Finally bought a Freezer

[kevinb]

Finally bought a Freezer. Lowe's had the 5 cubic foot on sale for $146 with free delivery and no sales tax.

I plan to use it for a fermenter. Now I have to figure out what to do for a controller and a setup. Any guidance or lessons learned would be appreciated.

 

[Rockn_M]

I am using an STC-1000. There can be found pretty cheap on Amazon.com. There is also a lot of information on how to wire it on this forum.

 

[bzwyatt]

This is what I did with a freezer up/fridge down Fridgidaire.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-tool-box-build-405286/

works great.

 

[kevinb]

This is what I did with a freezer up/fridge down Fridgidaire.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-tool-box-build-405286/

works great.

nice idea

 

[kevinb]

I read some other posts about attaching the temp sensor to the side of the carboy and putting some insulation over it. That makes sense. My only question is, do you get any overshoot or issues on start up with a new batch? Since the 5 gallons has a lot of thermal mass, it will take a while to cool down. Does the freezer get too cold while waiting for the carboy to catch up?

Also, do you guys leave a small fan running inside all the time?

 

[Rockn_M]

I read some other posts about attaching the temp sensor to the side of the carboy and putting some insulation over it. That makes sense. My only question is, do you get any overshoot or issues on start up with a new batch? Since the 5 gallons has a lot of thermal mass, it will take a while to cool down. Does the freezer get too cold while waiting for the carboy to catch up?

Also, do you guys leave a small fan running inside all the time?

I was trying to speed things up one brew day and put my wort in the freezer close to 90. I taped my temp prob to the side and by the time the wort temp got to below 70° the walls were frozen. It took a while for things to equalize. I went ahead and pitched my yeast at 70°. I would rather pitch cold than hot.

 

[kevinb]

That is exactly what I was wondering about. Do you think a fan would help that?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I read some other posts about attaching the temp sensor to the side of the carboy and putting some insulation over it. That makes sense. My only question is, do you get any overshoot or issues on start up with a new batch? Since the 5 gallons has a lot of thermal mass, it will take a while to cool down. Does the freezer get too cold while waiting for the carboy to catch up?

Also, do you guys leave a small fan running inside all the time?

You do overshoot.

The only real option to stop this is using something like BrewPi that uses PID Algorithms to predict your temperatures.

Although it might not be a bad idea if you can afford it to buy a 3/8ths SS Thermowell, and drill a 2nd hole in one of your stoppers to drop it down in your wort.

 

[Rockn_M]

That is exactly what I was wondering about. Do you think a fan would help that?

It may help a few degrees. For me it made more sense to KISS (Keep it simple stupid). A little tape and a kookie was all I really needed.

 

[kevinb]

It may help a few degrees. For me it made more sense to KISS (Keep it simple stupid). A little tape and a kookie was all I really needed.

I am with you on the KISS method. I don't want to over think/do this. Just need it to work.