Fridge Fermenter Build Help

[Theheadsn]

I was lucky enough to score a free medium sized up/down fridge off Craigslist. I have a SCT-1000 I'm using and have it pretty much all wired up. I was curious do I NEED to have a heating element inside of the fridge as well for everything to work correctly? I live in California and its pretty much staying around 76 degrees. Where I have the fridge is inside of the house so it'll never drop below 65. Could not having a heat source effect the fridges ability to stay at a reasonable temperature?

Side question, when it comes to the STC it only has the 4 F settings, Main temp set, differential on temp, compressor cool down, and temp offset. If I have it set at say 68 with a differential of 4 degrees would the heat kick on when it got down to 62?

Sorry for what could be asking stupid questions. Just having a hard a time finding the answers I need

 

[Theheadsn]

Sorry for the bump, but edited the post. Didnt want to create a whole new topic

 

[Ike]

Might try posting the question in the beginner's forum. You'll get more visibility there, and it's general enough of a question that most noobies like me would be interested...

Ike

 

[Theheadsn]

good idea thanks

 

[Zepth]

It's fine. It'll be fine. I promise.

I have a keezer on exactly the same setup. STC-1000 with the cooling loop hooked up and a whole lot of nothing on the heat side of things. Since I serve my beer below room temperature I never need it to heat.

Something I noticed is occasionally there will be the cooling "swing" where it will shut the compressor off but the residual cooling effect will drop the temperature just enough to trigger the heat cycle. If it were hooked up I would end up running the heat about 5 minutes after finishing a cooling cycle. If my beer (or in your case chamber) is 0.1 degree below the "trigger" there is no panic to start heating up. This would be a waste of power and inevitably cause more compressor cycles. I have mine set up to "ride the swing" and am perfectly happy.

In the event that you had the same set up the only time I could see it being something that holds you back would be if you were intentionally wanting to ramp temperature, say for a D-rest or ensure attenuation. Most agree that temp ramping is best done gradually. If you don't have a heater set up you can set the new target and walk away, letting it warm up by osmosis of the surrounding air should be gradual enough. Need it faster? Turn off the controller and leave the lid open for a couple hours.

" If I have it set at say 68 with a differential of 4 degrees would the heat kick on when it got down to 62? "
If these were the settings the heat cycle would be triggered at 64, the cool cycle would be triggered at 72.