Upgrade to fermentation fridge.

[Icefever]

When I built my fridge way back, I used an ATC 800+ I'm now thinking about an upgrade and changing the ATC to a STC-1000. The reason for this is the +/- on the temperature in degree steps that the 1000 as over the 800.

Who of you guys run a STC 1000 in such a setup?? am I correct in thinking that the 1000 is good for +/- 0.5 degrees ??.

I noticed my fridge yesterday floating between 17c up as far as 19c....it's set at 18c for the IPA I brewed.

[Anavrin]

I think mine uses an STC 1000, I can set the +/- anywhere from 0.1°c upwards I think, I'll go to the guarage today and have a look, I was going to potter in there later anyway.

However it can't be set too precise as there needs to be a time delay in between switching the fridge compressor on/off of a few mins to protect the pump.

I have it set at +/- 0.7°c and have the temp probe on the inside wall of fridge so it just keeps the internal air of the fridge at the setpoint.

[Icefever]

I think the time delay on the pump is the same with the 800....I came across this Video that runs through what & how to flash a 1000.
I have an Arduino that I've been having a "play" with, just to help me understand how they work...now I'm no geek when it comes to stuff like this...but I do seem to make sense of it all in my own time.

I think for £10/12 off Ebay it would be worth having a punt on it.

[Anavrin]

Just looked at another video showing how to program a flashed STC 1000, quite impressive

http://youtu.be/nZst7ETP-w8

I knew they could be flashed but I wasn't aware of what new features you could do, this is ideal for storing several step mash profiles, and controlling a RIMS/Herms setup, I'm going to have to get one of these programmers

[Icefever]

Yup that's the same guy..I've just pulled my Arduino out of the box, and downloaded the latest software onto the laptop.

We're off up the lottie in the next hour, got a lot to do, get set for the end of year.

I'm going ahead with ordering a STC1000 now, if only to upgrade the brew fridge to work in smaller temp steps..

[Icefever]

Quick update just ordered this one.

[Anavrin]

Just checked my fridge



It is indeed an STC 1000, happy days, I'll have a search for the flash programmers, see how much they cost.

Another point to mention thats oftern overlooked or not even considered when building a fermenting fridge is the power of the heater and cooling capacity of the fridge, if both are too powerful, you will always get an over shoot in temp as it will continue to heat or cool for a short while after the heater or cooling has been switched off, if the controller trying to maintain the temp too closely it will always be chasing the set temperature and never stabilise.

That's where a PID comes into its own, it can be programmed to control a heating / cooling circuit in proportion to the temperature difference, so a PID will directly control a heating element via an SSR and as the temperature nears its setpoint, it will automatically reduce the heat to prevent over shoot, I have one that I liberated from a job at work but I've never had the time to play with it.

[Icefever]

What you say about the size of an element being too big has me thinking about my heater tube in mine. It's a 750w I think ? now I've watched a youtube vid were the guy fits a bulb holder in a fridge.....we all know how hot a bulb gets...

I may have to re-think my heater??

It is indeed an STC 1000, happy days, I'll have a search for the flash programmers, see how much they cost.

As I understand the software is open-source here I hope I've got that correct.. then this guy shows how to do it...for me anyway

[Anavrin]

I was trying to find the heater I used in mine, the first image that popped up in Google was my own fermenting fridge from a post on jims beer kit years ago!!

Here it is

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/view ... =6&t=49655

At first I didn't have an STC 1000 and ended up using two contrlers, I fitted the STC 1000 after the thread ended but you can see my 65 watt heater bar at the bottom of the fridge.

[Icefever]

The STC 1000 came the following day after I placed the order... I can't start to change it at the moment as I have last Sat IPA in the fridge.
As the STC is a lot smaller than the ATC I'll have to get another box, who knows I may find another old fridge for the ATC...

I must admit though I think the 750w tube heater is OTT...will have to look out for something a lot lower...