Time for new equipment- focusing on temp control Homebrewing

Back story- I have been brewing since 2009. Went from Mr. Beer, to 5 gal batches, back to smaller batches (when I lived in Korea and space was limited), and now back to 5 gal batches. I am comfortable with computers (29 years old) but haven't done computer coding or software writing.

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan, so what do you do when you can't make or drink beer? You plan out your upgrades.

What I have decided to focus on is really nailing down my temperature control.

My idea, is to start with an SS Brewtech 7 Gal Chronical Brewmaster Edition (wanting to move to more fermenters in the future). I am not completely thrilled with their FTSs controller due to not being able to use a pump or heat pad of my choice with it. From there, I plan on using an ice chest as a coolant reservoir using ice and water as the cooling medium. Moving to a full glycol chiller in the future. I live in Utah (now) and the winters can get cold. So I would like the ability to also heat the Chronical as required.

What I don't want: a fermentation chamber. I don't want to repurpose a refrigerator or freezer as a chamber for my fermenters.

So here's the research question I am currently working on. What would be the best piece of equipment for controlling what I want to do? I have looked at a few options. The FTSs controller, but as I said before, I don't like that I can't use other than their pump/heater. The STC-1000 seems like a pretty good option. I am very comfortable doing the basic electrical required to build a nice little setup. The last option I looked at (that the techy side of me really wants this to work) is the BrewPi or Spark.

To re-cap. I want to be able to monitor fermenter temps while cooling/heating as required, but not in a fermentation chamber. Being able to data log would be awesome, although not required. I am comfortable with electrical but not coding. And the ability to expand would be awesome.

Thanks a lot for all the help. Brad

Submitted March 10, 2016 at 03:59PM by Scooby36 http://ift.tt/1p9Wdkk Homebrewing