More keezer questions

[Philsfan5]

Ok guys, I've decided to make the move from bottling to kegging. So I'm going to build a keezer. My 15 cu ft freezer will be delivered on Wednesday and I have alot of questions. But I'll do my best to keep it as short as possible. By the way, I've been reading these forums for about a year and have learned alot. Hopefully in the near future I will be able to answer some questions around here instead of just asking them. Here goes:
Is there a "best place" to put a computer fan? And is there benefit to keep it running constantly as opposed to have it kick on only when there is power to the freezer. (I'm using an stc 1000 temp controller)

 

[day_trippr]

There's a major benefit to having a small computer fan running 24/7 in a chest freezer. A 120mm fan running at 75% of rated voltage is plenty for that size cabinet, that's what I use on my 13cf keezer and there's zero temperature differential from bottom to top...

Cheers!

 

[Philsfan5]

Great. Thanks for the response. 24/7 it is. One more Q, I've read on here somewhere about keeping the temp probe in water, or taping it to the side of the freezer, and a few other ideas. Here's my thought - I'm going to cut open an ice pack and put the probe in the gel and tape the ice pack up to prevent spilling. Think it'll be efficient?

 

[day_trippr]

There are a whole host of ideas about probe placement, each with fervent followers.

Somewhere between using thermowells and just hanging probes in free air, I use 2" wide velcro straps to pin my probes to the side of kegs and fermenters under 1" closed cell foam pads roughly 4" square. Thus the controllers for my ferm fridges and keezer all track the vessel temperatures and the probes are fairly well insulated from the ambient air temperature around them.

fwiw, the attached chart plots all the temp probes in/around my keezer, along with the on/off state of the compressor.
To address your earlier question, you can see the effect of the fan that stirs the air inside - the top and bottom probes are virtually identical.
You can also see the relationship between the compressor cycling and the degree and rate of change of all the channels. While the keg temp sits within the 2°F controller differential the various air temperatures swing pretty wildly - all while the compressor is loafing along, cycling at a little over 4-1/2 hours.

So the isolation of the keg probe isn't perfect but it does the job pretty well...

Cheers!

 

[mothprodd]

I stuck my probe in an empty spice bottle (with metal lid) filled with water and siliconed around the hole in the lid where the probe wire goes in. Seems to work great with regards to temperature fluctuations (like opening the lid) and I wanted to measure the temp of liquid (beer) in the keezer, not the air.

 

[Philsfan5]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry I haven't responded in a bit but I was working on the keezer. Last coat of polyurethane is drying now. Still didn't decide on the probe location yet but the info provided will give me options. I'll experiment. Thanks again.

 

[day_trippr]

I stuck my probe in an empty spice bottle (with metal lid) filled with water and siliconed around the hole in the lid where the probe wire goes in. Seems to work great with regards to temperature fluctuations (like opening the lid) and I wanted to measure the temp of liquid (beer) in the keezer, not the air.

Why not measure something approaching the actual beer temperature?

Cheers!