Temp Control

[west1m]

I know there has been some discussion on temp control of electric kettles here.
I have the Anvil 10 gallon kettle running on 220V
The system works quite well for me and I am very happy with it.
The last batch of beer i brewed I finished up the cooling as usual with the SS coil type cooler. When ready to pitch I noticed I had gotten it a lot cooler than I had planed. This time upon cooling it seemed to be taking a long time to cool and was hanging around 114° F . I usually cool to around 100° then switch from tap water to Ice water. .I stuck a hand held thermometer in it and it was already about 75°.
It seems that there must have been quite a bit of insulating Trub? Grain? Stuff in general? around the thermocouple that sticks up through the bottom of the kettle (about 1 inch tall) as I gave it a good hard stir and the temp reading started tracking again.
I may build a suction tube for the pump that pulls suction from right in front of the thermocouple to keep it clean while I use the pump. ( As I do have the pump recirculating while cooling)

 

[GFHomebrew]

Ah no biggie I like your problem of cooling too much. I usually struggle to get to pitch temp on the IC (imersion chiller) alone..

It's not bad practice to pitch below ferm temp and let it warm up.
I'd say a 1inch thermowell is probably cutting it fine for an accurate temperature measurement.
If you put your pick up near the probe tip you risk circulating trub.
If it were me I'd record the temperature measured via the thermowell and what you measure in fermentor record the average difference and just offset what your thermowell is saying by the average.

 

[west1m]

It is not so much a offset as it just dosen't sense the temp change. Moving the suction line really won't change the amount of trub as it pulls from the drain line which is just an inch or two away at the same level / radius.
This was just meant to mention something to watch out for when chasing temp problems with an electric all in one system.

 

[Minbari]

Ah no biggie I like your problem of cooling too much. I usually struggle to get to pitch temp on the IC (imersion chiller) alone..

It's not bad practice to pitch below ferm temp and let it warm up.
I'd say a 1inch thermowell is probably cutting it fine for an accurate temperature measurement.
If you put your pick up near the probe tip you risk circulating trub.
If it were me I'd record the temperature measured via the thermowell and what you measure in fermentor record the average difference and just offset what your thermowell is saying by the average.

exactly!

I usualy Get The Boil Down To 90° and then Transfer and let the Glycol System Get it to Pitch Temp.

Any chance To use a Longer Temp probe?

 

[west1m]

The temp probe is built in under the grain basket.

 

[Minbari]

The temp probe is built in under the grain basket.

It is not replaceable?

 

[Hawkbox]

I use a Jaded Hydra so it cools pretty quick but since I use a 55gal drum of water it only goes so cold, so I chill till they kind of reach equilibrium and then transfer and let them chill the rest.

 

[west1m]

It is not replaceable?

It likely is but if I went longer the basket wouldn't go to the bottom.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Maybe revert back to the old "brewers hand on the side of the kettle" temp sensor.

 

[Donoroto]

Huh. After paying for that damned temp sensor, you can bet I'm a gonna use it... I need my hands for other things

 

[GFHomebrew]

Huh. After paying for that damned temp sensor, you can bet I'm a gonna use it... I need my hands for other things

You know when it's cool to touch yeah it must be low 20s that'll do for transfer into fermentor