temp deviation

[Donoroto]

Gee a lot of control folks here. I spent the last twenty-five years boiling dinosaurs to make gasoline etc. I controlled my processes in one degree or less increments.

Yeah, but one degree makes a difference cracking crude, much less so when brewing beer or cooking lasagna...

But yeah, the control freak moniker is not unearned.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Temp difference at the top vs bottom of the fermentor is about 3°

The temperature during active fermentation is relatively stable due to the churning of the beer. Temperature stratification is most likely to occur before and after moderate to high active fermentation. It can be 5 degrees or more depending on the situation. I brew in stainless steel now, I missed the days when I could see the beer churn. But I can tell now when the beer starts churning because I see a sudden change in the temperature. I tape a temp probe to the side of the keg, when it bumps up 2 degrees in a few hours, it's churning. Usually the middle of the fermenter is a few degrees below target. When it takes off, it jumps up fairly quickly to target temperature. When I see it drop 2-3 degrees below chamber/target temperature, it stopped churning.

Lagers don't rise much during active fermentation, but ales can jump up in temperature. That's another indication it's churning.

 

[Minbari]

The temperature during active fermentation is relatively stable due to the churning of the beer. Temperature stratification is most likely to occur before and after moderate to high active fermentation. It can be 5 degrees or more depending on the situation. I brew in stainless steel now, I missed the days when I could see the beer churn. But I can tell now when the beer starts churning because I see a sudden change in the temperature. I tape a temp probe to the side of the keg, when it bumps up 2 degrees in a few hours, it's churning. Usually the middle of the fermenter is a few degrees below target. When it takes off, it jumps up fairly quickly to target temperature. When I see it drop 2-3 degrees below chamber/target temperature, it stopped churning.

Lagers don't rise much during active fermentation, but ales can jump up in temperature. That's another indication it's churning.

Definitely! During active fermentation the temp is more stable due to that churning. Once it dies down. It varies a bit more

I use stainless as well. With the temp control. I don't see the temp rises

 

[Nosybear]

The churn is going to do a good job of mixing and evening out temperatures in our small vessels. Once the active phase of fermentation is over (and the churning stops), the temperature difference is much less critical. In a large vessel chilled from the outside, there will be temperature differences because of the convection cells in the tank (beer "rises" in the center due to heat of fermentation and "falls" along the outsides of the tank due to chilling). So once again, what is important for big beer likely isn't as important at our scale....