Newbie; referred by a friend; need gradual temperature changes
Bill Velek
Posts: 7
Hi. I'm new here and have been referred by a friend who thought that I could find the type of electronics that I need for a home project. Now I have spent _days_ searching the Internet for what I need, but I just can't find it.
Essentially, I want to monitor and control temperatures in an ice box from a high of about 70F/21C down to a low of about 34F/1C. Prefer to be able to have a continuous _gradual_ drop in temps as much as possible, although stepping is fine if that is all that is available. Maximum temp change should not exceed 5 degrees fahrenheit per day, and I would prefer as tight as a 2F/1C per day.
This is not a commercial application. It is for a piece of homemade brewing equipment that I designed and built myself. It currently uses a standard home thermostat to cycle a small CPU-fan on and off, with the fan drawing air through an insulated compartment full of ice, into a second insulated compartment in which a conical fermenter is suspended. This is presently used for fermenting ales [noparse][[/noparse]home brewed beer], but I'd like to try to ferment lagers [noparse][[/noparse]different beer] which require very special temperature control.
However, if continous temperature drop is not possible, I can manually make a one degree adjustment every 12 hours or so. Therefore, at the very least, I need a digital thermostat with a display that can be mounted on the outside, and a probe placed on the other side of a 2" thick wall of paneling and styrofoam insulation. Because I might choose to also employ either a light bulb or heating-strip (like the ones to keep pipes from freezing), I'd prefer a dual function -- heating/cooling -- type of thermostat.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Bill Velek
Essentially, I want to monitor and control temperatures in an ice box from a high of about 70F/21C down to a low of about 34F/1C. Prefer to be able to have a continuous _gradual_ drop in temps as much as possible, although stepping is fine if that is all that is available. Maximum temp change should not exceed 5 degrees fahrenheit per day, and I would prefer as tight as a 2F/1C per day.
This is not a commercial application. It is for a piece of homemade brewing equipment that I designed and built myself. It currently uses a standard home thermostat to cycle a small CPU-fan on and off, with the fan drawing air through an insulated compartment full of ice, into a second insulated compartment in which a conical fermenter is suspended. This is presently used for fermenting ales [noparse][[/noparse]home brewed beer], but I'd like to try to ferment lagers [noparse][[/noparse]different beer] which require very special temperature control.
However, if continous temperature drop is not possible, I can manually make a one degree adjustment every 12 hours or so. Therefore, at the very least, I need a digital thermostat with a display that can be mounted on the outside, and a probe placed on the other side of a 2" thick wall of paneling and styrofoam insulation. Because I might choose to also employ either a light bulb or heating-strip (like the ones to keep pipes from freezing), I'd prefer a dual function -- heating/cooling -- type of thermostat.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Bill Velek