Brew fridge temperature

[RichardM]

Thanks all, interesting thread. I recently purchased an Inkbird, but yet to brew.

It's just the first time I've read this advice, many other posts on the forum digest taping to the side of FV under some insulating material.

I expect the other posts assume you have a tube heater sat in the bottom of a fridge rather than a heating belt.

 

[robfor]

Hi, If it helps I have an inkbird setup with a brew belt and the results from my ispindel vary by about 0.25C. Only heating as my garage is normally colder than target temp (19C). I tape the temperature sensor to the outside about an inch higher than the belt with a sponge on top to prevent outside temp influence. Inkbird tolerance is set at 0.5c

 

[Bocker Wright]

You are getting the two mixed up, the 2 minute delay only works when you turn the inkbird on, after that it relies on the Hd & Cd as you call it to maintain the temperature and the way I have it set keeps the temp really steady (within a degree either side)

I get what you mean now. Thanks for clearing that up. I still, don't know what's going on with the controller. I've just watched it again jump from 18.5°C straight up to 19.9°C without increments, switching the fridge on and off for a split second before dropping back down to (but this time in increments) 18.5°C. I know its not getting much above 19°C in there because I've been monitoring it. The room the fridge is in is only 10°C. First time today has it been jumping temp like this and turning on and of the fridge for split seconds. I've unplugged the fridge, the heat belt switching off at 19°C along with the retained heat is keeping it where it should be.

 

[Banbeer]

Could be a faulty temp probe? try temporarily taping it to the inside of the fridge somewhere(the probe) and see how that works, I know you're only measuring the ambient temp of the fridge but might be worth a try.

 

[Bocker Wright]

Could be a faulty temp probe? try temporarily taping it to the inside of the fridge somewhere(the probe) and see how that works, I know you're only measuring the ambient temp of the fridge but might be worth a try.

The LCD thermometer strip on the inside of the fridge has been reading a steady 17°C. If I tried the probe on ambient temp should I lower the setting to that or keep it at 19?

 

[Banbeer]

lower it to 17°C otherwise the belt will raise the wort another couple of degrees.

 

[Bocker Wright]

lower it to 17°C otherwise the belt will raise the wort another couple of degrees.

I will try that then. Also I've just read in the leaflet that Relay Contact Capacity for both heating and cooling is 10A. Both the fridge and the heat belt are 13A, so it says on their plugs.Do you think this could be the reason?

 

[Banbeer]

Never had a problem with mine.

 

[Gerryjo]

Just for what it’s worth, incidentally, I’m not personally a great fan of managing the temperature of 25 litres of wort by applying heat to a square foot or so of the outside of the FV. To me that’s just not enough surface area, and leaves a big question mark over the temperature differences within the body of fluid itself. So I have fitted a coil of (sterilised!) plastic pipe inside my FV, through which I continuously pump temperature controlled water. I then measure the temperature of the water coming back from this heat exchanger coil as a good proxy for the average temp of the beer - a lot more accurate IMHO than just taking a reading at a single point.

Using a heat exchanger is indeed a very effective method but is over engineering for a simple under counter fridge for an average homebrewer.
I have a similar set up for my wort but for my fridge it's a simple reptile heater keeping it at a steady temp +/- 0.3°.
The heater is placed at the base of the fridge with the fermenter raised on a shelf and the convection flow keeps steady as its a sealed insulated box.
The TC is attached midway or placed beneath the fermenter with no real difference.

 

[chopps]

I will try that then. Also I've just read in the leaflet that Relay Contact Capacity for both heating and cooling is 10A. Both the fridge and the heat belt are 13A, so it says on their plugs.Do you think this could be the reason?

They will not be drawing 13A that’s just the rating for the plug. My old belt had a 3A fuse in it, and a 13A rated plug. My fridge draws a few amps, nowhere close to 10.

 

[Bocker Wright]

They will not be drawing 13A that’s just the rating for the plug. My old belt had a 3A fuse in it, and a 13A rated plug. My fridge draws a few amps, nowhere close to 10.

Oh right thanks for that, electrics aren't my area of expertise

Heres a video as to whats happening

 

[chopps]

@Bocker Wright Here's my settings and setup.
Not sure if it will help but maybe double check?

 

[Bocker Wright]

@Bocker Wright Here's my settings and setup.
Not sure if it will help but maybe double check?

Hi chopps. You're not far off there with how I've mine set. Only a degree lower on ts and your low alarm is at -40°C where mine is at 18°C. Apart from that the actual operating parameters are as good as the same

 

[chopps]

If there's nothing plugged in to the inkbird sockets at all (so no heater or fridge) does the temperature spike up when the relay clicks in?
Then try a bedside lamp or something else in the heater socket. What does that do?

 

[Bocker Wright]

If there's nothing plugged in to the inkbird sockets at all (so no heater or fridge) does the temperature spike up when the relay clicks in?
Then try a bedside lamp or something else in the heater socket. What does that do?

I just managed to catch it on heating 3° under target. I unplugged the brew belt from the inkbird (so nothing in cool nor heat) and plugged it into the wall to keep it heating. When it hit target temp the inkbird just switched off the heating as it should do and didn't spike or switch on the cooling. I didn't have time to grab a lamp and plug it in, I could do that though. But what would that tell us? Cheers.

 

[chopps]

I was wondering if switching on the heat belt was the culprit, either the belt itself or the relay.
With the belt not connected to the inkbird, it doesn't spike the temperature up when the relay clicks, right?

If you plug in a lamp 1) you can see it switch off and on, and 2) its something other than the heat belt plugged in to see if it's the belt that's at fault.
Process of elimination

 

[Bocker Wright]

I was wondering if switching on the heat belt was the culprit, either the belt itself or the relay.
With the belt not connected to the inkbird, it doesn't spike the temperature up when the relay clicks, right?

If you plug in a lamp 1) you can see it switch off and on, and 2) its something other than the heat belt plugged in to see if it's the belt that's at fault.
Process of elimination

I just gone to plug a lamp into the heating side but before I even got the plug into the socket the temp suddenly spiked and turned on the cooling for a split second... so it's just happened with nothing plugged into either socket

 

[chopps]

Well at this point, you've checked it's not the plugged in appliances, you've checked settings against some known working ones.
Obviously you've turned it off and on again - and looking at the other posts, there are members here who had the same issue...
The only thing left is to check the probe and connections to it. Other than that, send it back for a refund...

 

[HiOctaine]

this thread has been super useful, and given me some great ideas on how to setup my fridge, thanks everyone :)

 

[foxbat]

@Inkbird are a member of this forum. Hopefully they'll see this.