Rant: My kombucha SCOBY almost died because of a thermostat glitch

I checked my brew bucket last week and the temp was reading 95F instead of 78F. Found out my inkbird controller had a faulty probe and it was running the heat mat nonstop for like 6 hours. My SCOBY looked all stringy and sad, smelled like vinegar gone wrong. I grabbed a new probe from Amazon for $12 and got it back to normal in 2 days. Anyone else had a temp controller fail on them mid batch?

4 comments

4 Comments

rowan9692mo ago

Oh man, that's a rough one. @the_simon beat me to the punch on price, but honestly the real kicker is how quick the damage can happen before you even notice. I totally get the "smelled like vinegar gone wrong" thing, mine did the same once and I almost tossed the whole batch. What gets me is that most people talk about just replacing the probe and moving on, but nobody mentions checking the actual heat mat wiring for shorts or corrosion too. Sometimes the probe itself is fine but a loose connection on the mat side causes weird temp swings down the road. Glad you dodged a bullet there though!

jason_lewis321d ago

Yeah man, that heat mat wiring thing is real. A buddy of mine had his setup running smooth for months, then one day he noticed the temp just kept dropping no matter what he did. He swapped out the probe twice, cleaned everything, still had the same issue. Finally he checked the wires going into the mat itself and found a tiny spot where the insulation had basically melted off from being too close to the mat surface. Bare wire was touching the metal shelf and arcing just enough to mess with the voltage. He almost gave up on the whole fermenting hobby over it. So yeah, definitely worth poking around under the mat if temps start acting weird.

the_simon2mo ago

$12 probe off Amazon? Mine was a dollar more but whatever. Sucks when that happens though.

tara6422mo ago

Make sure you check the probe tip for any cracks or moisture inside too. Even a hairline split lets juice in and messes with the readings over time. I wrap mine in a bit of heat shrink tubing before taping it to the jar, keeps the vinegar smell and steam from corroding the probe itself. Saves replacing them every few weeks.