David Killion
Dave
It appears I didn't think this through well enough before I plopped down the credit card - but now I'm in possession of a BrewBuilt IceMaster Max 4 Chiller and am a bit concerned about the design. At this time I'm only chilling one Spike Unitank, but I intend on getting another one this summer. I liked the idea of all pumps already built in, but the onboard temperature controllers might be an issue for me.
How do you cool one fermenter while heating/cooling another? My temperature controllers actually say heat & cool; but I can't understand how there is any heating functionality built in? There's a water bath sitting at 2C, I can't imagine how this unit would be able to send warm water to the fermenter. I looked for a place to plug in a heater for each controller but I don't see it; this would have been the ideal solution. I've come to the conclusion that it won't heat or control heat; so I will still need an inkbird attached to the heater blanket. Oh, and the thermowell won't fit 2 probes, so one needs to be taped to the Unitank.
I've thought about hacking into the wiring so the pump is controlled by the WiFi inkbird controller; essentially bypassing the controllers on the chiller. But damn, I should have just bought the IceMaster 100 unit then and used the $150 savings to buy pumps and more inkbirds.
On another note, the controllers only reading out in Celsius is a bit frustrating. And the fan motor not being bolted down completely was an annoying fix I had to make after it was full of water (made one hell of a racket when it first turned on); come to find out the hole is stripped. I had to put a backing nut on the bottom of the unit to get it secured. Reading other quality control issues gives me concerns - so I'd rather not return this and get the IceMaster 100 and face a different quality control issue.
Am I missing something? Anybody else worked through this issue?
How do you cool one fermenter while heating/cooling another? My temperature controllers actually say heat & cool; but I can't understand how there is any heating functionality built in? There's a water bath sitting at 2C, I can't imagine how this unit would be able to send warm water to the fermenter. I looked for a place to plug in a heater for each controller but I don't see it; this would have been the ideal solution. I've come to the conclusion that it won't heat or control heat; so I will still need an inkbird attached to the heater blanket. Oh, and the thermowell won't fit 2 probes, so one needs to be taped to the Unitank.
I've thought about hacking into the wiring so the pump is controlled by the WiFi inkbird controller; essentially bypassing the controllers on the chiller. But damn, I should have just bought the IceMaster 100 unit then and used the $150 savings to buy pumps and more inkbirds.
On another note, the controllers only reading out in Celsius is a bit frustrating. And the fan motor not being bolted down completely was an annoying fix I had to make after it was full of water (made one hell of a racket when it first turned on); come to find out the hole is stripped. I had to put a backing nut on the bottom of the unit to get it secured. Reading other quality control issues gives me concerns - so I'd rather not return this and get the IceMaster 100 and face a different quality control issue.
Am I missing something? Anybody else worked through this issue?
