Where to place temperature probe?

[WaltG1977]

Ok, here's my story:

I have a STC-1000 temp controller in a chest freezer I use as a fermentation chamber. I just got a kegging setup and I am trying to put my corny in there while it carbonates. From what I understand temperature is very important. The question is where do I put the temperature probe to be most accurate? In my fermenter I have a thermowell which works great, but I know when I started I used a jar of water and it wasn't anywhere near as accurate. Doing some tests I find it I attach the probe to the side of the keg and insulate it I am about 10F off and I don't know if that 10F would be constant.

I won't be doing fermentation and kegging at same time. I'll be going from keg to bottles before a start something new fermenting. I'm in a small apartment with little room so I freezer is all I can afford without also paying for a divorce.

Thank you for your help.

[LeeH]

For carbonation I just put mine in a bottle of water.

It should be the same temp as your keg post fermentation.


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[Charlie]

The probe in my fermentaton chamber is suspended in air. It controls the temperature in the chamber, and that's all I'm interested in. The temperature in the fermentors is another matter, but short of getting a glycol chiller I don't see any way of influencing it directly or quickly.

Speaking of temp monitoring: I am monitoring my mash temp at three points.

1. Digital probe in the mash tun.
2. Analog thermometer a couple of inches below the digital probe in the MT.
3. Digital probe in the return line of the HERMS coil.

The probes are all calibrated. and none of the temperatures agree, The digital probe in the MT displays highest, the analog probe displays lowest, and the digital probe in the return line fluctuates (natch), but seems to correspond most closely with the digital probe in the MT. I use the digital MT probe as a guide and pretty much ignore the analog probe, and so far I'm making good beer, but I can't help but wonder why.

For a while I blamed the problem on plug flow because the digital probe is 6" long vs the analog gauge's 2" probe, but that doesn't seem to pan out. And it's definitely not wall flow. My considered opinion is that temperature monitoring is a subject for a very thick book.

Charlie

[WaltG1977]

I'm using a bucket with a hole drilled in lid for thermowell. It keeps it within 0.3c.