Hey everyone
I was planning on brewing a lager today, but the fridge is set at 26 degrees Celsius!!! (78 Fahrenheit)
I'm going to put it back at lager yeast temp unless there is a reason it's so high. I don't imagine it will cool down
In time so I'll brew another day.
Wed, Feb 15, 2017 - 10:10am
#1
Lager fridge way too hot!!!!!
It was set to the correct temperature, but it's not cooling down. Don't know what that's about
OK temp is going back down, slowly. If you had a beer in there I'd be very keen on tasting it.hopefully this was a perfectly timed diacetyl rest
You're talking about the smaller one, right?
Yeah. I turned the temp control on and off and verified the settings (it was at 8.9 C, which is on the lower end of lager temps, but I let it be). I was there for 30 mins and the temp went from 26-21 in that time. If anyone comes in before Friday let me know if the temps is good. I couldn't see the names on two buckets, and Alex didn't leave his number on his. The buckets are warm to the touch though.
Well shit. It said 9.0C this weekend when I put the buckets in but I didn't actually measure the temp. What happened??
http://tinfoilhatbrewery.com/
Sounds like you've got a steam beer, Matt.
If the lager fermentation fridge is acting up, you can reset the temp controller on the bar fridge for 50F and use it.
www.singingboysbrewing.com
Is someone purposely turning this fridge up? It's at 33.4C right now
http://tinfoilhatbrewery.com/
WHAT THE FUCK.
Seriously though, this pisses me off. Lagers aren't fucking cheap to brew, and a pain in the ass. If someone is seriously turning it up on purpose I will be insanely angry.
I don't think anyone is doing it on purpose. When I found it hot, it was set at 9. I restarted it and the temp went down. It sounds like we need a new temp regulator. In the meantime,lets use the fridge behind the bar like Jim said. There are a couple kgs and I got a beer cold crashing there, shouldn't matter if they are at lager ferm temps
Do any of our "brewhouse techs" have some input on this one?
shit I had a lager in there too :(
I took a look at it last night. With my extremely limited knowledge, I'm diagnosing the temp regulator as not working.
I think someone who knows what they're doing should see what's going on before we buy a new one, though.
anyone have one to toss on there until we get it fixed? hate to see the beers in their get ruined. If I shut down my keezer at home I can bring mine but trying to avoid that
I'm at the brewhouse now... The little Lager Fridge shows 36.C on the controller, set for 8.C. My temp probe says 95 F ambient temp in there.
Sorry guys.
--james
maybe have a tech come out?
--james
95F! Well atleast I can use it for pracatice in my still :(
I don't think that service number is valid. I believe the fridge was used and obtained through Craig's List or something.
Pretty sure i've got a temp regulator in storage i can grab...but it's just a power controler via temp (not an engineer, sorry)... basically it won't help if the fridge 'decides' it doesn't need more cold air and runs up to 36c (i'm assuming current regulator is built into fridge)
this is what i've got:
.
Here is my diagnosis. The external temp controller is working fine.
The problem is possibly the fridge's internal thermometer is shot
and it's not sending a signal to the compressor to generate cold
air. From here the problem is either the fridges temp probe, the
control board, or a bad compressor. Further, it's trying to blow
cold air but none is being generated so it's actually blowing hot air
and it's acting like a convection oven in there (95 degrees). All that
beer in there is shot. Dump that out!
Sometimes you can jump start a fridge by turning the power off for 5 minutes
plugging it back in and having the motherboard boot back up and try
to kick the compressor into gear. The last scenario is that the refridgerant
in the closed loop system is all gone due to a leak. That gets really expensive
to fix.
--james
is this fridge the back bar fridge or the one across from the large fridge?
It's the one across from the lagering fridge. AJ, the current temp controller did not come with the fridge, however it doesn't sound like that is the issue. Though, it probably wouldn't hurt to try out a different one, so feel free to give it a try.
The fridge is pretty old, so it may just be time to put it to pasture.
I dunno those commercial fridges usually last forever. Definitely worth looking at it. I'd bypass the external temp controller and see how it runs on its own before calling anyone. My friend does hvac but he is pretty busy at work lately.
What is the back bar fridge set at? I have another lager planned for this Friday. Wondering if i should cancel it
Well, the fridge behind the bar is still working, so you have somewhere to ferment a lager.
Anyone who is at the brew house this week, please feel free to restart the fridge or disconnect the external temp control.
Or, if anyone else knows someone familiar with refrigeration cooling, we could sure use the help!
I'm swinging by the brewhouse today. I'll disconnect the external temp control to see if it'll cool down. I'll also set the fridge behind the bar to 10C. I'll try to brew this lager again this weekend!
I'm assuming that the lager fridge reservation system will now apply to the fridge behind the bar?
Thanks, Brandon!
Yes, that is correct, we will use that spreadsheet for the back bar. If anyone has a keg in there that shouldn't be, please remove it.
so we can still lager? Brandon can you update us on the room in the back fridge. Trying to decide what I will brew friday if lagering isn't possible
Anyone have any high abv ruined beer from the broken fridge I can use a couple gallons to clean my still and make grill starting fluid
I found this... I'd like to see if we have a burnt relay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oBQBaSD1u0
--james
Sounds like we need to either have a memberr who knows fridges look at it or bring in a tech to look at it.
Regarding the fridge behind the bar, I hooked up a digital controller I had, its an old school (but digital) version that is pretty standard in homebrewing. I set it initially for the Alt competition, but for the party it got set for cold crashing temps, I believe. It can be reset to lager fermentation temps at any time, in my opinion. I'm out of town now, but if it hasn't been reset before I'm back, I will do so on Monday.
www.singingboysbrewing.com
When I got to the brewhouse today the internal temp of the primary lagering fridge (via the thermometer inside the fridge) was 50F. Weird. I was fermenting a Vienna Lager... it fermented down from 1.056 to 1.006 in 4 days lol. I tasted it... wasn't horrible but the frutty esters were out of control. @ Steven: it's all yours for your experiments if I can have the bucket back in a couple weeks. It's labeled and I left it in the fridge.
I unplugged the fridge from the temp controller & hooked it up directly to the wall to see if that changes anything.
I also set the temp at the front bar to 50F for primary lagering temp.
Great, Brandon. You can also set the range of variance for that controller, before it kicks the fridge on or off. I'll double check it when I'm in next, but thanks for getting it set up for the lagers, Brandon!
www.singingboysbrewing.com
Friday I'll be brewing I'll call my friend and have him walk me through some troubleshooting.
Awesome, thanks, Steve!
My friend was unable to stop by this weekend, we trouble shot it a little but I will try to get him in to look at it this week.
If anyone is at the brewclub can you please unplug that fridge, I meant to sunday and forgot. We don't need that thing running nonstop