First time giving a product review, so I'm not sure if this is in the right place.
Inkbird recently gave us an offer on here (probably on other sites as well) for 75% off of the ITC-308 temperature controller in exchange for an honest review. I jumped at the chance, as it was significantly cheaper than the one I had already, and it had outlets for cold and warm, whereas mine only had one outlet.
I read some other reviews that it needed to be calibrated right out of the box, but mine seemed to be very close, enough that it could've been an error on either thermometer.
It's still a simple control compared to some, but it had many more features than my previous one, and so I am very pleased with the product. I have only used it in one complete fermentation so far, but my black IPA came out without any fermentation flaws in it.
I liked the alarms for high and low temps, as this helps ease the mind that if something does go wrong with any of the appliances, I'll be able to catch it before it ruins the beer. The temp probe even is better quality than my previous one, and it seems like from several reviews that people are submersing it in water. I'm not sure if I'll dare to do that, and it mentions nothing about its capabilities in that regards in the user manual. With it have several little nooks in it, I'll doubt I'll ever attempt it directly in the beer, no need to risk infection.
The other feature I really liked is the compressor delay. My old controller handled everything pretty easily except when I would cold crash and it would finally start to settle in at the set temp. Then I could hear it kicking the freezer on and off pretty rapidly. Even just setting this to a 1 minute delay helps to ease up on the stress on the compressor. Because of the delay it takes a little more time for the temp to really settle into place, but that time is worth it compared to having to buy a new freezer.
Some of the reviews on the American amazon site talked about its 1000w limit. Luckily I'm in Europe, and it has a 2000w limit here.
The only "problem" I really experienced with it was during cold crashing. Because I didn't need to really rush this beer through the fermentation chamber, I decided to crash it over a few days - taking it down 4C every 12 hours. This was really my problem, as I attempted to just keep the alarms set with the same parameters, 2C on either side, but I should've just set the low alarm a lot lower.
I'm very satisfied with the product, I received it in the mail fairly quickly considering it was coming from France (I live in Norway). Because the packaging was so small, I was able to get it in the mailbox instead of having to go down and pick it up from the post office.
I think that normally this one costs around $40-50 US, which isn't terribly expensive at all. If you already have your fermentation chamber, and still have some left in the budget, I would recommend this product.
I will be putting it a little more to the test next, when I'll be attempting a Bohemian Pilsner (so any fermentation flaws should be readily apparent).
Inkbird recently gave us an offer on here (probably on other sites as well) for 75% off of the ITC-308 temperature controller in exchange for an honest review. I jumped at the chance, as it was significantly cheaper than the one I had already, and it had outlets for cold and warm, whereas mine only had one outlet.
I read some other reviews that it needed to be calibrated right out of the box, but mine seemed to be very close, enough that it could've been an error on either thermometer.
It's still a simple control compared to some, but it had many more features than my previous one, and so I am very pleased with the product. I have only used it in one complete fermentation so far, but my black IPA came out without any fermentation flaws in it.
I liked the alarms for high and low temps, as this helps ease the mind that if something does go wrong with any of the appliances, I'll be able to catch it before it ruins the beer. The temp probe even is better quality than my previous one, and it seems like from several reviews that people are submersing it in water. I'm not sure if I'll dare to do that, and it mentions nothing about its capabilities in that regards in the user manual. With it have several little nooks in it, I'll doubt I'll ever attempt it directly in the beer, no need to risk infection.
The other feature I really liked is the compressor delay. My old controller handled everything pretty easily except when I would cold crash and it would finally start to settle in at the set temp. Then I could hear it kicking the freezer on and off pretty rapidly. Even just setting this to a 1 minute delay helps to ease up on the stress on the compressor. Because of the delay it takes a little more time for the temp to really settle into place, but that time is worth it compared to having to buy a new freezer.
Some of the reviews on the American amazon site talked about its 1000w limit. Luckily I'm in Europe, and it has a 2000w limit here.
The only "problem" I really experienced with it was during cold crashing. Because I didn't need to really rush this beer through the fermentation chamber, I decided to crash it over a few days - taking it down 4C every 12 hours. This was really my problem, as I attempted to just keep the alarms set with the same parameters, 2C on either side, but I should've just set the low alarm a lot lower.
I'm very satisfied with the product, I received it in the mail fairly quickly considering it was coming from France (I live in Norway). Because the packaging was so small, I was able to get it in the mailbox instead of having to go down and pick it up from the post office.
I think that normally this one costs around $40-50 US, which isn't terribly expensive at all. If you already have your fermentation chamber, and still have some left in the budget, I would recommend this product.
I will be putting it a little more to the test next, when I'll be attempting a Bohemian Pilsner (so any fermentation flaws should be readily apparent).