I just picked up a freezer to ferment in. I am using an aftermarket sensor that has both a heat and cooling circuit. While the freezer will take the cooling element, I am worried that my basement may be a little too cold in the winter and spring to keep it warm. This leads me to 2 questions: 1. Should I use a heat lamp in the freezer or a heating mat under the carboy/bucket 2. I the probe is going to be measuring the ambient temperature of the freezer, which may be different from the actual wort temperature during fermentation. Is this going to be a big deal, or should I rig the probe through the bucket/airlock? P.S.: Been a while since I've been here, still seeing a lot of familiar names. Hope everyone is doing ok!!
I used to use a 16oz soft ice pack, taped to the outside of the carboy, with the temperature probe secured in between. It gave pretty accurate readings of the wort temp. If you can get an ice pack, it's an easy way to go.
The chest freezer is an insulated box even when it is unplugged, so you may not need any added heat at all. Fermenting wort creates heat, and the chest is a very good insulated box. Even if you do need heat, a 25 watt bulb may be enough. Of course that depends on the temp of your basement. Cheers.
I use the "light bulb in a paint can" and works very well. Easy to find a build online. This is in my garage which gets down to 45-50 in the winter. I tape the probe to the fermentor with a chunk of ridged insulation surrounding it. Seems to work well. Plan on building a thermowell one of these days though...
I second the thermowell. I got one and will never look back. The difference between the wort temp and air temp can be very different based on the two thermometers I have in my chamber. One in the worth, one measuring air temperature.
I keep my probe in a gallon jug of sanitizer. A little bit closer to the temp of the wort than the ambient temp. For heating I attached a cheap lightfixture to the lid of a clean paint cant then put the lid on the paint can. heats very well
