Fermostat by Ohmbrew - review

I just used mine for the first time. I didn't see a lot of postings about it when I researched temp controllers, but I decided to buy one anyway.

Glad I did. It worked great and was really easy to use. I ran it with two MoreBeer heating pad units attached to a 120 liter Speidel inside an upright freezer. Probe inside a thermowell in the beer. It held the temp perfectly and allowed me to program in a cold crash after fermentation without even having to touch anything.

Ohmbrew's customer support is outstanding. I had a few questions when setting up and the guy answered emails I sent him at 10pm the same night.

Photo of my setup attached. If anyone has any questions I might be able to answer, let me know.

 

Which model did you purchase?

 

I purchased the dual stage one for $159.99 My freezer is in my garage and the temp in there is all over the place, so dual stage is a must for me.

 

You can probably attach those heat pads to the lower sides of the freezer and not have to replace them with every batch. I've had some cornies in an upright freezer in my uninsulated garage and it works perfectly, summer and winter.

 

I've had a fermostat for a while now. Works great and great support. Timely updates and new features added too.

 

Might try them on the walls instead, thanks for the idea.

 

has anyone used a small pug in heater ? or a light bulb? for the heating side?

 

I use a reptile heater bulb. Works great.

 

Cool... I have one of those laying around... where do you place it? No issues burning holes in the side of the freezer, because that is a concern of mine. Also, my freezer will be in the garage and hits well below zero sometimes. Is the heater bulb enough to get up it up in temp?? I may even want to make a belgian in winter do you think it would heat enough to get to 80 when its ambient of 0?

 

I just have mine in its cage laying on the "step" on my chamber. It doesn't get hot enough for me to be concerned. I live in Texas so I'm happy I can't comment on below zero temps.

 

Love mine as well though I've only run it in complete manual mode and haven't used any programming yet.
A great piece of equipment.

 

I have a small plug in bathroom heater I think I may use until next winter... If it works well, I will just get a crappy job lot ceramic plug in personal heater for like $15 or so... should do the trick i think

 

Does anyone know the "default ale" temperatures that is pre programmed. I just purchased the fermostat and brewed an IPA, i set it on default ale and by the 6th day its temp is set at 78*??

I looked at the manual online and it said the highest its set at under this program is 72*

 

Anyone know what happened to their support or this company? seems like they disappeared.

My ohmbrew is a $160 paper weight right now.

 

Same thing here. Bought it from the creator Caleb Wangerin (Ohmbrew) 3 years ago, had an issue after a few months and he send me a new one, now it keeps crashing. I tried emailing and calling. His phone is disconnected and his website produces a blank page.... Try to support the little guy and this is what we get! Nice!!

 

where did you find the manual online? I have been trying to look for it and cannot find it. All blank pages. I also wanted to know what the default ale setting was supposed to be.