Thermostat For Fermentation
With a beer fridge, I needed to buy another piece of equipment to really take advantage of its climate controlling abilities.
That piece of equipment is a thermostat that you can override your fridge’s internal temperature gauge.
This device will enable me to keep specific temperatures for fermentation. Instead of having to depend on cold winter basement temps and ice, I can ferment a lager any time of year. Plus, it should help me with ale fermentations in the summertime too.
I am pretty excited to give this thing a go. The next lager I am brewing will be a rauchbier and the fermentation will be happening on an “away game”. I think we will be brewing at my friend Brian’s house and fermenting there too.
I bought this one at Northern Brewer. Let me know if you have had experience with it.
on July 8th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Love the temperature controller! Depending on the ambient temperature, you might need to switch it to heat mode hooked up to a heating pad as fermentation trails off. Though given these 100 degree temperatures, maybe not.
on July 9th, 2010 at 5:37 am
Yeah – the heating mode versus the cooling mode was sorta confusing based on the instruction booklet that came with the thermostat. With this model, I think you have to open up the front panel and take out plugs(?). I’ll use it on my fridge for now to see how it works.
on July 10th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Would this thermostat work with a Magic Chef wine cooler?
on July 10th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
You’ll be shocked by what a difference this makes, especially for the temperature bumps needed for doing lagers (i.e. ferment at 50, bump to 60 for diacetyl rest, drop to 36 for lagering).
I recommend that you tape the probe onto the side of your carboy, then cover the probe with a piece of styrofoam and tape that down too. That way, you’ll be getting the wort temp, and not the fridge temp.
You can also use the probe for controlling heating, using a brew belt, heating pad, a very small ceramic heater, or even a food dehydrator bottom. But be careful about overheating and fires. I’ve routinely used a food dehydrator bottom, and have been safe, but you should expect some warping on the inside of the fridge (no biggee if it’s used of course).
on July 20th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Jorge – I am guessing it would work for the wine cooler as well.
on January 25th, 2011 at 1:32 am
could I wire this to a fan instead of having it plugged into a freezer? I want to find a thermostat I can use to cool my room down… does anyone know if this would work?
on February 1st, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Hi Sol,
I am not sure, but in theory it should work.