Brewing belt vs Heat mat

Cheers pittsy.
Wasn't aware the yeasties raise the temps for the initial day or 2.

I'll have a look at devising something that works. Might have to find some way of covering that hole in my lid now, where the thermometer feeds through lol

pittsy said:

as first few days the yeast heats up brew so you have temp set lower then yeasts calm down a bit thus set temp higher...

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Is this not unnecessary given these heaters have built in thermostats?

i have found that some brews the yeast will try and raise the temp up to around 23/24c which i don't want (digital temp in brew) but by submerging the fv into water it help keep brew cooler (in my case around 18/20c and after yeasts slow done my aquarium heater kicks in to keep it warm enough and if temp drops i can up heat without having to mess inside of fv , before i was finding the temp would jump up then down , how i have it spot on :thumb:

Might have to look into getting a bigger thermometer...

If the baine-marie container is gonna be around 70l, plus the 25l FV, I might just need that 100w (100ltr) heater

fubofo said:

Might have to look into getting a bigger thermometer...

If the baine-marie container is gonna be around 70l, plus the 25l FV, I might just need that 100w (100ltr) heater

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70l is if full but you only half full plus your 23l brew so prob only 50/55l of liquid in total as you don't fill to top etc, reason 70l is so its wide enough to take FV otherwise width not big enough, mine is a good 6" from the top

Evening all.

I've had problems with temperature recently, I'm brewing in me shed, and never thought I'd have to worry about temperature in June, I'm not allowed to bring it inside :whistle:

My FV is in a box, with a blanket wrapped around it, with a hole in the top for the airlock.

temperature-wise, I'm struggling to get above 18c, mostly, it's stuck around 16-17c (and that's during the day)

My options are to put a vivarium heater next to the FV, isie the blanket, or pop an aquarium heater in the FV.

Which would be better, and most cost effective in everyone's opinion.

And, the thermometer http://www.play.com/Gadgets/Gadgets...tml?_$ja=tsid:11518|cat:20708152|prd:20708152 mentioned by fubofo, is that waterproof?

I'm concerned that primary fermentation's been going on for 2 weeks, is at 1012, has slowed right down (it took 5 days to get from 1020 to 1012) and I'd like my first brew to taste half decent.

I'm not impatient, I can wait, but I don't want to leave it so long that it goes off, or tasted wrong because of the temperature fluctuations.

Thanks in advance all!

Welcome to the forum Mike :thumb:

I've had problems with temperature recently, I'm brewing in me shed, and never thought I'd have to worry about temperature in June,

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**** isn't it :lol:

My options are to put a vivarium heater next to the FV, isie the blanket, or pop an aquarium heater in the FV.

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You could also put the fv in a container filled with water and put the aquarium heater in that.
Personally I'd go with that, vivarium heaters can localise heat as can aquarium heaters in the fv, not to mention sanitising the thing

I'm concerned that primary fermentation's been going on for 2 weeks, is at 1012

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That's not bad at all, what's it meant to be finishing at :hmm:

miker7301 I bit the bullet and went bought myself a large plastic container to use as a water bath for my fermenting vessel. Best thing I ever did.

Basically it's a 70lt container from Tesco 1/3rd filled with water.
In it sits the FV bucket (digital thermometer dangled inside and display attahced to outside of bucket).
Adjustable aquarium heater 'suckered' to inside of 70lt container, submersed in the water.

I just set it at about 22*-23* and this tends to keep the temps inside the FV reading at a fairly constant 20*-21* (making ales).
Bring the thermometer down to about 20* for a FV internal temp of roughly 18*-19*

I'll post some images up later after work to give you an idea, along with some links to the products (if I can find them)


EDIT: oh and I have noticed a little difference in my brew from doing this. First lager as a little strange and sweet, second ale (Wherry) had a slight eggy-ness to the smell of it (tasted fine though). My current brews (second Wherry and Coopers Irish Stout) both seem to be much 'cleaner', smoother and smell/sample-taste great

Hi Vossy and Fubofo,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, I must say, even though this is my first brew, I'm hooked on brewing it meself!!

It's June, crazy, crazy weather (but, we love to complain about the weather in this country, eh!) :shock:

Thanks for the input, I think a plastic box will be coming home with me, I had not thought about over heating in a localised area.

FV today is 1011, so still going down, It's off gassing slowly too, the bubbles look like mostly flat coca cola (appreciate that the airlock is not an indicator of anything other than "I'm keeping sh1t out of your brew")

This is my 1st kit, and from reading this forum, I appreciate that patience is key, as I said, I'm in no rush. My main concern is that the brew's been in a plastic 5 gallon FV, and I've read that oxygen can get through the plastic, and into the beer, tainting the taste.

The SG should end up (is the FG??) at 1006 according to the instructions. I'm brewing BrewMaker's Yorkshire Bitter absolutely as the kit says.

I've got a Black Pearl lined up for my next one, and the instructions on that one are much more better, I like the idea of dissolving the secondary fermentation sugar (in a solution) into the primary FV, and carefully (very carefully) agitating it, and then bottling, I think the method of dropping sugar into each bottle is a bit hit & miss, and would lead to inconsistency between bottles (But that's a different set of questions, no doubt)

Thank you for all your advice,
Mike

The method you describe is batch priming. Have a search on here there is plenty of info on it but you basically dissolve the required sugar with some water in a pan, let it cool, add it to another fv then siphon your deer into it. You can bottle from there. Don't add the sugar mix to the primary fv though otherwise you will stir up the yeast.

I wouldn't worry about the plastic and oxygen Mike, not really a problem IMO. 1.006 seems a little low to me, what did it start out at? The normal 'finishing' point is getting the same hydrometer reading 2 days on the bounce. As the air temperature increases :pray: :grin: ...well it has to at some point...doesn't it you may start getting no bubbles at all from the airlock, this is due to the more C02 being absorbed by the beer at warmer temps...perfectly normal...the yeast will still be doing it's thing, albeit slowly as you edge towards your FG.

I've got a Black Pearl lined up for my next one, and the instructions on that one are much more better, I like the idea of dissolving the secondary fermentation sugar (in a solution) into the primary FV, and carefully (very carefully) agitating it, and then bottling, I think the method of dropping sugar into each bottle is a bit hit & miss, and would lead to inconsistency between bottles (But that's a different set of questions, no doubt)

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It's unusual to add the priming sugar to the primary, normally you'd rack the beer off to a bottling bucket and add the sugar there....as you say very carefully without splashing. I'm not too sure how you're going to avoid stirring the yeast up if done in the primary but maybe it's just something I'm not aware of :hmm:

I'm still a newbie myself miker7301 lol

I will say, however, that leaving the FV well alone is a necessity (except the odd gravity reading - get a turkey baster!).
Sounds like you still have a few more days to go. Try giving the FV a bit of a twist/shake, I find this tends to start up the yeasties a little more for the final effort.

Yes from what I understand OG = original specific gravity and FG = final specific gravity

For bottle-priming I just use a small funnel and a set of metal measuring spoons (from Tesco) to get a fairly accurate measurement of sugar per bottle.

I have just got myself another secondary vessel (with handles, screw lid and spigot) for batch priming (cost ~£15 from LHBS).
This way I leave the FV to settle completely and finish fermenting > boil about one pint of sterilized water and add the priming sugar to it > add the dissolved sugar mix to a sterilised secondary vessel (best with spigot) > auto-syphon from FV to secondary making sure it 'pours' directly into the sugar mix without any air contamination > bottle using spigot + bottling wand (or transfer to keg/whatever)



Here are some images of my current setup:

- The water bath -


- The digital thermometer -


- The 'homebrew bed' lol -



With this new setup I have found my brews have a much more explosive fermentation - my last one (Irish Stout) all but climbed out of the bucket including backwards out the airlock and blew off some industrial duct-tape that was covering a hole lol

Product list:
80l storage box - Tesco
Digital thermometer - Play.com
Aquarium Heater (25watt, 25 litre) - Pets at Home

Measuring spoons - Tesco
Turkey baster (and brush) - Tesco

And while you're out shopping pick yourself up one of the 'trial jars' (its a vase lol)
Trial jar (case) - IKEA

Try giving the FV a bit of a twist/shake, I find this tends to start up the yeasties a little more for the final effort.

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Good advice if you have an liquid filled airlock fitted to the fv try not to lift the fv when doing it, if you do, the bottom of the fv may/will bow and that may/will suck the liquid from the airlock into your brew...and you don't want to do that if ti's filled with sanitiser :shock: :lol:

Cheers Vossy lol, I'm learning :grin:

....and yes, I have actually had the airlock backflowing into my FV at the start lol - lesson learned! :rofl:

Thank you all so much.
I'm making up a list.....
Mike

Hello gentlemen,

I've not brewed yet, but I'm in the process of getting all the gear together.
I'll be getting a fermenter with a tap at the bottom, for easier bottling, so the bain-marie option's not really a possibility for me.
I'll be fermenting in the garage probably, in a lined cupboard, can anyone point me in the direction of a temparature controlled mat?

I like the dimmer switch idea, but I am to electronics to what XFactor is to music and don't want to end up burning anything down.

Any help gratefully received.

Regards,

Stuart