I've been looking at buying an inkbird 308s and the options on amazon come with a 2" probe or a 12" probe which is more expensive.
From what I gather the smaller probe is useful if you are taping it to the outside of the fermeter whereas the longer one would be most useful if you intended to submerge it in your beer through the lid.
I'm only just looking to have some basic temp control with an old fridge as I have no temp control right now. Would the smaller probe be sufficient or is there a real benefit to buying the larger one?
Thanks,
Phil
I use one of these (short version) on plastic FVs. It is as you say, a couple of inches and is fairly sturdy. My method has been to use a large lump of bluetac to cover and secure the probe along the outside of the FV at a point about 2/3 of the way up the vessel. I then taped a layer of pipe insulation over the probe to form an insulated pocket and then enfolded the entire FV et al in bubblewrap. I did a test with water for a few days and probed the FV to establish a comparison between the two methods (direct and attached). I found that there was generally a difference of 0.2C or less and I used the calibration function on the Inkbird to equalise this.
Worked really well for me. I had some issues with the Inkbird display separately to this but had them resolved (replaced ;) )
Thanks for the reply willk!
I ended up going for the one with the smaller probe and will attempt to attach it in a similiar way to yours.
The testing sounds like a solid approach so I'll conduct something similiar and adjust the settings accordingly!
I figure I can always buy the longer one in the future if I ever feel the need.
.... Now to get my hands on a fridge :)