Analog or Digital

[Barleyhogg]

There are two types of freezer controllers available for homebrewers. One has a simple dial and the other has a digital readout. Other than the obvious fact that the digital one is more likely to be more accurate, are there any other pro/con for either? There is a substantial (for me anyway) price difference and I wanted to know if it was worth spending more on one versus the other.

[TMB]

Analog is fine. Just throw a thermometer in the fridge to make sure you're at the right temp.

[BDawg]

For a serving fridge, go with the analog. You won't be able to tell the difference between 40F and 43F.
For a ferm fridge, save up the extra 30 or 40 bucks and go with the digital. Your yeast CAN tell the difference between 68F and 71F.

HTH-

[Pseudolus]

^^^Agree.

A key advantage of the digital is that you can choose not just the set point, but how wide a band around that point you want the controller to allow.

For instance, I can tell my digital controller to hold at 52F, with a 1F band. It cools to 51F, turns off until the temperature rises to 52F again, cools down to 51F, etc. The analog controller I have on my kegerator has just a set band of, I think, 4 degrees. That would allow greater swings in temperature than I would really like my fermentations to see.

[mfischer2]

You can set an analog temp probe into water which means your freezer wont turn on and off as much. I think digital probes have this hysteresis too, but you can basically do the same thing with the water.

[Barleyhogg]

This freezer will be purely a fermenting chamber, so it looks like I'll be going for the digital.

[bub]

not to push the point tooo much but brewdroid will be released if a few months... it will be like the digitals but also offer logging and several other features... just search brewdroid in the forums and read the entire thread (whichever one is the longest) if you want features.
BUB

[beer_bear]

I am a total douche. I couldn't get it to come up in the search. I can't wait to find out more about it. When should it be out? I might have to start saving my money now just to get it.