Inkbird ITC-308 Wifi video review

[David Heath]

It is time for a product review video and this one concerns the new Inkbird ITC-308 Wifi.

Included in this video is the unit in action, an explanation as to how it works and how to use it, what it can do, all technical data and my final thoughts on it. I also include a very tried and tested and yet little known method for obtaining very accurate temperatures from your wort without adding the probe into your actual wort.

With everything going wifi these days this product is sure to interest many people and I hope you find it useful.

As usual, thank you for all your kind support and enthusiasm for my channel.

Please keep your questions, feedback and requests coming but please give me some time to answer, I get a lot of messages and answer them in the order they were sent in, particularly those on Facebook messenger tend to stack up! If you are comfortable then please ask questions within Facebook groups, forums or Youtube, so that others can also either benefit or contribute.

Happy brewing!

 

[Mavroz]

Nice review but not sure about Plumbers Putty being food safe or food grade plus should it not be handled as little as possible or with gloves on if regular contact is necessary?

 

[David Heath]

The plumbers putty just sticks to the side of your fermenter. It does not come into contact with the wort in any way.

 

[Oneflewover]

I got one recently, and I wholeheartedly agree, it is a great piece of kit. I am able to monitor from in the house (fermentation fridge is in the garage) and pitch yeast when correct temp is reached. It's also reassuring to be able to check the temperature when you are away from home.

Not sure about the putty, I prefer a washing up sponge held against the side of the FV, but can see it is a simple and effective solution

 

[Peter Scandlyn]

Blu-TacK works for me.

Nice bit of gear David.

 

[David Heath]

I got one recently, and I wholeheartedly agree, it is a great piece of kit. I am able to monitor from in the house (fermentation fridge is in the garage) and pitch yeast when correct temp is reached. It's also reassuring to be able to check the temperature when you are away from home.

Not sure about the putty, I prefer a washing up sponge held against the side of the FV, but can see it is a simple and effective solution

Great to hear :) Try the putty...you will find it is more accurate.

 

[David Heath]

Blu-TacK works for me.

Nice bit of gear David.

Thanks Peter. Blue tack also works but it can be less accurate. Problem is there are different versions of it.

 

[Peter Scandlyn]

This weeks shopping list! Cheers.

 

[Drunkula]

Blue tack also works but it can be less accurate.

Is there some issue with thermal inertia, or an evaporative cooling effect?

 

[Ashman]

Cheers. Someone asked the question I wanted. Im not sure if the data is only available through the app? Eg. Could I run a script to skim off the data and chuck in another database. I can always ask.Still I’m less worried about data privacy - though I do not understand in the manual why the app requires a mobile number.

Q: To clarify, can i check the temperature of my controller from anywhere even if i’m not on my wifi network? if so, could i change the settings remotely

A: Yes, it can. Only if you pair the unit via APP before you left. If there is any question, please feel free to contact us.

 

[Mavroz]

The plumbers putty just sticks to the side of your fermenter. It does not come into contact with the wort in any way.

It still comes into contact with hands, fermenting equipment, cleaning cloths, probe etc etc even if it is not directly in the wort.
The datasheet for one of those products taken at random shown in the video doesn't paint a non toxic, food or health friendly picture.
If you are advising people to use this type of product for such purposes, this is of course your prerogative.

 

[Drunkula]

I do not understand in the manual why the app requires a mobile number.

I doesn't need one, you can use an email address to register if you want. Disposable ones like sharklasers.com work fine and if you create a known prefix you can always go back if you need a sign in code or something.

 

[David Heath]

It still comes into contact with hands, fermenting equipment, cleaning cloths, probe etc etc even if it is not directly in the wort.
The datasheet for one of those products taken at random shown in the video doesn't paint a non toxic, food or health friendly picture.
If you are advising people to use this type of product for such purposes, this is of course your prerogative.

Applying this putty should be done after your clean and sanitary processes are completed. This way there is no issue at all, it is fixed to the outside of the fermenter and presents no issue at all as it will not come into contact with the wort or beer.

 

[Peter Scandlyn]

That's the way I see it.

 

[MrRock]

I've got one of these and it's a great bit of kit, it got me out of a jam allowing me to get another beer going with a heat belt while my fermentation fridge was occupied, and I could keep an eye on the temperature history to make sure it hadn't got too warm.

I can see it being really useful used in conjunction with a Tilt or Plaato, although I don't have either of those yet.

I'd really like to see the option to program temperature changes in advance like I can on my 310T e.g. raise the temperature a couple of degrees on a certain date/time or after a set number of days and then lower to cold crash a few days after that.
There is a "Smart" option in the app, but unless I've missed something it seemed to be full of stuff that wouldn't be used for brewing and missing this one very useful feature.

 

[Hoddy]

Cheers. Someone asked the question I wanted. Im not sure if the data is only available through the app? Eg. Could I run a script to skim off the data and chuck in another database. I can always ask.Still I’m less worried about data privacy - though I do not understand in the manual why the app requires a mobile number.

Q: To clarify, can i check the temperature of my controller from anywhere even if i’m not on my wifi network? if so, could i change the settings remotely

A: Yes, it can. Only if you pair the unit via APP before you left. If there is any question, please feel free to contact us.

So does that mean that the unit will tunnel out through a port on your router of your home network and across the internet to Inkbird servers to allow you to look at/change the setpoints remotely when you are not at home?

Are there any words from Inkbird on the security of the unit and their ability to be accessed and hacked?

 

[Drunkula]

So does that mean that the unit will tunnel out through a port on your router of your home network and across the internet to Inkbird servers to allow you to look at/change the setpoints remotely when you are not at home?

Yes.

As for security each unit generates a local and remote access key when you connect it via the app. So they'd have to hack the inkbird servers and get the number if they wanted to **** about with your unit.

In case you're wondering if your router loses connection but the wireless is still working the local key is used for changes on your local network so the Inkbird servers aren't mandatory so you can still make changes if your internet goes down. Which is nice.

I'd really like to see the option to program temperature changes in advance like I can on my 310T e.g. raise the temperature a couple of degrees on a certain date/time or after a set number of days and then lower to cold crash a few days after that.

If you just wanted to do it via the app you can do but limited to a within week. If you go into Smart -> Add -> Automation you could add a schedule, pick a time, set repeat to 'only once' then pick a day. Then set the action to change the temperature, etc.

Ok - you can actually get it to do more but you have to get a bit freaky with the logic. This will be messy, or if you're like me funfunFUN! Let's let a lager ferment for 2 weeks at 13c, then temp rise to 18c, then 2 days later cold crash.

Thing is to use a parameter that doesn't matter so much, like the high temperature alarm as a flag.

Let's say today is Monday:
Start: set your temp to 13c, set your high alarm to 40c.

Set up these automations:
Sunday night 23:59 : condition: high alarm is 40 -> set high alarm to 39.5.
Sunday night 23:58 : condition: high alarm is 39.5 -> set temperature to 18c for the d rest.
Tuesday:condition: set temperature is 18 -> set temperature to 0.5c.

The reverse time checks on the suday is so that they don't immediately cascade.

So yeah - who's going to do that? Pfffft nobody but me but it's doable with the built-in gubbins if you're a freak.

 

[MrRock]

So yeah - who's going to do that? Pfffft nobody but me but it's doable with the built-in gubbins if you're a freak.

Exactly, with a little bit more work that section could be made a lot more useful for brewing purposes

 

[Ashman]

I’ve ordered the device as the price dropped online (atleast the price I was presented with). Although I only have heat side (old lizard enclosure with a heat bulb).

I have a Salus iT500 heating controller which I can query to get Json data to readout ambient temp data so I think i’ll attach the inkbird sensor to the FV as suggested upthread and compare. I may even put the Phillips hue motion sensor which has temp readings in the enclosure as the data also comes out of that through HomeKit. Though i’ve not worked out how to collect data remotely. It was straightforward to get the data over WiFi through the API but I think Phillips lock the remote access down.

 

[TimXJR1300]

A thought about calibration.

I have read elsewhere about differences between the temperature reading on the Inkbird vs temperature strips vs other temperature controllers.

Presumably (using schoolboy science)... if you have a glass of ice and let it melt to the point where you still have ice in the water then that water will be at 0C ... and then put the probe in you can change the CA setting to take out an difference from the probe?

Can the CA value be -ve and +ve?