Fermentation Chiller Temp Differential

[Mozart]

For those of you who have chest freezers with an external temperature control for use as a fermentation chiller, what do you set your temperature differential to?

It would seem to me that a smaller differential would better control the fermentation temperature, but at the expense of cycling the unit on and off more often and possibly wearing it out faster.

What seems to work best for those that have a similar set-up? If it matters, I have a 5.1 cubic foot freezer with room enough for one fermenter. I tape the probe to my fermenting vessel, and insulate it by taping either bubble wrap or an old, folded-over t-shirt atop it. To help even temps, I also store a couple of gallons of spring water in there to help even out the temperatures.

Thanks for any input.

Cheers!

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I use a 1 degree differential and between the thermal mass of my beer, the relatively cool temp of my basement, and the insulation provided by the chest freezer it doesn't really seem to kick in more than once an hour or so.

 

[cosmo]

One degree is what I use also. My Johnson controller also has an anti-short cycle setting, but I don't think that is even needed.