Hoping to get some ideas of where to start troubleshooting. I'm just going to post everything I'm doing to help get a sense of where to begin looking.
I am trying to cold crash in my Spike CF10 with their temp control coil and a DIY glycol chiller I've built. Glycol temp is set to 28° F.
The chiller is holding it's temp perfectly, and I can verify there is plenty of flow through the insulated tubing leading to the conical.
I checked the coil and tubing and nothing is building any frost.
I am using one of Spike's temp controllers with the probe in the thermowell on the conical, set to 36°.
There have been small stretches of a few hours where the beer is reading +/- 36°, but then out of nowhere it starts building up to ~42°, and with constant cooling, will barely make it down to 40°.
I'll check for frost build up, glycol temp, and flow from the tubing, everything looks good.
I've checked every thermometer and temp probe I have against each other, and they are all reading nearly the same, +/- a half a degree.
I then put the screw-in temperature gauge that came with the conical into the thermowell, and it is reading ~50°, even higher than the probe.
I know they aren't the most reliable, but I do have a Tilt hydrometer in there, and it is reading 36°, which is what I was hoping for.
I even poured out a sample, and checked the temp. It was about 38°, but of course I had to assume it warmed up slightly. But still it was lower than any reading I'm getting in the thermowell.
I don't know if it's possible, but could there be something with the thermowell that is unable to accurately read the internal temp? Like could trub or yeast build up affect it that much?
Maybe something with the controller or the glycol setup?
Any ideas greatly appreciated! Let me know if you want any more clarification on things.
I am trying to cold crash in my Spike CF10 with their temp control coil and a DIY glycol chiller I've built. Glycol temp is set to 28° F.
The chiller is holding it's temp perfectly, and I can verify there is plenty of flow through the insulated tubing leading to the conical.
I checked the coil and tubing and nothing is building any frost.
I am using one of Spike's temp controllers with the probe in the thermowell on the conical, set to 36°.
There have been small stretches of a few hours where the beer is reading +/- 36°, but then out of nowhere it starts building up to ~42°, and with constant cooling, will barely make it down to 40°.
I'll check for frost build up, glycol temp, and flow from the tubing, everything looks good.
I've checked every thermometer and temp probe I have against each other, and they are all reading nearly the same, +/- a half a degree.
I then put the screw-in temperature gauge that came with the conical into the thermowell, and it is reading ~50°, even higher than the probe.
I know they aren't the most reliable, but I do have a Tilt hydrometer in there, and it is reading 36°, which is what I was hoping for.
I even poured out a sample, and checked the temp. It was about 38°, but of course I had to assume it warmed up slightly. But still it was lower than any reading I'm getting in the thermowell.
I don't know if it's possible, but could there be something with the thermowell that is unable to accurately read the internal temp? Like could trub or yeast build up affect it that much?
Maybe something with the controller or the glycol setup?
Any ideas greatly appreciated! Let me know if you want any more clarification on things.