Maintaining fermentation temperature: belt/heater

[drf]

Well, with a house move I'll probably have to brew in the corner of the kitchen where it's likely to get a bit chilly at night. So economic suggestions for maintaining fermentation temperature?

Sleeping bag and wrapping it up of course, but I think I'd like a way to get some heat in if required.

Brew belts any good? I assume they don't have a thermostat?

I've seen mention of the use of aquarium heaters. I assume glass rather than metal would be a better idea, what about the cables - any worry of them being non-food-grade? Are the heaters self-contained (i.e. just plug 'em in and they do the job, or is a separate thermostat required as well?).

Any other pointers?

TIA

Chris

 

[jamesb]

I used to use an aquarium heater with no problems. They're completely self contained. Some brands have better thermostats than others though, but it'll be a case of trial and error to find a decent one.

 

[drf]

No worries about sanitising them then? I assume a rinse with videne or equivalent will do the job. And a hole in the FV lid of course! Hopefully airtight as I rather like the sound of the bubbling of the airlock!

 

[jamesb]

Aye, just clean and sanitise as you would anything else.

I used a plastic cable gland in the lid of the FV to get the cable through and position the heater, and seal it if you so want.

 

[Moley]

Belts don't have thermostats and can get a bit too warm, although there was a thread somewhere about hooking a belt up to a dimmer switch. I don't know what temperature the trays reach.

With aquarium heaters, if it's beer I suppose the heater needs to be suspended in the bucket. I use them for wines but in a bucket or deep tray to form water baths.

 

[Dunfie]

I use a heatbelt that is controlled with the TC10 pid. Just stick the fermenter in the garage, put on the heatbelt, set your favoured temp and wrap in a sleeping back.

It does the job for me. :thumb: