Thermowell in a 1 gallon jug

[peacedog]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post. I built a brewpi with the help of this forum and it's great. It's dialed in and temps are within .2 degrees fahrenheit, which for me is more than acceptable . My problem is I like to brew 1 gallon batches and I can't find a stopper for the 1 gallon jugs that have two holes. I tried to drill a 1/4 inch hole in a standard 1 hole stopper and there isn't really enough space with the airlock hole in the middle, not to mention it's difficult to drill a hole in rubber. Does anyone else use a similar setup or have any ideas?

Thanks in advance. This forum has been very helpful as I started brewing after a 25 year hiatus.

 

[leesmith]

Get a solid stopper so you can put the holes where you want.
Put the stopper in the freezer for a while before drilling a hole....then back in for the next.

 

[peacedog]

Good idea. Thanks!

 

[leesmith]

Your welcome.

 

[emcfarden]

Put your thermowell into a 1 gallon jug of water and set your controller a degree or two lower than what you want your beer to be. Then you wont have to worry about two stopper holes. Unless you're worried about SUPER accurate ferm temp of the beer.

 

[m1k3]

You could just skip the stopper and use aluminum foil around the theromwell. (unless you want to ferment for months)

I quit using an airlock a couple years ago.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

As others said, buy a solid rubber stopper, freeze it, and drill your two holes. It might be tight so i'd grab a few rubber stoppers incase you screw up somehow