Im making a 20 liter batch of stright melon juice (juiced and cold settled 42 kg of fruit)
and added a touch of passion fruit and strawberries to creat more complexity on the nose.
Im constantly monitoring the temp since its around 30c nowdays,the cheese fridge is working over time just to keep 15-16c but the fermentation is generating heat so without using ice bombs (frozen 2L PET\PP bottles) the fermentation can accually reach 20c.
Since I want this to go slow and low at around 12-14c I added 1 bomb every morning,
In the past two days I was reading 10c which was really odd since the juice felt alot warmer, thinking the fermentation might be going through a slow phase generating less heat I didnt add a new ice bomb and trusted the reading.
Today the same happened and it was obvious the thermometer is messing with me since it was showing 20c sitting at room temp and even this morning its already started to get really hot.
Checked with boiling water and what do you know,water boils at 88c in israel!
This sucks since by checking the brix I lost about 4 points in two days (way too fast) but it seems like no harm is done, recalibrated the meter and added ice bombs to take it down to 12c.
Bottom line, dont trust your meter! check with boiling water before each make if it looks fishy.
Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't water boil at different temps at different altitudes?
I have always been taught to test in cold water with lots of ice. Should read 32F.
Yeah but I live at sea level.
Boiling point of 90c is almost 10000 feet, Living at that altitute I would likely try to avoid death not making cheese :P