Heating Belts for FV's

[The Baron]

Hi my room where I brew at the moment(lack of heating-££££'s) is dropping to 15/16 degrees on a night. I am therefore thinking of getting one of those cheap heating belts for the FV.
First question are they any good and second it says that the temp can be regulated by how high you place the belt. Any brewers using these with success before I spend- Yorkshireman as my wallet is tightly closed at this time of the year

 

[stuarts]

I have used them in the past though I used them with an inkbird to regulate the heat . It work well

 

[Agentgonzo]

I've never quite understood how temperature gets regulated by how high the belt is. You're still putting the same amount of heat into the beer.

The best I can assume is that if you put the belt part way up, you'll get warmer beer at the top and cooler beer at the bottom, and the higher the belt, the higher that dividing line.

 

[The Baron]

Thats what I thought Agent, it's the only way I could possibly explain it

 

[Agentgonzo]

Also consider insulating your fermenter. It won't stop the temperature dropping, but it will slow the rate it drops. And if you go with a heater, it'll save some of these precious Yorkshire pennies. Old sleeping bags etc work quite nicely if you happen to have one kicking around.

 

[The Baron]

I have them wrapped already which helps to keep it more constant but it is still at 15/16 ish so I need a little more heat just to help the yeast so it does not fall to sleep or slow right down

 

[pilgrimhudd]

I have one of those heat pads that it sits on, that seems to work well, i keep forgetting that I have an inkbird as I tend to just wander past occasionally, check the temp and turn on/off as necessary.

25W Fermentation Heating Pad Plant Home Brew Beer Wine Making Tool Heater Mat Uk | eBay

 

[Twogunrocky]

I picked up this heating mat from free cycle about 7 years ago, does a grand job with the Inkbird(uncovered for pic 2nd fermenting my hefe with Raspberry).... I have one of those belts too, only used it once before I got the inkbird, it's just a straight on/off job so placing it lower on the fermenter will create more convection I assume and heat more of the wort.

Should add it did a perfect job of keeping the main fermentation at 25°c before racking..... I think the mats cover more surface area as opposed to the belts that are quite thin and fierce imo.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I use one similar to this which is also 25w with no controller and it sits between 20c - 28c depending how cold the kitchen is.

• 240V 50z - 25Watt

£14.95

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/products/brew2bottle-25ltr-home-brew-heat-pad

 

[Tanglefoot]

I use two belts run off one inkbird in a large fridge to ferment two batches
together. I usually have the belt about 4" from the bottom, my understanding is the lower the belt the greater it's effect.
If you're not using an inkbird you could insulate a large cardboard box with celotex, I fermented with a belt like this over winter in my shed before I had a fridge. Normally it just needed a little residual background heat from the belt to keep an even temperature.

 

[mgmick]

I have my FV sat on a little mini pallet with a short tubular heater underneath it. I also use the cheapest heating belt I could find online. TBH, I'm not convinced the belt is contributing anything to the process. I also have to confess that I'm not a slave to temperature watching and have the attitude of "there you go beer, this is what you're getting so get on with brewing. So far that seems to work ok and decent beer comes out the other end.

 

[Jordang]

I was looking at similar for my allrounder and got a couple of back heat pads that I wrap round