keezer temp probe?

[JuanMoore]

This whole forum can't be for real can it? Literally, the easiest thing about beer is making it. Quit over-complicating things with things like different special grain combinations, yeast strains, hop varieties, temperature control, etc. It is almost as crazy as all this fanaticism with sanitation- we are trying to make things fester for ****s sake. You put some grain in a pot, dip something dirty in it, let it fester, and you get beer.

Personally I dangle in it.

Ha!

On a serious note though, there have been a few threads over the last few years where people fried the compressors in brand new freezers because they ran them empty with the probe dangling and no ASD. Hate to see someone kill a perfectly good freezer because they got bad advice on here.

 

[tmurph6]

I was referring to two people arguing about whether to tape it to a keg or taping it to the wall. I agree the topic is worthwhile, but not worth two pages of arguing. Sorry that wasn't clear in my sarcastic post.

 

[WhiteCliffsBrewery]

The Ranco controller, at least the one commonly sold for homebrew use, does NOT have Anti Short cycle protection. If you want a prebuilt unit, the Johnson digital controller is a better choice. If you want to save some money and don't mind some DIY, look into the thead about the $25 dual stage ebay aquarium controllers. It is a good choice for a ferm chamber left in the garage since it heats or cools automatically with no manual mode changes.

Oh well, Ranco is being delivered today. Did not get the pre-wired one. From what I've read, if you set the differential properly, and correctly mount the probe, you won't have an issue with short cycles. Freezer is going in the basement.

 

[cwi]

I was referring to two people arguing about whether to tape it to a keg or taping it to the wall. I agree the topic is worthwhile, but not worth two pages of arguing. Sorry that wasn't clear in my sarcastic post.

The two pages of arguing were caused by people (actually just one person before your entry) who inject their opinion that there is no difference among placements, or even worse, that 'probe on wall' or 'probe in air' is the best method.

If there was sarcasm in your post, it was non-obvious. Congratulations for keeping the argument going.

 

[cwi]

Oh well, Ranco is being delivered today. Did not get the pre-wired one. From what I've read, if you set the differential properly, and correctly mount the probe, you won't have an issue with short cycles. Freezer is going in the basement.

Basement or garage, if the external ambient temps will rise both above and below the ferm temp during a ferment (like in a garage), or even be stable at more than ~1F below ferment temp (like in a basement), a dual stage controller is beneficial since both heat and cool will be needed in both cases.

RE: short cycling- There are ways to compensate for not having built in ASD, but why bother when they will never guarantee protection, and generally degrade temp control. Especially when a cheaper ($25) dual stage controller with ASD is available.

Personally, I would return the Ranco and get the ebay controller, a fancier Love dual stage, or the Johnson digital. I don't know why the standard Rancos continue to be mentioned as a viable choice. Same goes for the inline pumps when the same exact pump in a center inlet design is superior for virtually all homebrew applications.