double duty with your Inkbird contoller??

Ward Chillington

Ward Chillington

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Does anyone use their controller for other purposes besides keeping your brew warm or cool??

I was considering using it to monitor my tun temp while it's mashing and then sparging. Am I over thinking this? Is there value in this level of scrutiny of my numbers?

Thoughts?
 
If your doing step mashes it would be helpful to be able to monitor the temp in the mash tun. Or just to see how well your mash tun holds temp. If your dropping a lot, you could then know you need to insulate your tun better.
 
I have used mine in conjunction with a crock pot to make a temp controlled water bath for yogurt making.
 
I use mine (not inkbird) for the mashing. Started doing that when I moved to electric.
 
Same here every brew I do is on an STC 1000 with a power what meter before it so I can control element whattage so when cycling around set mash temp it doesnt over shoot too much and it doesnt burn me brew bag.

Here's it splayed out here
20190419_072552.jpg
 
Trialben said:
Same here every brew I do is on an STC 1000 with a power what meter before it so I can control element whattage so when cycling around set mash temp it doesnt over shoot too much and it doesnt burn me brew bag.

Here's it splayed out here
View attachment 6612
Click to expand...
Loooks like the same sort of setup I have. Just need to get some insulation for the kettle during mashing.

One of the kids moved out a few months ago and left a bunch of stuff. I've bagged it up and left it in the garage for him to pick up. I'm thinking the statute of limitations must have triggered and I can now steal his crappy sleeping bag for insulation
 
I've used them for everything. I have several and I've used them to monitor temps in grain bed and in recirculating mash liquor when the temp is being controlled by another device. It's allowed me to maximize the efficiency of my system and fine tune my temp control by having a better understanding of the relationship between my HLT and my recirculating mash.
I've used one for controlling a hot plate when I had a direct-heat mash tun with recirculation and used one to monitor temp of strike water on the stove for mashing in before I had an HLT system.
Definitely used them for freezer control and right now I have one set for Celsius operating my AC glycol cooler setup and another reading in Fahrenheit to monitor the differential in the opposite end of the tank. I use them to control the pumps on my glycol system.
I alsohave one that can be set for several different time and temp changes and can be used for step mashes as well as controlled fermentation temps for lagers that need to be pitched, fermented, D-rested and crashed/lagered at different temps over several weeks (though I haven't really put that one through a lot of testing).
Find them as cheap as possible and buy as many as you can find. :)
 
Mark Farrall said:
Loooks like the same sort of setup I have. Just need to get some insulation for the kettle during mashing.

One of the kids moved out a few months ago and left a bunch of stuff. I've bagged it up and left it in the garage for him to pick up. I'm thinking the statute of limitations must have triggered and I can now steal his crappy sleeping bag for insulation
Click to expand...

Good luck. My son is 34 and some of his crap is still here and the missus won't let me get rid of it :(

Then the fight started . . .
 
Yeah, ours is moving out with her two kids... Tempted to back a dumpster and a box truck up to the door....
 
Mark Farrall said:
Loooks like the same sort of setup I have. Just need to get some insulation for the kettle during mashing.

One of the kids moved out a few months ago and left a bunch of stuff. I've bagged it up and left it in the garage for him to pick up. I'm thinking the statute of limitations must have triggered and I can now steal his crappy sleeping bag for insulation
Click to expand...
Same here that's just an old doona cover from missus aunty lol. I've been going to get some of that reflextic shiny (sun viser) stuff and make a collar out of it but too busy at the keezer all the time either that or a thick yoga mat might do.
 
philjohnwilliams said:
I have used mine in conjunction with a crock pot to make a temp controlled water bath for yogurt making.
Click to expand...

I was going to use one of my heat mats, a small cooler and the Inkbird to try my hand at yogurt but this is a much better method, a water bath in a crock pot!

Brilliant !

As too are all these other uses! Mine's getting into the Tun and the HLT next brew session. Now how do we fix our boomerang kids? ;)

Thanks Brewer Friends!
 
Ward Chillington said:
I was going to use one of my heat mats, a small cooler and the Inkbird to try my hand at yogurt but this is a much better method, a water bath in a crock pot!

Brilliant !

As too are all these other uses! Mine's getting into the Tun and the HLT next brew session. Now how do we fix our boomerang kids? ;)

Thanks Brewer Friends!
Click to expand...
That water bath works well, but it would really benefit from some form of circulation of the water to even out the temperature . I am thinking that a sous vide stick would be a better option, but the crock pot method does work.
 
I use sous vide stick for yogurt. Works great. I make a gallon at a time. Milk goes in a one gallon stainless milking can water in a little cooler sous vide clamped to the side. Sous vide makes great steaks too
 
J A said:
I've used them for everything. I have several and I've used them to monitor temps in grain bed and in recirculating mash liquor when the temp is being controlled by another device. It's allowed me to maximize the efficiency of my system and fine tune my temp control by having a better understanding of the relationship between my HLT and my recirculating mash.
I've used one for controlling a hot plate when I had a direct-heat mash tun with recirculation and used one to monitor temp of strike water on the stove for mashing in before I had an HLT system.
Definitely used them for freezer control and right now I have one set for Celsius operating my AC glycol cooler setup and another reading in Fahrenheit to monitor the differential in the opposite end of the tank. I use them to control the pumps on my glycol system.
I alsohave one that can be set for several different time and temp changes and can be used for step mashes as well as controlled fermentation temps for lagers that need to be pitched, fermented, D-rested and crashed/lagered at different temps over several weeks (though I haven't really put that one through a lot of testing).
Find them as cheap as possible and buy as many as you can find. :)
Click to expand...


Is it safe to submerge the probe in liquid?
 
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My Inkbird runs my Fermentation Chamber with Heat & Cool circuits to maintain Ferm Temp. I also use it to control Secondary temp. While Brewing I use it to monitor Mash temp & step temps. Finally I use it to monitor Wort temp during Steep & Whirlpool.
 
Jimsal said:
Is it safe to submerge the probe in liquid?
Click to expand...
I do all the time...I will say that after a while they may get wonky. I've had to take them out and dry them for a while to get them to read properly.
 
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