Aquarium heater in a secondary bath.

BeerCat said:

Not tried that method but had good success with a reptile heat mat 14w and an STC1000.

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Gazaman said:

Just wondering if the aquarium heater in a secondary bath with thermometer is still the way to go if fermenting in less than perfect conditions?

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darrellm said:

Yep, works for me. Just put mine back into service as the house temps have dropped, an inexpensive solution that results in far more consistent brews - think mine cost 15 quid overall.

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BeerCat said:

Not tried that method but had good success with a reptile heat mat 14w and an STC1000.

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Gazaman said:

After a bit of research, I quite like the sound of your set up.
Does the STC1000 require a cool feed or can you just use one output for heat?
Also, is the reptile mat you use just the same as a normal homebrew heat
mat?

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Clint said:

Are those reptile mats up to it weight wise? A full fv is heavy..a bit more than an inch of gravel and a 4oz lizard! Otherwise they are cheap!

Cheers

Clint

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BeerCat said:

I just use mine to heat up. As its cold in this house it works really well. At some point i will get a fridge but i really wanted to knock something up which uses as little energy as possible. Here is a great thread on constructing an STV with a link for the wiring diagram. http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=55346

This is the heatmat i bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221704244559?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Also bought one of these with a thermostat but not arrived yet. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282234825571?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Inkbird do an STC already wired up for around �£30 i think. There is a discount code on here but i really enjoyed making mine. Very satisfying. Thanks for the links, i may get one of those 80l boxes to satore my grain in.

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Clint said:

Are those reptile mats up to it weight wise? A full fv is heavy..a bit more than an inch of gravel and a 4oz lizard! Otherwise they are cheap!

Cheers

Clint

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Gazaman said:

Cheers mate, I'm looking at the Inkbird actually just because I'm lazy like that :-)
Is the second mat that you've ordered better than your current one?

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Chippy_Tea said:

I also thought about the weight issue compared to what weight would normally sit on it in its proper environment, would the mat work if it was stuck to the side of the FV instead of having the FV sat on it?

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BeerCat said:

Yeah i think the Inkbird is a good buy (dont forget the dicount codes) but i already had the STC and wanted cheap as possible.
At the moment i only have the 14w and 7w mats. The ones with thermostats on have not arrived yet. Not even sure i need em but they were cheap and i wanted to buy something.

Today i swapped the 14w mat for the 7w and my temps have stayed the same. This wheat beer is going nuts though so probably generating lots of heat. I should move it to a colder room.

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Poochops said:

I'm not knocking the aquarium heater in a bucket method of maintaining temperature, many use it and with great results, but if I brought that set up home and tried to stick it in the corner for ten days my missus would go absolutely ballistic! Now that heat pad on the other hand? It's the first time I've seen one in the link and I've got to say it's very tidy, I reckon I could get away with one and the power consumption is peanuts.
I wonder what temp the 7watt unit would maintain without an inkbird stopping it overheating?

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Poochops said:

Already got a brewfridge but one of those pads and one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-L...7d9c9ac&pid=100005&rk=5&rkt=6&sd=201508022037 and I'd have to for my Belgian kits for less than ����£20, no water no mess, now that, I might well be ordering after too many home brews on the weekend!

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