Beer Forum

I've been making some of your recipes from the book, and they are turning out well, with one exception. It seems to be taking a long time on the finishing of the beer. I make proper starters and use O2 and control the temp very closely. My question is, how are you measuring your fermentation temperature? A probe inside the wort, or a temp sticker on the carboy, or some other method?

check the temperature control show, pretty sure he tapes the temp probe to the outside of the glass carboy and surrounds that with foam.

That show is proving to be difficult to locate. Was is JZ's Sunday show?

Brant wrote:check the temperature control show, pretty sure he tapes the temp probe to the outside of the glass carboy and surrounds that with foam.

Nice to know at least one person listens to what I say.

This temperature is the same as the beer temp.

jamilz wrote:

Brant wrote:check the temperature control show, pretty sure he tapes the temp probe to the outside of the glass carboy and surrounds that with foam.

Nice to know at least one person listens to what I say.

This temperature is the same as the beer temp.

Have you ever verified that with a probe inserted into the beer? Also, what exactly are you using for a probe? I'm thinking a probe on the outside of the carboy could be a lower temperature. There is a lot of thermal mass in a carboy, even with foam around the probe.

My point is, I'm thinking that set-up might give a difference of a degree or two in measurement.

mr x wrote:Have you ever verified that with a probe inserted into the beer?

IIRC that is exactly what he did.

I just relistened to this show recently. It's a Session show on temp control. Jamil said that he did try an experiment where he put a probe down in a thermowell and taped one to the side. He said that the difference was negligible - especially during active fermentation when there is a lot of natural convection from the yeast activity. The key is to insulate the probe from the effects of the ambient air. He said that a couple of layers of bubble wrap should do the trick.

I have been meaning to carve a more permanent probe holder out of some rigid foam and hold it on there with some small bungee cords. It's a little bit of an annoyance to deal with tape and bubble wrap - but it works just fine in the time being.


Mylo

Do you know the exact show? I've been scanning through them one at a time, and my head hurts. I'm most interested in what he using for a temperature probe and what is being used for control. It may seem a bit anal, but I'm trying to isolate this problem.