STC-1000 Setup - For Beginners

CornyKegs 728
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celtic_dude said:
View attachment 165289
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The hot leg of the power supply goes to terminals 1&3, the neutral leg goes to terminal 4 and the neutral side of your outlet, then run a wire from terminal 2 to the hot side of your outlet. Terminals 5&6 are where the temp probe connects, which it looks like you've already figured out.

And you guessed it, this controller is single stage, and will control either heating or cooling, but not both at the same time.
 
Thank you for the quick response. Wish I had realized before ordering the controller. Ordering another one off of amazon that shows the dual control.
 
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doctormiah said:
Would this work for the extension cord ends, and provide enough extra wires for the wiring?
http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity%C2%AE-5-Pack-Extension-Approved-quality/dp/B00CDVX330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386761358&sr=8-1&keywords=Etekcity%C2%AE+5-Pack+One+Foot+Outlet+Extension+Power+Cable+Cord+UL+Listed+CSA+Approved+to+ensure+quality
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I would not as those appear to be 18 gauge wire. The stc 1000 is rated for 10 amps so for any internal wiring you do should be rated for that or more. I have used stranded 14 gauge wire in all of mine.
 
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Jonathon,
Cant thank you enough for this wonderful tutorial. I recently bought a chest freezer and was wondering how I could convert it to making a fermentation chiller. I followed your instructions to the letter, successfully wiring my STC-1000 to the freezer. I am sooooo happy with the result!!
I currently have 2 five gallon carboys (brown ale and a blonde ale) as well as 2 one gallon carboys (hard cider) happily fermenting away in my chest freezer. I looked up all the temp ranges for all yeast strains I am using and set the STC accordingly. My freezer maintains a perfect temp at all times!!!
Your tutorial was amazing, thanks for the awesome pics. I couldnt have done it without you!! My first beer will be named in your honor.
 
@bendog15

I am glad the tutorial was helpful. And congratulations on the successful setup. Sounds like you have hit the ground running! Post some pics, let us admire your work!
 
Jonathan_Marino said:
@bendog15 I am glad the tutorial was helpful. And congratulations on the successful setup. Sounds like you have hit the ground running! Post some pics, let us admire your work!
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@Jonathan_Marino Here's my setup


image-3601722195.jpg



image-3414906537.jpg

5 gallon carboy of Brown Marino Ale
5 gallon carboy of Blonde Ale
Two 1 gallon carboys of hard cider

I couldn't be happier to have this quality fermentation chiller setup. Never would have been able to make it without your awesome tutorial!
 
Maybe someone here can help me out. I want to build this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/fermkeezer-357170/ I already have a Johnson analog controller for keezer, I plan on building a ferm chamber and setting it up like in the above post but I want to control the fan with an STC-1000. I bought the Johnson years ago before I even heard of an STC. Can I just wire the fan directly to the STC instead of cooling cord like in the OP example?
edit: would it be simpler to use a single mode controller? Or if they cost the same just buy the dual mode?
EDIT: would installing an outlet be the same as installing and outlet in the wall? May be a silly question to some, but I don't have a ton of experience with electricity. I was able to correct the wiring on the 3 way light switches in my house, mainly through trial and error.
 
I really like these setups, gave me the motivation to find me a freezer, and make me a fermentation chamber!
 
BigFloyd said:
Here's my standard schpeal (now updated) about the STC-1000:

It's a dual temperature controller. You wire it into a standard 2-plug outlet that you mount in some kind of project box (either homemade or bought at Radio Shack). One (cool) outlet is for the freezer/fridge. If your fermenter chamber is placed where it’s cold (like a garage in winter), you plug some kind of small heater into the warm outlet and then put that heater inside the freezer. Otherwise, just use the cold outlet.

Set the target temp (in Celsius) on the STC-1000. Set the tolerance (default is +/-0.5*C). When the temp (as read by the sensor) climbs 0.5*C above the target, it powers up the cool outlet and keeps it energized until the temp drops to the target and then turns it off. Likewise with the warm outlet if it gets 0.5*C too cool. You tape the sensor on the side of the fermenter and place some kind of insulation like bubble wrap over top of it so that it reads the bucket temp and not the air.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/stc-1000-setup-beginners-433985/#post5538096

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-fish-tank-controller-build-using-wal-mart-parts-261506/


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-iwFLykxs

http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html
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Mine looks just like this.... works well so far in testing.
 
KPSquared said:
They sell in Fahrenheit now! Just saw them on evil bay
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BE CAREFUL ON YOUR CHOICE

You need to ensure you're looking at a dual relay controller. I have seen many controller that show both Heat/Cool on the face with °F, but when inspecting the specification of the device it is a single relay version (Heat OR Cool). I have seen dual relay controller in °F available a while back, so they are out there, just be careful on your choice.
 
stpug said:
BE CAREFUL ON YOUR CHOICE

You need to ensure you're looking at a dual relay controller. I have seen many controller that show both Heat/Cool on the face with °F, but when inspecting the specification of the device it is a single relay version (Heat OR Cool). I have seen dual relay controller in °F available a while back, so they are out there, just be careful on your choice.
Click to expand...
^^^ditto^^ I noticed the same... they rob from peter to pay paul taking one function to give you the other... I would just use a conversion chart... since its set to one temp its no big deal.
 
So I am going to build mine this afternoon and I want to add a quick connect to the probe.

I was thinking an RCA jack, as long as I calibrate afterwards will that work? Radio shack doesnt carry mini XLR here and I want to build this today.

If RCA isnt any good what else from Radio Shack can i use?
 
IslandLizard said:
Don't you think the mini plugs are even more prone to dropping out? At least on an RCA plug you can squeeze the petals a bit tighter.
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I had to look up a picture of an RCA plug to know what you were talking about :D. You are definitely correct that the audio adapter plug is easier to remove based on my recollection of using RCA jacks in the past. I remember RCA jacks taking decent force to get fully seated. The audio adapter that I use is probably more like plugging your headphones into a phone/mp3 player. There is a little click when it's fully seated but it can be removed with not too much effort. I won't just fall out and actually required pulling on it to remove it, but I probably would have gone RCA had I thought about it back when I made my purchase. :eek:
 
Posting to subscribe - looking for a fridge or freezer now...
Looks like a great build and the pictures make it easy. Thank you!
 
Do most people put the temp probe in a water bottle if they have multiple batches in the ferm chamber? Trying to figure out how best to regulate temp best.
Thanks all.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
millsbrew said:
Do most people put the temp probe in a water bottle if they have multiple batches in the ferm chamber? Trying to figure out how best to regulate temp best.
Thanks all.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
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I don't have room for more than one batch at a time BUT if I were to have room then I'd flexible with how I accomplished this. For example, I would not submit my british or belgian strains to excessive cooling just to keep a chico strain in the low 60s because you'd likely stall them out. I'd also closely monitor the fermenter(s) that is in the first 2 days of fermentation to ensure proper ester/alcohol formation, and I'd allow old batches to fluctuate more if needed.

I can't see that monitoring the temperature of a glass of water is going to have much bearing on the internal temperature of a living batch of beer, so I would not do that.

Hope this helps.
 
millsbrew said:
Do most people put the temp probe in a water bottle if they have multiple batches in the ferm chamber? Trying to figure out how best to regulate temp best.
Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Now that I have mine working, I do two batches at the same time with the same yeast. I put the temp probe on one and a tape an outdoor thermometer sensor to the other. The probe and the thermometer are within a degree of each other.
 
So lets say I have 2 ales on the floor of an upright freezer and a batch of cyser on a shelf. All have a yeast with a temp range of 62-70. Where would the probe go then?
The reason I ask is clearly opening the door for 15 seconds to show a friend isn't going to change the temp of 5g carboys. But it will cause the air temp in there to change, thus activating the STC.
Thanks again.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
I should clarify, if you're talking about a keezer/kegerator then in a cup of water is probably just fine. If you're talking about actively fermenting beer then what I said before stands.

In the case of actively fermenting beer, as long as your probe is affixed to the side of one of your fermenters underneath some insulation then it will not detect ambient air temperature changes very quickly at all. I put my temp probe against my fermenter, about half way up, and then put some folded up paper towels overtop of the probe and tape the paper towels to the fermenter (which, in turn, keeps the probe against the fermenter). When I open the fermentation chambers door, some of the cool air might escape but the temp probe doesn't register that since it takes a common change inside AND outside the fermenter to cause it to change. I plan on switching to a piece of Styrofoam when I get a spare piece. Hopefully this makes sense.
 
You could always buy a stainless thermowell from brew hardware for $14 and slide it in your carboy cap and measure your ferment from the middle. If u have multiple carboys just group em together .. They will probably all be close
 
Jonathan_Marino,

Thanks a lot for the time taken to make this tutorial :) I've made mine yesterday and its working fine!

Cheers,

Rui
 
Forgive me if the answer to this should be obvious, but why not just wire your extension cord directly into the unit? Why the need to join the connections with wire nuts?
 
Jackhole said:
Forgive me if the answer to this should be obvious, but why not just wire your extension cord directly into the unit? Why the need to join the connections with wire nuts?
Click to expand...


The hot wire from the cord provides power to the controller/sensor part of the unit in addition to the two relays. There isn't any connection internally to provide power to the relays from the controller. So the easiest way to do that is to share the incoming power across all three, hence the pig tails.
 
Ok sorry for the noobish question, but how are you supplying power to the heating element, are you drilling a hole into the fridge to access the power supply cord of the heater? I read the entire post and didn't notice anything on this. Sorry if it was answered in a previous post.
 
Billham said:
Ok sorry for the noobish question, but how are you supplying power to the heating element, are you drilling a hole into the fridge to access the power supply cord of the heater? I read the entire post and didn't notice anything on this. Sorry if it was answered in a previous post.
Click to expand...




You could drill a hole in the fridge and run the power cord for the heat and temperature probe through the same hole? Whatever works for your scenario.


Drinking = Lucky Red ale, Blonde Hag ale
Secondary = Tomahawk Amber ale
Primary = test batch IPA
 
Billham said:
Ok sorry for the noobish question, but how are you supplying power to the heating element, are you drilling a hole into the fridge to access the power supply cord of the heater? I read the entire post and didn't notice anything on this. Sorry if it was answered in a previous post.
Click to expand...
Billham,

The cord for both the temp probe and the heat source enter under the freezers lid. I understand that this isn't the most ideal method, not having a sealed lid and all that. But for keeping the temp around 17-19 celsius, it works just fine. Not freezing steaks or anything ;)

mmmm... steak
 

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