer? No idea all I can see from looking at controllers is fridge is at 18c and I'm not calling for cooling...

 

[FunkedOut]

you won't be able too see the wort temp when stc1 is turned off by stc2.
but if fridge air is 18, and your wort is above 20, the air is still chilling the wort. when the air gets to 18.1, stc2 will turn on stc1. I'd wager the wort will be cooler than when stc1 was turned off by stc2.

this setup will take longer to chill wort, but that is exactly what you need to eliminate the undershorts.

 

[eric19312]

you won't be able too see the wort temp when stc1 is turned off by stc2.
but if fridge air is 18, and your wort is above 20, the air is still chilling the wort. when the air gets to 18.1, stc2 will turn on stc1. I'd wager the wort will be cooler than when stc1 was turned off by stc2.

this setup will take longer to chill wort, but that is exactly what you need to eliminate the undershorts.

OK I got it. I'm trying that right now...had an Inkbird T+H controller handy. Plugged the STC into the Inkbird since the T+H sensor on the inkbird will not fit in thermowell. Set Inkbird to 16C and the STC to 20C. My heating isn't going to get triggered by this system but current ferment is exothermic and the Auber will be here tomorrow. I live in New York and ferment in my garage. Do need ability to call for heat or cooling depending on situation especially winter.

I think I could match the functionality of the Auber with 3 STCs/inkbirds, STC1 in beer, STC2 and STC3 in fridge. Fridge plugged into STC2, heater plugged into STC3. If Beer is too warm, STC1 activates STC2, and STC2 then looks at fridge air temp and if it is too warm calls for cooling. If STC1 sees beer is too cold it activates STC3 which looks at air in fridge and if too cool calls for heat. I'm not saying this would provide superior control to your simple solution but it would give me visual confirmation of beer temperature at any time which I would prefer.

 

[FunkedOut]

OK I got it. I'm trying that right now...had an Inkbird T+H controller handy. Plugged the STC into the Inkbird since the T+H sensor on the inkbird will not fit in thermowell. Set Inkbird to 16C and the STC to 20C. My heating isn't going to get triggered by this system but current ferment is exothermic and the Auber will be here tomorrow. I live in New York and ferment in my garage. Do need ability to call for heat or cooling depending on situation especially winter.

I think I could match the functionality of the Auber with 3 STCs/inkbirds, STC1 in beer, STC2 and STC3 in fridge. Fridge plugged into STC2, heater plugged into STC3. If Beer is too warm, STC1 activates STC2, and STC2 then looks at fridge air temp and if it is too warm calls for cooling. If STC1 sees beer is too cold it activates STC3 which looks at air in fridge and if too cool calls for heat. I'm not saying this would provide superior control to your simple solution but it would give me visual confirmation of beer temperature at any time which I would prefer.

That'd work well for the heat set up.
I think you could skip STC3 altogether and just plug the heater into STC1. If the beer is too cold, you want it heated, regardless of air temp, no?

If it's not a heater wrapped around the fermenter (like a space heater), then STC3 can prevent overshoots by limiting the air temp in the fridge. In that case, the setup you came up with is great. Still under $50.