GatorBeer
Well-Known Member
A little background: I've done 3 Mr. Beer kits at room temperature and 2 better bottles with water/ice buckets temperature control. I've been very disappointed with the off flavors that I'v narrowed down to being a result of poor fermentation temperatures.
My dad, being a computer programmer, found a Linux Journal article dealing with this exact situation and it had a cheap alternative to the Ranco temperature device. Here's what I needed:
TEMPer USB thermometer
x10 controlled outlet/controllers
Heating pad
Refrigerator
Laptop running Linux
I was able to get the refrigerator and laptop for free and the other items are relatively cheap.
This is how it generally how it works. The outlet is wired into the wall with the top being controlled and the bottom plug always being "hot". I plug the fridge into the top plug and into the bottom I plug a receiver with the heating pad plugged into the receiver.
The code is simple (I can understand the logic, but don't understand Linux). Let's say you want it to maintain about 60F. In the code there is a tempmax and tempmin. These are set about 2 degrees apart so that the refrigerator isn't turning on and off with a lot of frequency and stressing the compressor. Essentially if the fridge gets below tempmin, the fridge turns off and the heating pad turns on. If it gets too warm, the fridge turns on. The program is always running and spits out a temperature reading on the screen.
I'm hoping this will help the quality of my brews and I thought it was a neat alternative to a Ranco or similar device
My dad, being a computer programmer, found a Linux Journal article dealing with this exact situation and it had a cheap alternative to the Ranco temperature device. Here's what I needed:
TEMPer USB thermometer
x10 controlled outlet/controllers
Heating pad
Refrigerator
Laptop running Linux
I was able to get the refrigerator and laptop for free and the other items are relatively cheap.
This is how it generally how it works. The outlet is wired into the wall with the top being controlled and the bottom plug always being "hot". I plug the fridge into the top plug and into the bottom I plug a receiver with the heating pad plugged into the receiver.
The code is simple (I can understand the logic, but don't understand Linux). Let's say you want it to maintain about 60F. In the code there is a tempmax and tempmin. These are set about 2 degrees apart so that the refrigerator isn't turning on and off with a lot of frequency and stressing the compressor. Essentially if the fridge gets below tempmin, the fridge turns off and the heating pad turns on. If it gets too warm, the fridge turns on. The program is always running and spits out a temperature reading on the screen.
I'm hoping this will help the quality of my brews and I thought it was a neat alternative to a Ranco or similar device