Brewing Newby - STC-1000 question please

[[steve]]

Hi all,

I borrowed some basic kit off a colleague a few weeks ago and brewed my first ever home brew. I used a Woodfords Wherry kit and bottled after a fortnight however, the FV was sat on a laminate floor in my dining room with no heating in the house for 2 weeks.. so I was concerned that the beer hadn't fermented fully/properly...

The bottles were ready this weekend just gone (after a fortnight in the bottles) and tasted a little 'twangy' but hoping they will improve over the next week or so.

Anyway, payday rolled around last week, so I went and bought myself the basic kit from Wilko's as they have 25% off at the moment, I also got a pressure barrel along with a S20 valve cap and some C02 bulbs whilst I was there.

I also bought a Young's Brew Belt from a local home brew store.

Last Thursday I bought another Wherry kit and set about doing the job properly, with the brew belt etc and sat my FV on a yoga mat in the utility room and stuck the brew belt on it, for the first 24 hours the temperature (using a stick on LCD thermometer + a small floating Thermometer in the FV) was around 25C which I knew was too high although I have heard the yeast in the Wherry kits can tolerate up to a max of around 25C?

Over the weekend I bought a £3 timer and set the best I could and as of last night I have gotten the temp down to around 20C with having the brew belt on for 15 mins and off for 30-45 mins...

Now, I have seen about the STC-1000 and this looks great, I assume I can use this to regulate my Brew Belts on/off times more accurately...

My question is, I saw this one on eBay that seems to cheap:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-STC-1 ... 3cdfa1ddfb

If anyone can have a look at the tech specs and let me know what you think, don't want to end up with a dud

I notice that this listing states AC 5A / 250V where I thought these units were 10A...

Does this look like a cheap knock off? do I need 10A for a brew belt? would I be ok getting this one or should I pay more for one that actually states 10A?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Steve.

[Maysie]

I think you should take a look at the sellers feedback as it tells you what you should know.
It looks highly likely it is a cheap knock off. He is also saying he is UK based but sounds like they are in Singapore.

I would keep shopping around and pay a few quid more for a more genuine seller, although saying that, when I bought mine I couldn't find a UK seller, so had to buy from Hong Kong - but at least they told me that was where they were based rather than telling fibs about it.

Others on here may have a UK contact for you.
The STC-1000 is a fine piece of brewing clobber by the way, I wouldn't be without mine now.

[Maysie]

Oh and the relay rating will need to relate to what you are switching, so take a look at the rating of the brewbelt to make sure it is lower than the switch rating.

[[steve]]

Thanks Maysie, appreciate the detailed response

I'm getting too excited about this home brew malarky!

My wife is working from home today and I have her checking the temperature of my FV every hour or so and sending me details, still seems to be at ~20C, so I should be ok using my guesstimate plug in timer method until I find a suitable seller for the STC-1000.

Good point about the sellers feedback too. I tried looking for the rating of the Young's Brew Belt but hit a dead end.. will keep hunting the interweb, patience is a virtue after all!

Thanks again.

Steve.

[Maysie]

I have my STC-1000 set to control my brew fridge with a 60w greenhouse heater and the fridge connected. Set it to 19C +/-0.5C and then I can forget about it for 2 weeks.
I stick the temp probe to the outside of the FV, ie I tuck it behind some bubble wrap stuck onto the bucket with insulation tape and it is good as gold.

You will need plenty of patience if you are to get the best out of homebrewing - thats the biggest lesson I have learnt!

The brew belt is VERY unlikely to exceed the 5A rating as most of those things are only rated as a 25W or similar, which gives about 0.1 Amps. It would need to be a pretty serious brew belt to exceed the 5A rating!

[[steve]]

Thanks again, yes, the Brew belt is 25W, that I do know!

I want the STC-1000 as I like to build things too

I have been looking at a fridge... I take it it is an actual 'fridge', where the heater is triggered when temp is too low and the original fridge is triggered if temps get too high? I do like the idea of having 100% control over temperature, but wonder if in UK summer, temperatures are likely to exceed 20C?

Appreciate the advice, now i just have to work out where is best to get this unit from!

Steve.

[Dave S]

My question is, I saw this one on eBay that seems to cheap:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-STC-1 ... 3cdfa1ddfb

If anyone can have a look at the tech specs and let me know what you think, don't want to end up with a dud

I notice that this listing states AC 5A / 250V where I thought these units were 10A...

Does this look like a cheap knock off? do I need 10A for a brew belt? would I be ok getting this one or should I pay more for one that actually states 10A?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.



Steve.

I've checked one brew belt out - not sure if it's Young's but I'm sure they're all pretty similar and the rating is 25 Watts. This means that the current consumption is around 100 mA, so a 5 or 10 A relay controller is more than enough.

[Maysie]

I have been looking at a fridge... I take it it is an actual 'fridge', where the heater is triggered when temp is too low and the original fridge is triggered if temps get too high?

That is spot on. If the fridge doesn't run at all then it can still act as an insulated box but you wont have any ability to cool, or if it still runs but the thermostat is broken (but it still runs) then the STC will control the temps automatically for you anyway.

I do like the idea of having 100% control over temperature, but wonder if in UK summer, temperatures are likely to exceed 20C?

My last coopers stout ran up to 27C when the room temp was only about 16C, as I had stupidly unplugged the fridge 'as it was still winter'. Some of the brews can generate quite a bit of heat in a vigorous fermentation, which could potentially taint your brew. Some brews are more tolerant than others to higher fermentation temps also. Clearly the cooling is more important during the summer though and there are many ways of maintaining stable temps. There is rarely ever one way of doing anything as you will see if you read around on here.

Good luck! Stay patient!!

[[steve]]

Cheers for all the advice... I'll be looking for a fridge next now!

I'm sticking to kits I think for my next few brews until I have:

a) Mastered the basics

b) Got all the equipment and am happy that it works as should

c) learned about the brew process in detail

I will be looking to move onto making my own mash (if that's the correct term?) but I would imagine that would be a winter project!

I'm looking at the Festival Ales Stag Summer Ale kit for my next brew now it's getting a little warmer, the kit has more to it than two tins and a sachet of yeast for starters

Thanks too for the respect and understanding, me being new to it all, really appreciate it and when i'm not at work (or on my lunch) I will be thoroughly researching these forums!

Steve.

[Maysie]

I am still playing around with kits and loving it. I have learnt a huge amount in the past 5 months and continue to learn with every brew. I am pretty happy doing kits at the moment and don't want to expand to all of the additional clobber for AG brews just yet but I may try an extract brew soon.
I have also started to build up a decent stash of alternative beers so that I can take one of whatever I fancy that evening - but that does take a fair while to establish. Remember that it will be about 8 weeks before your brew will be in a decent state to drink. Clearly you can take a few 'samples' along the way, but the general rules are 2 weeks in the FV to reach the final gravity and let the yeasties clear up after themselves, 2 weeks in the warm for carbing, then approx 4 weeks (min) in the cold to condition. In my experience the darker and stronger beers take much longer to condition properly, but here are exceptions to that 'rule' (Coopers Stout for example is very quick).

We all have to start somewhere, so I am very happy to help if I can in the same way that others helped me when I started.
That is exactly what a forum like this is all about.

There is a thread on here about summer/warm fermemtation brews:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65416

[[steve]]

[quote="Maysie"]I am still playing around with kits and loving it. I have learnt a huge amount in the past 5 months and continue to learn with every brew. I am pretty happy doing kits at the moment and don't want to expand to all of the additional clobber for AG brews just yet but I may try an extract brew soon.
I have also started to build up a decent stash of alternative beers so that I can take one of whatever I fancy that evening - but that does take a fair while to establish. Remember that it will be about 8 weeks before your brew will be in a decent state to drink. Clearly you can take a few 'samples' along the way, but the general rules are 2 weeks in the FV to reach the final gravity and let the yeasties clear up after themselves, 2 weeks in the warm for carbing, then approx 4 weeks (min) in the cold to condition. In my experience the darker and stronger beers take much longer to condition properly, but here are exceptions to that 'rule' (Coopers Stout for example is very quick).

We all have to start somewhere, so I am very happy to help if I can in the same way that others helped me when I started.
That is exactly what a forum like this is all about.

There is a thread on here about summer/warm fermemtation brews:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65416 [/quote]

Oh, I was under the impression that Wherry needed 2 weeks in the FV (as apposed to the 5-6 days in their instructions!), 2 days in bottles in the warm (to kick off secondary fermentation) then 2 weeks in a cooler place to condition.... maybe I have rushed into drinking a few of my bottles then... would explain the 'twang' they have!

I muddled the first brew a bit but ensures that cleanliness was the top of my list! This time I am trying (after the initial high temp) to brew at the recommended temperature and was gonna give the Wherry 10 days in the FV (happy medium between the instructions and what I have been told when not temp controlled - 2 weeks) but I will take a hydrometer reading this weekend (~9-10 days) and then one every day after that. Once the reading stays the same I am let to believe I can then keg it (pressure barrel) and leave for another fortnight...

I think the first thing I need to understand is Yeast and exactly what it does!

Thanks again for the advice and the offer of advice, I want to obtain as much knowledge and hone the skills to master home brew as it's something I have become surprisingly (for me) passionate about this last month or so!