Cold Crashing, or should I say Cold Easing?

[tarponteaser]

I converted an old fridge into a fermentation chamber with the help of an inkbird temp controller. Dialed the fermentation temp to 67 and let the batch sit for 3 weeks. Great stable temps even with the fridge on back poolpatio with 90 plus temps in afternoon.
Adjusted temp control to 38 on Sunday and three days later the fermenter Temp is at 51 degrees ( probe taped to 7.5 gal fermenter).

I realize it takes time to change the temp of 6 plus gallons of liquid, but once I'm at the desired temp of 38 degrees, how long do I maintain it there before kegging?

This is my first batch using controlled temp fermentation and I love it, no longer a slave to frozen water bottles and checking temps twice a day ( yes it is hot here in FL).

Thanks for any tips

 

[55x11]

I converted an old fridge into a fermentation chamber with the help of an inkbird temp controller. Dialed the fermentation temp to 67 and let the batch sit for 3 weeks. Great stable temps even with the fridge on back poolpatio with 90 plus temps in afternoon.
Adjusted temp control to 38 on Sunday and three days later the fermenter Temp is at 51 degrees ( probe taped to 7.5 gal fermenter).

I realize it takes time to change the temp of 6 plus gallons of liquid, but once I'm at the desired temp of 38 degrees, how long do I maintain it there before kegging?

This is my first batch using controlled temp fermentation and I love it, no longer a slave to frozen water bottles and checking temps twice a day ( yes it is hot here in FL).

Thanks for any tips

It usually takes me 12-18 hours to drop from 70F to 35F - strange it takes you this long. Is it on full power?

Anyways, when temp is below 45 or so for ~12 hours, I gelatin, then wait another 24 hours for things to settle, then keg.

 

[tarponteaser]

The fridge is a side by side and the freezer door is messed up so it does not close tightly, which is why it was taken offline and destined for the scrapyard till I decided to use it for fermentation. The temp has been slowly dropping daily, perhaps I should just unplug the controller and set the fridge to cold.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]The temp has been slowly dropping daily, perhaps I should just unplug the controller and set the fridge to cold.

That may be the problem right there: when using an external controller, it's usually best (or at least, most logical) to dial the fridge thermostat to its coldest setting, allowing the external controller to "own" the fridge.

It sounds like you may have inadvertently been throttling the capacity of the fridge to drop the beer temperature...

Cheers!

 

[tarponteaser]

I think the high heat on the back patio plus the freezer door not properly sealing is part of the problem. It has been running in the 90s. I vaced the coolant lines under the unit which were pretty dirty, but can't get temps below 47.
Going to install blue foam board in freezer and caulk gaps to seal before door to hold in cold and keep heat out.