All set: New equipment and some questions

I tape a probe to the fermenter. I cover the probe with foam insulation. I assume the probe senses the temperature of the fermenter and the fermenting beer. Good enough for me.

 

I do the same. I assume the inside temp is likely a couple degrees warmer inside so I aim the temp a little lower than my ideal fermentation temp. After a couple days of fermenting I'll start raising the temps a degree or two per day

 

A few pointers here.

• The probe measures air temp, not liquid temp. Air temp fluctuates much more than liquid temp, so don't live and die by the air temp reading. A thermometer in a glass of water is going to be more accurate.
• A chest freezer will continue to cool well after the compressor shuts off. The coils will remain ice cold. The out board t-stat is just an on/off switch. The compressor operates at 100% when on and 0% when off, and it normally is trying to get to 0F. So you will over shoot your target temp if not careful.
• A 1F diff is really tight, again the air temp fluctuates but liquid not so much. Cycling your compressor too frequently will cause an early death. Better to run it for longer duration less frequently than constant start/stop cycles.
• There is a gradient inside the freezer. Top to bottom can be a few degrees different. Experiment.
• Do not place the t-stat probe on the side of the freezer. Tape it to the carboy if possible. Better yet put it inside a vial of water if it is waterproof. Or best of all use an immersion thermo-probe and put it inside the wort.
• Don't get too hung up on the perfect fermentation temp. If you want 50 and you are getting 54 you will not be able to tell the difference. Maybe on the 15th attempt but certainly not routinely.
• There is one way, and only one way, to know how far your wort has fermented. Use a hydrometer. Or don't, guess based on intuition (perfectly acceptable) and adjust temps from there. But there is only one way to know what your yeast have done. And that is with gravity readings.

Cheers.

 

https://www.morebeer.com/products/10-silicone-stopper-thermowell.html

https://www.morebeer.com/products/inkbird-digital-temperature-controller.html

https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermwrap-heater.html

I don’t work for MoreBeer. But these are some options. The inkbird has a dual controller. Cool/Heat. It’s helpful to keep a steady temperature during the entire fermentation cycle. I slowly raise the temp after a few days or when signs of main fermentation slow. My fermenter has a thermowell. But if you’re using glass or plastic fermenters the thermowell/stopper should work perfect.

 

If temp raising means diacetyl rest, you want to bring the beer up to the mid 60s for two days if possible. When you are nearing FG maybe 5 points away let the temp rise. Don't sweat the details, a rest at around 75% of completion above 60F for two days will work if you don't feel the need to be very technical. That is for a lager. A diacetyl rest can also be used for ales, and depending on the style should be. Just let the yeast hang out for two days after fermentation is completed.

Then cold crash. This can be done in the fermentation bucket. Drop the beer to 30F. This will cause the yeast to drop out and produce bright beer Let is sit for a day or so before bottling. You can lager at this stage or you can bottle and lager in the bottle. There are some advantages to each but no big deal imo.

With any beer, pils, IPA, stout, any beer, a week of cold conditioning is beneficial. Beer is "green" when it is newly minted. You'll see a noticeable improvement if you can let your beer rest for a week at a cool temperature.

When you bottle be extra careful not to disturb the yeast cake.
Lager beer benefits, quite a bit, from extended lagering. I personally try to keep the beer at 30F for 3 weeks but will typically drink some from the keg before that. Ales can be enjoyed faster but still a week of quiet resting is advised.


Serving temp should be right around 38F.

Good luck.

 

Regarding temp in your primary; basically the rise in temp follows this graph:



To me nothing is more accurate than using a thermowell to measure temp. I've had good success with this approach:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...emps-fermometer-accuracy.576635/#post-6051565

Which ever method you use, suggest you fill your primary (not a small glass) with water and give your fridge/controller a good test run before you have beer at risk. This won't show a temp rise from fermentation, but it allows you to dial-in the basics of your equipment . . . one less variable to worry about when the show starts.

 

As an alternative to cycling cold, I cycle heat. I keep my frig temp steady and run a heat blanket, which is activated from a thermowell reading. I find the blanket can exceed ambient about 15 deg F. My controller also have capabilities to cool. However, although I don't use my beer frig for food, freezer is used for both for food and hops. I will sooner or later get a dedicated chest freezer for fermentation, however I'm not in a rush. I just did my Oktoberfest complete with a diacetyl rest without any issue.