First Brew Day (BIAB) with a handful of questions/concerns/observations

[lagerlad]

does anyone know if the aquarium heaters are good enough to keep water in a builders trub at temp in a unheated garage or even submerged in the brew cheers lagerlad

 

[Spapro]

I have 2 fermenters sat in 2 ikea storage boxes in my garage, each heated with one aquarium heater in each water bath.

Mine are held at 18-20 easily by one aquarium heater (100watt I think). I did cut some foam board from work to 'seal' off the waterbath to try and minise evaporation and heat loss from the water bath but not sure how much difference that makes. Try one heater in the bath and if not enough buy another.

Easier having the aquarium heater in the water bath, less chance of infection to your brew and no need to sterilise the cable and heater if its not directly in your brew and in the waterbath instead.

When its very cold in the winter I do have to increase the temp setting on the aquarium heater a little to hold at the same 18-20°C - worth having a stick on thermometer on the FV (above the water bath level) so you get a good idea of the temeperature of the brew at any given time you check it.

Here is my setup - I cover the top of the FV over with a towel in the winter to insulate a bit:

 

[lagerlad]

thanks spapro think i am gonna go down the same road as you regarding set up as i want to keep most of my brewing in the garage,will order aquarium heater and get a big box/bucket...i presume you start heating the water the day before brewday so its at temperature cheers lagerlad

 

[Spapro]

thanks spapro think i am gonna go down the same road as you regarding set up as i want to keep most of my brewing in the garage,will order aquarium heater and get a big box/bucket...i presume you start heating the water the day before brewday so its at temperature cheers lagerlad

No need to heat the day before.

Get your brew into the FV as normal then lift the FV into the empty storage box (or builders tub). If you are jugging your wort into the FV or topping up with water making a kit its easier to lift the half-full FV into the storage box as its lighter and finish topping up with it in-situe.

Then add your water bath water and aquarium heater into the storage box. I add luke warm water to create the water bath (roughly 20-25°C) into the FV and turn on the aquarium heater once you re all done and dusted.

Ideally you want the aquarium heater plugged into an RCD protected soket (elf and safety). If you are adjusting the aquarium heater by dipping your hands into the water bath best to turn off the power at the wall first - then turn back on once you have finished adjusting and your hands are out the water. If a fault develops in the aquarium heater best to be safe rather than sorry.

 

[lagerlad]

got the heater ordered so hoping to have a brew day on saturday was gonna go for a box like spapros picture but found the fv fits well into a plastic dustbin(unused preferably)had one sitting at home as my son used to keep his footballs in it so a wee saving there.......this is gonna be my first full brew in a bag,done stovetop 10 litre brews (3off) all very good but took the plunge and bought the homebrew company peco boiler kit so cant wait,got the dunkel weizen kit with the boiler etc so will let everyone know how it goes....all advice and pre/during brew help appreciated haha cheers lagerlad

 

[DaryllLand]

I wonder if there are any techniques like leaving a grain bag beside warm heater over night to slowly raise their temperature a bit.

I guess its something you need to adapt to since different grain quantities are going require different strike temps.

Just a note on this. I now put about 5 litres of boiling water into my mash tun (cooler box style) to heat it up while I heat my strike water. I've had temps of around 60-75 degrees in the mash tun before pouring the 5l of water into a bucket for cleaning other equipment then quickly getting the other water in for the mash.