Brewfridge stuck at 12C

[LewisA]

Hello All,

I was hoping to glean some insights or advice from some brew fridge users in the group.

I made myself a brew fridge using an old fridge in combination with an inkkbird and tube heater. The brew fridge has successfully maintained the temperature at around 20C for the past two weeks of fermentation, however I'm now encountering problems when attempting to cold crash. I set the inkbird to cool the wort to 4C almost 48 hours ago and the temperature of the wort (~20l) will not go below 12.2C, it has now crept up to 12.6 as the day has gone on.

As far as I can tell, the Fridge seems to be constantly running so I don’t think it’s a thermometer issue, although I've heard of some people bypassing the thermosat?

The temperature probe is reading the temperature of the wort via a probe.

The fridge is at its highest setting and it by touch feels cold

Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you fix it?

Best wishes,

Lewis

 

[RichardM]

Maybe the old fridge is past it's best and can't get any lower.
12c will feel cold compared to ambient at this time of year.

 

[MashBag]

What he said. Did the fridge work? 12c is about the temp a busted one will do?

Second thing, it's very very easy to get the 2 controllers fighting especially with cooling and lag. Disconnect/bypass the fridge stat and see of you still have the problem.

 

[The Baron]

I would disconnect the fridge from any controllers and just use the fridge control to see if it will go any lower towards normal fridge temps. This will determine if the fridge is working fully or on its way out depending on how low it goes also do not forget we are in a heatwave at the moment and a lot of fridges will tow to get there depending on where they are located

 

[LewisA]

Thanks for all of your responses, I've tried plugging the fridge directly into the mains and have rewired the fridge to by-pass the thermostat but unfortunately, neither option overcame the problem, so I'm resigning myself to the fact that the fridge is past its best as previously suggested.

Thanks all for your help and suggestions