Chest freezer probe on side - temp swings

[andrewgator]

I finally got a chest freezer to use my Johnson A419 digital controller with. So I made Tripel that turned out way too big. 1.095 instead of the intended 1.081. Anyways, I lost a ton of beer and yeast to blowoff. The first day of fermentation was crazy. But the second day and on was noticeably less. So at a 1 degree differential there are typically 3-4 degree temperature swings. Is this enough to put WLP530 to sleep? For the first couple days I had the set point at 64 with a 1 degree diff. I saw temps of 65-61. Is this too wide, or is it normal? Should I have a refrigerator instead of a chest freezer? Any other solutions?

After 8 days im stuck at 1.034 and pissed. I've put a lot of money into brewing upgrades and this is my first stalled fermentation. I did O2 for 1.5 minutes, pitched a 1800 mL starter with 2 vials, mashed low. Going to try and brush this one off. Just need a little reassurance to keep my fire lit.

[mtyquinn]

I don't think the temp swings were your problem. A beer that big beer is probably going to have a lot of unfermentables to begin with however you should be able to get it lower than 1.034. Eight day is not enough in my opinion. Make sure you tape your probe to the beer and not just hanging in the freezer.

[MachineShopBrewing]

I have brewed with WLP530 quite a few times. It will rip through the first few days and then slow way down. I usually rouse up the carboy a little. Also, turn your temp up to around 70-72F. That should help. The last 5-10 points can take a week or more in my experience. Remember you have tons of alcohol in there now.

[ziggy]

Take your time with this beer and you will be rewarded. It's going to take a while for those last points to come down but they will.

[Quin]

I saw temps of 65-61.

Is the probe taped to the side of the carboy along with insulation? From the title of your post I would suspect so, but I wanted to make sure.

It would be possible to have that much difference in the air temperature, but the beer should be at the temp controlled by the thermostat.

[jimmiec]

I also loosely put a Fermwrap (1 wrap for 2 carboys) around my carboys so the temperature will not drop below the set point but I have the two stage controller. I don't think you really need a dual controller to run a heat wrap, the chest freezer will win with keeping temperature. However, I really only need to do this during the aerobic fermentation (first day or so). Once the fermentation starts kraussening it seems to generate enough heat on it own. My temperature probe is taped between the carboy and a beer cozie. Also, my chest freezer has a lot of other things in it and might absorb some of the cold when the chest freezer is on. I would probably just take them out of the chest freezer at that point with my AC set to 70F. My understanding is the first couple days of fermentation are the most important to temperature control (when the esters and phenols are created). For me, the following weekend I'm ready to ferment something else anyways.

[andrewgator]

Appreciate it guys.

Got it taped to the side like the Pope, with a bunch of bubble wrap insulating. Diff 1, ASD 5 mins. Ferm wrap and dual stage sounds like the way to go. Maybe I'll just buy a huge 5 barrel conical with glycol. Sounds easier. Spoiled pros.