What's Wrong With my Inkbird ITC-308?

[Binkie Huckaback]

Earlier in the year I bought an Inkbird ITC-308 from an online homebrew shop to use with my plastic BIAB setup. I've not had a chance to use it much, but it seems to overshoot. To mash, it was set to 66°c with +/-.3°c HDV/CDV. However, it's gone as high as 70°c before I realised and unplugged the boiler. I have read the instructions, but has anyone had similar issues or know what I might not be doing correctly?

Also the really annoying bleeping. Does anyone know how I can disable it? I have the app on my phone which notifies me when an alarm is triggered, so I really don't need my other half constantly telling me what I already know.

[guypettigrew]

A few queries first, if I may. Well, quite a lot of queries really!

Have you got the Inkbird set at +/- 0.3 C or +/- 3.0C? I'm guessing the former, but just checking.

You say 'it' goes up to 70C. Is that the reading from the Inkbird probe or a separate probe? Where is your Inkbird probe located? How do you heat the mash for your BIAB? When the Inkbird probe reads 70C has it already turned off the heating?

The alarm parameters on my Inkbird 308 are set really high and really low so it never goes off. The 308, at least in my set up, maintains the temperature +/- 1C with no problem. It controls the temperature in the cupboard where the finished beer is stored, not the mash temperature.

I remember reading something in Dave Line's first book, many years ago, about controlling mash temperature. He knew quite a bit about electronics and spent ages designing a control system to keep his mash at the desired temperature. It didn't work as well as he'd hoped. Then he realised it would be easier and equally efficient to get the mash to the right temperature then turn off the heating and wrap it well with some good insulation. Sleeping bags, boiler insulation etc. Is there any way this could work in your system?

Guy

[vacant]

It didn't work as well as he'd hoped.

I have a 60W tube heater I can use in my fridge. The STC1000 bounced the temperature too much if it had control of both heating and cooling. I suppose I could have experimented putting the probe in mid-air, or liquid rather than taped to the side of the FV but 95% of the time I just need cooling connected. If the brew does need a tube heater then I turn off the power to the fridge.

[Binkie Huckaback]

Thanks for the replies Vacant and Guy.

Guy: It's set to +/- .3°c. Do you think this is too narrow a range and it's struggling to keep bang on 66°c, but if I set to +/-3°c, it would have time to 'slow down' or 'speed up' with a better chance of getting it right, rather like trying to stop a vehicle?

The temperature is what the probe is taking in a thermowell opposite the heating element.

I heated my hot liquor in the mash tun.

I do have a hot water cylinder jacket I was using as insulation.

Maybe I'll go back to using that.

Over the next few days, I'll test my kit with just some water and let you know how I get on.

[PeeBee]

A few years ago, I was having problems with the "cooling". After a couple of warranty replacements, Inkbird told me expecting such tight control was unrealistic for such a basic controller, try plus/minus 2 degrees. But I already was! That turned out to be an intrinsic fault in the ITC-308, but it was when using them connected with cooling.

The fault has never been fixed, all new ITC-308s have the same fault, but everyone seems happy to ignore it.

But heating I've never had much problem with. But do remember what they told (Inkbird) told me ... expecting such tight control was unrealistic for such a basic controller, try plus/minus 2 degrees! Oh, you can expect some "denial posts" to all that; for some reason, many homebrewers think Inkbird are saints and everything they touch is perfect.

(Inkbird stuff ain't bad; I use their controllers a lot! They are cheap. Just don't think of them as perfect!).

[Galena]

I have 2 Inkbird ITC-308's for controlling my fermentation fridge's. They do a pretty good job of keeping them within a narrow range. One has a weird issue though where every now and then the temperature display will shoot up a couple of degrees, turn the fridge on and then shoot back down to where it should be a couple of seconds later and turn the fridge off again. The other doesn't suffer from this.
I tried one of them for mash temperature control without much success but I now have an Inkbird IPB 16-s for mash control and it does a very good job and is almost plug and play requiring little DIY apart from changing the plugs from U.S.to UK.

[themadhippy]

The fault has never been fixed, all new ITC-308s have the same fault, but everyone seems happy to ignore it

Its not a fault,it simple physics,the unit has detected the temperature has been reached so turns off,but the device supplying the heating or cooling still has energy to chuck out ,bit like when you brake in a car,you don't immediately stop.

[PeeBee]

Ah ... a denier! I knew I wouldn't be let down!

"Galena" (who's not whom I'm referring to as a "denier"!) wrote:

... One has a weird issue though where every now and then the temperature display will shoot up a couple of degrees, turn the fridge on and then shoot back down to where it should be a couple of seconds later and turn the fridge off again. ...

That's the "cooling error" I'm talking about. Doesn't suggest any "simple physics" I know of? Does suggest someone cocked up designing these things though.

Anyhow, that's cooling. The only effect on heating is it might momentarily switch heating off when it should stay on.

The cooling error won't cause the problem outlined in the OP. It doesn't seem to result in any real issue (as long as you believe the protection these "compressor delays" deal with is a load of boll****). But the error does illustrate we are all capable of putting our trust in something that's actually pretty dodgy!

[IPA]

I've got two of them for controlling fermentation. The probe is in a thermowell and they control the temperature to within+/- 0.5 °C

[Galena]

I've got two of them for controlling fermentation. The probe is in a thermowell and they control the temperature to within+/- 0.5 °C

Yes, they control fermentation very well, the issue is with controlling mash temperature which they are not really designed for I guess

[PeeBee]

... the issue is with controlling mash temperature which they are not really designed for I guess

That's a good point. Is "Blinky Huckaback" using some sort of recirculation with his "BIAB setup? Even then the ICT-308 is "basic"; "on-off" control, it's not a PID or PI controller. Overshooting the set temperature can be quite normal in many circumstances for such basic controllers (even faultless ones).

[MashBag]

Inkbird stuff ain't bad; I use their controllers a lot! They are cheap. Just don't think of them as perfect!

Spot on. You need to know what you have and use it according. Not what you think you have