Stc-1000+

[atoughram]

Please report back you experience. Even if you can't do logging, how does it 'feel'? Is it cycling too often? Does it keep temperature? Overshoots?

Yes sir I will - I've got HY set to 2f - but with only twelve hours of data, I dont see much difference. Unfortunately I dont have taps mounted on the front of the refrigerator so each time I open it, you see a bump in the data..

 

[atoughram]

However, I've found the easiest way to clear the header through holes in the STC is to heat from the bottom of the board. Once the solder melts, quickly remove the iron and blow from the top of the board strongly.

:rockin:I dont have a solder sucker at the moment and have used this method on all three STC's... IT WORKS!

Also - if your cleaning the circuit board off with brake cleaner, dont get any on the display because it will discolor it... dont ask me how I know this...

 

[disney7]

Hm, I was going to put PC case fan and small personal heater (like this) but maybe I should rethink the heat and dial it back a few notches.

On the other hand, I love the idea of thermowell placement as a way to moderate overshoot hysteresis. Taped to the outside is most reactive to ambient while centerwell is least ambient temp reactive. Hmmmm

Don't forget that with an active fermentation, the beer is being stirred constantly by the yeast. You really shouldn't see much difference between a thermowell and a well insulated probe taped to the outside of the fermenter until the yeast slows down (and at that point temps aren't as important).

 

[balrog]

Don't forget that with an active fermentation, the beer is being stirred constantly by the yeast. You really shouldn't see much difference between a thermowell and a well insulated probe taped to the outside of the fermenter until the yeast slows down (and at that point temps aren't as important).

Forgot about the roiling fermentation; I've never seen the "action" since I use a bucket FV. Part of the magic is taking off the lid after 3 weeks and seeing....who knows what? I've had crystal clear, nothing on top beer; and I've had english ale yeasts, even after 3 weeks, that left what can best be described as mad-cow-brain-disease-cottage-cheese covering the top -- of crystal clear beer.

What a hobby! And soon I'll have Super AlphaOmega STC Thermally Controlled Awesomeness Fermentation Beer. (There's a great acronym hiding in there somewhere but I can't find it)

 

[wilconrad]

Don't forget that with an active fermentation, the beer is being stirred constantly by the yeast. You really shouldn't see much difference between a thermowell and a well insulated probe taped to the outside of the fermenter until the yeast slows down (and at that point temps aren't as important).

I've found this to be true with ale fermentations (where there are literally chunks of stuff whipping around inside the fermenter). The pic above is of a lager fermentation at the peak of primary, and the bottom fermentation doesn't create enough action, resulting in a significant difference between the probe temp and the wall of the carboy.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[StittsvilleJames]

Good news! I'm a complete ******* and just bought an arduino uno r3 and an stc 1000 on ebay to try this, so if it works for me, it's bulletproof!

Do I need anything else? I skimmed the instructions quickly here at work and will read fully later this evening. I saw something about an arduino serial ide monitor. Is that a thing?

Can't wait to do this. The STC was a great deal at 14$ and if I can make it do more than factory settings, that would be killer.

Thanks for your time and effort, Alphaomega et al.

 

[disney7]

I've found this to be true with ale fermentations (where there are literally chunks of stuff whipping around inside the fermenter). The pic above is of a lager fermentation at the peak of primary, and the bottom fermentation doesn't create enough action, resulting in a significant difference between the probe temp and the wall of the carboy.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I've only made one lager (its about ready to drink) and it was in a stainless fermenter. I didn't think about there being such a difference.

 

[wilconrad]

I've only made one lager (its about ready to drink) and it was in a stainless fermenter. I didn't think about there being such a difference.

By significant I mean 2-3 degrees, so not huge, but enough to create whiplash in the temp signal.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[atoughram]

a well insulated probe taped to the outside of the fermenter

How do you insulate the probe taped to a fermentor - here is a graph of my fermentor - not fermenting anything - but full of 13 gallons of water. As you can see, the heater cycling is still being read by the sensor.

 

[seabass07]

Not sure how anyone else is doing it, but I use a sock over the sensor taped to the fermenter. It seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[disney7]

I'll have to take a picture later to better illustrate, but I take a plug of 3/4" rigid (pink) foam insulation, then I cut one side to match the curvature of the fermenter. Next, I cut a little slot in the foam that just allows the temperature probe to fit. Finally, I tape it to the fermenter with painters tape and make sure I haven't left any gaps for air to travel through.

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to on your temp graph. If you mean that the lines are all oscillating and not more straight, you're going to get that with a thermostat type temp controller. PID control would reduce it quite a bit, but you'd still have some.

 

[DrunkleJon]

How do you insulate the probe taped to a fermentor - here is a graph of my fermentor - not fermenting anything - but full of 13 gallons of water. As you can see, the heater cycling is still being read by the sensor.

I use either an old can koozie or a towel or the like.

 

[alphaomega]

Hi!

Sorry to interrupt the probe insulation discussion, just wanted to let you know
v1.00 is now released!
Yay!
Doesn't really mean much, in terms of changes, just finished the user manual and bumped the revision, because I now feel the project is good enough to warrant the 1.00 status

 

[balrog]

Hi!

Sorry to interrupt the probe insulation discussion, just wanted to let you know
v1.00 is now released!
Yay!
Doesn't really mean much, in terms of changes, just finished the user manual and bumped the revision, because I now feel the project is good enough to warrant the 1.00 status

WELL DONE, SIR!

 

[atoughram]

Hi!

Sorry to interrupt the probe insulation discussion, just wanted to let you know
v1.00 is now released!
Yay!
Doesn't really mean much, in terms of changes, just finished the user manual and bumped the revision, because I now feel the project is good enough to warrant the 1.00 status

Det är underbart!!!

Thank You for all of your hard work Mats!

 

[alphaomega]

Det är underbart!!!

Thank You for all of your hard work Mats!

Härligt med lite svenska Får mig att känna mig som hemma.

Thanks a lot!

 

[atoughram]

I'll have to take a picture later to better illustrate, but I take a plug of 3/4" rigid (pink) foam insulation, then I cut one side to match the curvature of the fermenter. Next, I cut a little slot in the foam that just allows the temperature probe to fit. Finally, I tape it to the fermenter with painters tape and make sure I haven't left any gaps for air to travel through.

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to on your temp graph. If you mean that the lines are all oscillating and not more straight, you're going to get that with a thermostat type temp controller. PID control would reduce it quite a bit, but you'd still have some.

Forget the letters on the graph - I used this graphic on a different thread...

Look at all the small oscillations modulating on the mean temperature - I think this is from an un-insulated probe.

I found a chunk of styrofoam that works perfectly so that should smooth out.

The graphic is a probe on the outside of my plastic conical - and the temperature controller is an STC+!!

At point B - I put 13 gal. of cold water into the fermentor - SP set at 75f

Point C - I reduced SP to 73f - I just looked and a mechanical thermometer on the fermentor is reading about 74f

This data is from this morning.

I think with a little calibration and tweaking this system will ROCK! :rockin:

 

[atoughram]

Härligt med lite svenska Får mig att känna mig som hemma.

Mycket bra! Jag vet inte svenska men jag kan använda Google Translate!

 

[alphaomega]

Mycket bra! Jag vet inte svenska men jag kan använda Google Translate!

Yeah, I kind of got that
Not that google translate is not great, but the result is more or less yoda speak

 

[StittsvilleJames]

Good news! I'm a complete ******* and just bought an arduino uno r3 and an stc 1000 on ebay to try this, so if it works for me, it's bulletproof!

Do I need anything else? I skimmed the instructions quickly here at work and will read fully later this evening. I saw something about an arduino serial ide monitor. Is that a thing?

Can't wait to do this. The STC was a great deal at 14$ and if I can make it do more than factory settings, that would be killer.

Thanks for your time and effort, Alphaomega et al.

Hi!

Sorry to interrupt the probe insulation discussion, just wanted to let you know
v1.00 is now released!
Yay!
Doesn't really mean much, in terms of changes, just finished the user manual and bumped the revision, because I now feel the project is good enough to warrant the 1.00 status

Perfect timing.

 

[atoughram]

Yeah, I kind of got that
Not that google translate is not great, but the result is more or less yoda speak

I'll stick with English then...

 

[krazydave]

Sorry alpha, I must have missed your manual upload by a few minutes when I downloaded yesterday. I just read through it and I think it all looks great - The only thing I notice that differed for me was the output in serial monitor when pressing 'd' for the first time. As I had no previous firmware on there, I only received "STC-1000 detected"
Unless of course your update to v1.0 changed that.
I'll re-flash with v1.0 in a bit. I've also just unearthed one of my chest freezers to do some testing. I recently moved, so my brewery (a.k.a. garage) is still a pile of boxes and tools.

I don't have any data logging ability yet, but I'll let you know my results of the programming and testing in the near future.

 

[krazydave]

okay, re-flashed and got the same info in the serial monitor when pressing 'd' as the manual.
One thing you may want to add to the manual is a guide to what all of the dots in the display mean. Cool and Heat are self explanatory, and with the standard STC, flashing cool and heat means its in it's delay period which should probably be added to this manual as well.

I'm not sure what the dot above the tenth of a degree mark is. I'm just guessing that it means degrees, or that it's in F mode (I think I read something about this in a previous post a while ago).

Also, there's a dot that sometimes shows below "set" on the display which I'm not sure about either.

Other than that, programming this according to the manual is pretty much spot on thus far.

I currently have it hooked up to one of my freezers which has some kegs at serving temp. Its probe and another thermometer probe are both strapped under a towel to the side of one of the kegs. I calibrated the probe prior to installing and it seems to be reading the same as the other thermometer. Both relays appear to be working normally.

I know the Farenheit scale is silly to you, but I must say that I'm stoked just to not have to do a conversion every time I look at it. Thanks a ton (on top of all the other thanks needed) for implementing that in your firmware as well!

 

[alphaomega]

I think you downloaded from master (stable), which I only updated yesterday.
I also belive I mention most of the LEDs and their function in the manual, but it could probably be improved.
The 'set' LED is used to indicate if a profile is running, and the dot is indeed degree sign, indicating a temperature is displayed (it might be more evident in C version as then the C is also lit).
Not silly at all, I'm an engineer and while I do know how the scales work, if I'm presented with a temperature in F, I need to convert it to C in order to understand what it 'means'. Much like how I would need to convert the currency when abroad to know the 'cost' of something.
The debate on which scale is superior is moot, they are just scales.

 

[seabass07]

The debate on which scale is superior is moot, they are just scales.

They are whichever we are familiar with.

 

[Shockerengr]

The debate on which scale is superior is moot, they are just scales.

Superior is simply - which one can you use most readily without error - and is different for everyone

 

[disney7]

FYI, I just cracked open the STC-1000 on my ferment chamber and it is a v1.1 dated 6/20/2009. I bought it about three years ago when I started brewing.

I also recently received a new v1.1 dated 2013.

I know a few others here have found older v1.1's, but a lot of us are getting v1.0's when buying new now. Based on that and the fact that the text/markings on the two versions are completely different (A400_P vs S1000), I'm starting to think that the two versions are not directly related and are being manufactured at the same time in two different places.

I've e-mailed two of the places I found that supposedly make the unit (in China) and haven't gotten any reply.

 

[alphaomega]

It would be really nice if they were to reply, but even so, I think what we need is to get a reliable source. I doubt the manufacturer will sell single units to individuals. And even the ebay retailers probably don't buy directly from manufacturer.
I think it really sucks that there is no way of knowing what we are buying.... Maybe we'd need to put pressure on retailers and demand A400_P hardware, and if they can't guarantee that, then we won't buy from them.

 

[ButcherBoy]

I've been following this for awhile, just ordered two on from Elitech via Amazon. Got them on Sat., they're both V1.0. Looking forward to flashing them both. Haven't checked the one I got last year yet, it's working to keep my kegerator at serving temps so I haven't wanted to crack it open yet.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Something I noticed. It appears you can determine what version you have by looking at the STC-1000 font on the sticker. It appears that the text of the 1000 is less bold on the 1.0's. Just a thought and something I noticed when I got my last two 1.0's from Elitech.