Inkbird ITC-308 Freezer cooling issue

[John Kimble]

Team,
New setup is all complete.
2x Magic Chef 5.0 cu.ft. chest freezers each controlled by an Inkbird ITC-308. I put a SS Brewtech Brewbucket in each for separate fermentation Chambers.
I have done a dry run of temperature regulation over the past 3 days attempting to maintain 60F in each. I set upper and lower allowances to 1F and no compressor delay.
I have the temp probe inside the thermowell of the brew buckets.
initially I had the cooling power of the freezer set to maximum. Since then I have turned it down to just above minimum. But my problem has not gone away. When the freezer is turned on by the ink bird controller to begin Cooling, the temperature drops to the low 50s.
Is this just a function of the Brew buckets being empty, or am I doing something wrong? I would like to maintain two to three degrees maximum temperature fluctuation when I actually have my fermentation going.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kh54s10]

With the probe in a thermowell it would be measuring the temperature of the wort. Being empty it is measuring air. The temperature inside the freezer will be a lot lower than the wort in the beginning until things equalize.

I would set the compressor delay higher, you don't want is cycling on and off all the time. That is hard on the compressor and you will shorten the life of the freezer. Mine is set for 2 degree swing and longer compressor delay. I don't remember what the code for the delay is so I don't know what it is set to.

 

[mongoose33]

First, set your compressor delay to 3 minutes at minimum.

Second, yes, the temp of the AIR in the freezer will drop to the low 50s or whatever, but that doesn't matter; if it's not colder than the wort, then it couldn't cool it. When the wort temp reaches your set point, the freezer turns off. There may be a small bit of further cooling as the air is still cold, but not much, and not enough to matter.

There's a lot of thermal mass in that fermenter; it takes a lot to move it, and it won't move fast. That's a good thing.

 

[Smellyglove]

Set it to 10 minutes, just to be safe. No need to stress it. Always do trials with the same thermal mass as you expect to ferment.

 

[John Kimble]

Ok great. Thank you for the replies and the help! I split it and set the delay for 5 min.
Will report any issues with first ferment.