Well ... I have a warm bucket (Inkbird technique question)

[Garage Brewer]

How do you all measure the temp of the beer in your fermenters with an Inkbird? I have my bucker fermenter wrapped in a heating pad and regulated with an Inkbird, but the temperature probe is just taped to the outside. So, the side of my bucket fermenter is 84F ... but what temp is the liquid inside? I don't have the math background needed to calculate heat dissipation through .8mm of plastic, or however thick this thing is.

I've thought about drilling a small hole in the lid, inserting a grommet, and pushing the probe through so it could sit in the wort as it fermented... but I think that would drastically increase the odds of infection. Has this problem been solved by others, or am I doing the same thing as everyone else?

 

[mac_1103]

I have my bucker fermenter wrapped in a heating pad and regulated with an Inkbird, but the temperature probe is just taped to the outside.

Plenty of folks just tape the probe to the side of the bucket with some insulation. It's obviously not perfect, but it seems to work pretty well. I suppose the heating pad complicates things a bit, as it will heat the probe faster than it heats the beer.

I don't have the math background needed to calculate heat dissipation through .8mm of plastic, or however thick this thing is.

There's also the heat dissipation through the fermenting beer itself - the temperature in the middle of the bucket is going to be higher than the temperature near the sides.

I've thought about drilling a small hole in the lid, inserting a grommet, and pushing the probe through so it could sit in the wort as it fermented

If you're going to go to the trouble of drilling a hole in the lid, why not put in a thermowell too? Search the forums; I bet you'll find a few old threads about doing that.

 

[redrocker652002]

I just tape the probe to the side of the bucket. I use a heating pad that does not quite wrap all the way around the bucket, so I have a bit of space to tape to probe where the heating blanket isn't. In my opinion, as long as you are in the range of the yeast a few degrees either way isn't going to hurt much. But, take that for what it is worth. I am no expert and my process is probably flawed a bit as well. I have thought about drilling into the lid as well. But, like you, I thought this might open things up to oxidation or infection. Like I said, if you a in the range of the yeast I think you are ok.

 

[Indian_villager]

I have fit thermowells to all my fermenters and have the probe in there. For buckets you can bore the hole up to fit something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KP4D0K2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Garage Brewer]

I have fit thermowells to all my fermenters and have the probe in there. For buckets you can bore the hole up to fit something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KP4D0K2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ah, that makes sense! Thanks for the link.

 

[hotbeer]

I use to tape my probe to the side of the fermenter and put a piece of foam insulation on top.

When I got my RaptPill which also let me monitor the actual beer temp inside, I was surprised to see how close the two were. The external probe lagged just a little in response to changing temperatures. But not enough to get excited about.

 

[balrog]

You'd want to isolate the thermo-probe from the heat wrap, but otherwise probe on vessel's side is fine. The heat transfer is of course not instantaneous, into or out of the beer.

 

[Ramjet]

I also tape my temp probe to the outside of my plastic fermenter and cover it with folded over paper towels. My heating blanket doesn't wrap all the way around either. The temperature is very close to my Tilt readout.

 

[Willy]

How do you all measure the temp of the beer in your fermenters with an Inkbird? I have my bucker fermenter wrapped in a heating pad and regulated with an Inkbird, but the temperature probe is just taped to the outside. So, the side of my bucket fermenter is 84F ... but what temp is the liquid inside? I don't have the math background needed to calculate heat dissipation through .8mm of plastic, or however thick this thing is.

I've thought about drilling a small hole in the lid, inserting a grommet, and pushing the probe through so it could sit in the wort as it fermented... but I think that would drastically increase the odds of infection. Has this problem been solved by others, or am I doing the same thing as everyone else?

I use a plain old Northern Brewer stock bucket with a heat wrap and inkbird in a small freezer . I just tape the temp sensor from the inkbird to the outside middle of wort "water line". I also have a spindel inside giving me temp and gravity readings every 30 min.

In my experience, the outside sensor is off approximately 2-3°F from the inside reading from the spindel. If I am cooling it down... The wort inside is about 2-3° warmer than the inkbird sensor. For me, I just make an ongoing mental note of that. You could also calibrate the inkbird to make them read closer to the same thing.

 

[redrocker652002]

I use to tape my probe to the side of the fermenter and put a piece of foam insulation on top.

When I got my RaptPill which also let me monitor the actual beer temp inside, I was surprised to see how close the two were. The external probe lagged just a little in response to changing temperatures. But not enough to get excited about.

While I have not been able to get my Ispindel to work, when it did I noticed the same thing. I usually try and stay in the mid range of most of my yeasts and while they did climb up during primary fermentation, say the first 3 days or so, it was never over the upper edge of the range. If I can ever get the Ispindel to work again, I am going to give it another go. But, to me, if you leave your temp setting in the middle of the yeast range, taping the probe to the outside of the bucket should not be a huge issue. Just my two cents worth, and that is about all it is worth. LOL.

 

[Garage Brewer]

I use a plain old Northern Brewer stock bucket with a heat wrap and inkbird in a small freezer . I just tape the temp sensor from the inkbird to the outside middle of wort "water line". I also have a spindel inside giving me temp and gravity readings every 30 min.

That sounds like a pretty cool setup. I'm glad to hear a few people say the temp variance is only about 2 degrees, outside-to-inside. As you said, makes it easy to mentally note and make adjustments.

 

[TexasTea]

Thanks Garage Brewer , I had the same questions. FYI I'm also going to brew in the garage. For everyone who answered ,Thanks guys, I've been watching this thread for a spell. You gave me alot of good ideas. Thanks a bunch. I got a free freezer that will hold the fermentation bucket/airlock. I have the inkbird sensor taped to the outside of a jar (will move to the bucket later). I set it to 21C (about 70F) and figured it would be 72-73 inside the bucket. I don't have a heat band because its summer in Texas, its only going down to the mid 70s at night. This is what I have set up. Do you guys think this is good to go for now and I can add the heat band in the fall? The only thing I'm waiting on is stainless steel air stones for aerating. If they don't come soon, I'll just use the slosh method for aerating.

 

[redrocker652002]

Oops, I looked at your picture again. Disregard my stupidity and posting a really dumb reply. Rock On!!!!!!!

 

[Garage Brewer]

Thanks Garage Brewer , I had the same questions. FYI I'm also going to brew in the garage. For everyone who answered ,Thanks guys, I've been watching this thread for a spell. You gave me alot of good ideas. Thanks a bunch. I got a free freezer that will hold the fermentation bucket/airlock. I have the inkbird sensor taped to the outside of a jar (will move to the bucket later). I set it to 21C (about 70F) and figured it would be 72-73 inside the bucket. I don't have a heat band because its summer in Texas, its only going down to the mid 70s at night. This is what I have set up. Do you guys think this is good to go for now and I can add the heat band in the fall? The only thing I'm waiting on is stainless steel air stones for aerating. If they don't come soon, I'll just use the slosh method for aerating.

That looks like a great setup, I'd like to do something similar one day (when I have more space). I'm sure you''ll be fine without a heat band until Fall.

 

[TexasTea]

Thanks Garage Brewer for your advice. Best wishes on your brewing adventures.

 

[Willy]

Thanks Garage Brewer , I had the same questions. FYI I'm also going to brew in the garage. For everyone who answered ,Thanks guys, I've been watching this thread for a spell. You gave me alot of good ideas. Thanks a bunch. I got a free freezer that will hold the fermentation bucket/airlock. I have the inkbird sensor taped to the outside of a jar (will move to the bucket later). I set it to 21C (about 70F) and figured it would be 72-73 inside the bucket. I don't have a heat band because its summer in Texas, its only going down to the mid 70s at night. This is what I have set up. Do you guys think this is good to go for now and I can add the heat band in the fall? The only thing I'm waiting on is stainless steel air stones for aerating. If they don't come soon, I'll just use the slosh method for aerating.

I have heard that seed hearing mats do the same thing and are less expensive. ;-)

 

[Willy]

I have heard that seed hearing mats do the same thing and are less expensive. ;-)

Heating mats, not hearing . Hahaha

 

[TexasTea]

Thanks Willy, I have one of those for starting the garden seeds inside prior to the last frost. I'll check it out. I just bought some damprid because I'm getting a little condensation in there.