marke14
Beer Enthusiast
Hello,
I am relatively new to homebrewing - been at it for about a year now, still doing partial boil extract batches, moving to BIAB soon.
I recently purchased a kegerator and am for the moment using it as my fermentation temperature control chamber. I use a 6 gallon glass carboy for fermenting.
I have a separate thread going re: how to use the kegerator as both a kegerator and a fermentation temp control chamber; I will likely purchase a chest freezer as a dedicated temp control in the near future.
My question is: what temperature should I really be aiming for during fermentation? 65-70 F I know, but ...
For the current batch (just boiled yesterday), I am for the first time using a digital thermometer with a probe, which I sanitized and passed along the side of the rubber stopper/bung down into the carboy.
I've set the kegerator at 59 degrees F (it's a blonde ale fermenting in there at the moment), and the thermometer sticker on the side of the carboy shows a temp of about 62 degrees F. However, the probe has been holding steady at 77 degrees F. That is quite a big difference!
I've read/heard that those stick-on thermometers can be pretty inaccurate in terms of the actual average temp of the wort in the carboy as the sides and glass can be a bit cooler than the temp in the center of the liquid.
Should I be aiming for an internal temperature of 65-70 F, as measured by the probe inside the carboy?
In the future, assuming I have an Inkbird and chest freezer setup, would I do the same in terms of putting the Inkbird's probe into the wort/carboy itself, and then set the temp control to 65 (give or take, for ales)? Or do you guys fix the probe to the outside of the carboy, etc.
Last small Q - should I cut a small channel in the side of my rubber bung to accommodate the probe wire? Not sure how airtight it will be with the probe wire going along the side ...
Thanks in advance.
I am relatively new to homebrewing - been at it for about a year now, still doing partial boil extract batches, moving to BIAB soon.
I recently purchased a kegerator and am for the moment using it as my fermentation temperature control chamber. I use a 6 gallon glass carboy for fermenting.
I have a separate thread going re: how to use the kegerator as both a kegerator and a fermentation temp control chamber; I will likely purchase a chest freezer as a dedicated temp control in the near future.
My question is: what temperature should I really be aiming for during fermentation? 65-70 F I know, but ...
For the current batch (just boiled yesterday), I am for the first time using a digital thermometer with a probe, which I sanitized and passed along the side of the rubber stopper/bung down into the carboy.
I've set the kegerator at 59 degrees F (it's a blonde ale fermenting in there at the moment), and the thermometer sticker on the side of the carboy shows a temp of about 62 degrees F. However, the probe has been holding steady at 77 degrees F. That is quite a big difference!
I've read/heard that those stick-on thermometers can be pretty inaccurate in terms of the actual average temp of the wort in the carboy as the sides and glass can be a bit cooler than the temp in the center of the liquid.
Should I be aiming for an internal temperature of 65-70 F, as measured by the probe inside the carboy?
In the future, assuming I have an Inkbird and chest freezer setup, would I do the same in terms of putting the Inkbird's probe into the wort/carboy itself, and then set the temp control to 65 (give or take, for ales)? Or do you guys fix the probe to the outside of the carboy, etc.
Last small Q - should I cut a small channel in the side of my rubber bung to accommodate the probe wire? Not sure how airtight it will be with the probe wire going along the side ...
Thanks in advance.