Building an ATC800 temp controlled fridge

[jubby]

I have an ATC800 controller which will control between 5C and 40C and a working fridge. I want to build a temperature controlled environment for fermenting. At the moment I brew real ales only, but in the future, I want to brew Belgian beers and some lagers. Is the temperature range of the ATC 800 ok for all fermentation and lagering temperatures? If not, I will have to build in an override switch to bypass the ATC800 to allow cooling below 5C via the fridge thermostat. This is not a problem for me, but is it necessary?


Basically is there any need to control the fermentation temperature beyond the capabilities of the ATC800? Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated.

[Garth]

I have an ATC-800 and although I haven't fitted it to anything yet, I believe it is suitable for controlling all temperatures associated with ale and lager fermentation, storage, and serving etc as long as you have suitable a heating and cooling source, ie a fridge with a light bulb added supposedly works well for cooling and heating.

[jubby]

Thanks for your reply Garth. I do have the fridge and a 60W pipe heater instead of a bulb. I intend to bypass the fridge thermostat to allow the ATC800 to control the temperature. However, if there is a requirement to allow temperatures below the ATC800 limit of 5C, I will provide switching to allow the fridge adjustable thermostat to control the temperature. (this will go down to -3C)

[StrangeBrew]

As Garth has said the ATC800 has a temp range suitable for ale and lager fermentation, storage, and serving.
I use a 60w 30cm tubular heater in my fridge and it works fine. No need to bypass the fridge's thermo just wire the ATC800 heat/cool to two sockets and plug in the fridge and heater, set ATC800 temp dif to 1 and away you go.

[Vossy1]

An ATC 800 is not suitable for all lagering conditions, as it only goes down to 5 deg c, and lagering can require lower temps ie, 0-2 deg c.
It is however fine for most other uses. If you set the temp difference to 5 deg c you might be able to get to 0 deg c but you wont be able to hold it there.
ATC 800's are also very prone to interference from damp conditions so make sure it's in a dry environment.

[jubby]

Thanks for the advice. Nice neat set up there strangebrew, I will use a similar design which enables me to use the fridge without the ATC800 for the lower temperatures as Vossy says.

[StrangeBrew]

I see my diagram is coming in handy, I should have signed it

Yeah, thanks Chris!
It certainly helped me out, not having much of an electrical background it made things easy to understand.

[adm]

Craftbrewer in Australia now do an alternative to the ATC

TempMate

Similar price, goes down to -50C if you need it for any reason!

It's also about 1/4 the size, so good if you need to mount mount it somewhere small. Same wiring.

Very quick delivery and very reasonable shipping.

[bramswell]

that is a nice set up.think i might have a go at that.

[jubby]

adm wrote

Craftbrewer in Australia now do an alternative to the ATC

Bugger; that looks better than the ATC-800. Unfortunately, I have just brought my second ATC-800.

[shandypants5]

goes down to -50C if you need it for any reason!

is that what they use to serve the "EXTRA COLD" stuff from in my local.

[jubby]

Chris wrote

Have you tried setting the fridge stat to max and checking the temperature, mine holds at around 0-2 deg. You could just bypass the atc 800 if you wanted to 'lager' your beer.

Yes, it remains stable at -3C when set to max, so i intend to bypass the ATC800 for lagering as you suggest.

[SiHoltye]

I've never seen homebrewed lager available at festivals. I'd like to try an example of say Pilsner Urquell style and a dark lager. The shop boughts taste pretty good, how much better would they be when crafted with lurve?

I use ATC-800's and have found them reliable and trouble free. They seem to perform as they say...down to 5degC, what more can you ask Those craftbrewer ones look like they may have the edge for me due to temp range, they open the opportunity to lager beer at the press of a button.

[SpeedyGonzales]

[quote="StrangeBrew"]As Garth has said the ATC800 has a temp range suitable for ale and lager fermentation, storage, and serving.
I use a 60w 30cm tubular heater in my fridge and it works fine. No need to bypass the fridge's thermo just wire the ATC800 heat/cool to two sockets and plug in the fridge and heater, set ATC800 temp dif to 1 and away you go.

[img]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/ ... -800-a.jpg[/img]

StrangeBrew, your wiring work looks really nice and tidy. I would like to do something similar with my fermentation chamber. Would you mind to let me know what dimension is the plastic enclosure box you used in the picture. And, if possible, where did you get it from? This way I could use the atc800 to controll my primary fermentation temp, and easily switch to normal fridge mode when lagering.

[Totem]

I’m about to set my atc800 up, I was going to use a 13a plug - wire off a washing machine to give power to the unit but as the plug is sealed I don’t want to take a risk on getting the wiring wrong (live/neutral). I found a cheap fish tank pump wire with 3a plug. The wire is a bit thinner but will it still be ok to use? Not being anyway good with electricals I wanted to check first.