Ohmbrew automations fermostat

[thumpersk_a]

I have a fermostat dual stage controller with 12" probe. I have used it for 4-5 beers now. I have had good results until recently. I had a Lager going at 54F and leave town for work and return after being gone for 2 days. When i go check my brew i find it sitting at 126F. The controller stuck in heat mode. When i called ohmbrew automations they blamed it on needing a firmware upgrade. He said the newest firmware should be out in 2 weeks atleast a month ago. I called and left a message on the phone asking about the next upgrade availability and received no call back. The controller has worked as intended in heating and cooling mode up until now so i call BS. I have updated the firmware which is a pain in the arse one might add. I am scared to ruin any more nectar of the gods so i am done with Ohmbrew automations. Save yourself alot of good beer and wasted money and find a better controller that has simple stabile firmware.

 

[BentBrewer]

I have to say I've been having issues with two of the three we bought as well. It seems that if both the heating and cooling circuits are turned on, the wretched things go into alarm and dump my temps. Sometimes they'll go a day or two and let me think they're behaving, and other times they wait a couple hours until I've gone to bed. I reflashed them both with the latest firmware, but it didn't seem to fix anything. At the moment, it's cold enough that I can just use the heating circuit, so I've sort of ignored the issue. Of course, warmer temps are on their way, so I don't know what I'm going to do once that happens.

 

[piwo]

I've had strange issues as well. I'll check on the controller and it'll be locked up. There will be no temp control going on at all. I've yet to trust this thing with a fermentation.

I also cant get the XML logs to work. It looks like they're adding a feature making it possible to view the logs on the web page. This will be nice. I think though that i'd prefer fixes to the exist feature set first. I'm losing faith in Ohmbrew fast.

 

[jkovac]

+1 on the weird stuff happening. I used it for a couple of brews and it worked perfectly. Then for some reason the temp probe/cable failed. They sent me a new probe and cable, for free, even though I'd purchased it in 2014, so very responsive customer service. But I lost temp control of the batch at the beginning, so that was 15 gallons of OK beer that could have been great. It also threw some errors during the ferment, but I was able to clear them.

Next brew, I just used it on manual. Held ferment temp ok but then I cold crashed (just manually reset temp to 33 degrees.) It was fine for a few days, but then I neglected to check it for a few days, came back to a "no cooling response" error, temp in garage and fermenter had skyrocketed, and as I'd left dry hops in there (decided to try dh then crash) the beer is tasting way over-hopped and bitter.

So that's two large batches in a row that were compromised while using the Fermostat. I did dumb stuff too, like not testing it beforehand when the probe failed, and not watching it when it the cooling response error occurred. The seller has always provided good service and been responsive, but bottom line is I just don't trust it anymore. I am looking for a new controller that allows both heating and cooling, but I'd settle for a simple manual one that basically just holds the temp at a preset level, in the hopes that simpler is also more reliable.

 

[BrewmasterBrad]

I can't even imagine coming home to a 126F beer in the fermentor. That really sucks. I haven't used the Fermostat. For simple 'set it and forget it' temp control, I've been using the Ranco single stage controllers. They work pretty well, but I have fried a couple as well. I don't think there is anything like a fool-proof solution. The closest I have come across is the BrewPi. I built a BrewPi as a fun project and it has been rock solid, but it is pretty expensive for what you get. You might want to look at the BCS from Embedded Control Concepts. They have a couple different models. I have one, but I haven't had the time to set it up yet.