New Chest Freezer Question

[TimmyR]

New Frigidaire Chest freezer and Johnson Temp Controller. Trying to hold the freezer at 68 deg to see how it does. Swings 63 - 69. Will this dampen once I have some thermal mass in there (kegs/carboys.)

Going to drop it to 50 deg F and see how it does. Just curious what experience people have with fermenting in a chest freezer.

[Bugeater]

I sounds like it is working like it is supposed to. You appear to have it actually set at 66° and the 3° differential is what you are seeing.

Air will change temp more quickly than liquid will. When you actually get a fermenter in there you need to either tape the probe directly to the fermenter (with a bit of insulation over it) or use a thermowell. This will keep the freezer from cycling whenever you open the door to check on how fermentation is going.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[Pseudolus]

They way it works with my Ranco controller (and I don't know how different the Johnson one is), I set the desired temperature and I set the differential. If I tell it to keep a temperature of, say, 68 with a 3 degree differential, it will cool down until the sensor reads a temperature of 65 (68 minus 3). It will then turn off the compressor until the temperature rises above 68, at which time it will cool down to 65 again.

I actually have it set to 68 with a 1 degree differential. Works great.

[TimmyR]

I'was set at 68 w/ a 1 deg diff, but I 'll go check my controller again. Keg going in tonight so I droped it to 50...we'll see what happens.

[TimmyR]

Still tweaking the setings. I'll take any recommendations at this point. Freezer is at 42 deg F, holding about 12 PSI, 6' of 3/16 inch beer line to a pony tap I pour just above the keg (maybe 12-18 inches above center of keg?)

Beer pours fast, great initial head that fades to an undercarbonated glass of beer. I know I need to run the numbers for the actual pressure at the tap.

[BDawg]

I assume this is your homebrew-- how long has it been carbonating? It's possible that the CO2 may not be fully dissolved into solution yet, so you get large fish eye bubbles that don't last.

[TimmyR]

Been carbonating 10 days or so now...