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iamscotty

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Welcome to the Forum.

If you are in Burnley, then the Met Office reckon that you will have +1, -1, -3, 0, -1 and -1 degrees celsius over the next six days so the chances of keeping your brew fermenting in a shed with just an insulated jacket is somewhere near zero.

One of the cheapest and easiest methods of heating a FV is one of these:

http://burnleyhomebrew.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=7_27&product_id=283

... but even then, the FV will still need a nice thick jacket if the temperature in your shed drops to the promised temperatures.

A temporary extension cord run out to the shed from the house would probably do the trick for now and then when you get into the swing of things you can start looking for better system.

Hope this helps. :thumb:
 
Thanks for the reply.
I am in wakefield my self.From the looks i will be getting a range of about 5C to -2C

your link didnt work :( just errored
 
Thanks for the reply.
I am in wakefield my self.From the looks i will be getting a range of about 5C to -2C

your link didnt work :( just errored

Sorry about that. Here's a link from my "local" shop for a belt heater ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/brew-belt

... and an immersion heater ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/electrim-75-immersion-heater

Both of these will still need some insulation to keep whatever warmth they generate inside the FV. :thumb:

I hope the links work this time!
 
In an emergency to keep the FV warm I have used a heat lamp and a timer to switch it on and off.
I use a water bath (a trug laundry container from Wilko @ �£4) into which I put my FV, and the water bath is heated by a 50w aquarium heater off ebay at about �£7. I don't like the idea of dunking things in the brew and possibly cooking it on the hot heater surfaces. Then I cover everything up with an old towel or two to keep the heat in. Works fine
 
Brew belt and bubble wrap I use in the shed. On extra cold days I drape a couple of old towels over too. Cover the top!

Saltrock, that's my set up, I have a brewbelt with a bubblewrap jacket and hat that sit on my FV. With the jacket I have two layers of small bubble , bubblewrap as outside layers with the bigger bubble bubblewrap as an inner core all sellotaped together. Between the bubblewrap jacket and hat and the brewbelt and timer my temps have been good so far. The only failing has been me being an idiot, once, the system itself works for me.
 
Its a battle to keep the temp constant, but I've not had any disasters yet. I do wine in the dining room as temp is always 20 in there. Can get away with a couple of Demi johns in there!
 
Hey there, try searching for a cheap second-hand fridge on which you will replace the thermostat with an STC-1000 or an ITC-1000 from InkBird - they're sold on Amazon / e-bay for about 15£. You can also wire a heater to those temp controllers and they work quite well. I don't need a heater but I've found answers from people who use infra-red heating lamps on a regular light bulb socket [used for pet lizards / snakes / other cold-blooded beasts] and they're not expensive at all.
 
My best thought is brew a lager. My brother in law tried to do a brew in the shed using a heating mat and tin foil, fleece blanket cellophane, tin foil again and a sleeping bag wrapped round the FV and a 10 inch thick loft insulation on top with a blowoff tube sticking out the side. Fermentation stopped and when he checked the temperature it was 15 C with outdoor temp at -1 C. I think a fish tank heater might have done better but I can't be sure although that would mean the FV could be insulated well at the bottom. I tried to persuade him not to brew in the shed in winter and summer but spring and autumn should be a lot better for maintaining temperature.
I hope you get a good setup and all goes well but don't be put off if it doesn't. Maybe try 20 litres of water in the FV to see if you can maintain the desired temperature.
 
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