Keeping the FV warm.

[Chris]

Hi all :party: ,

I've read several topics on here about keeping my FV in the proper oC range. I leave mine in the kitchen on the worktop, this weather it's below 18oC according to the stick on temp gauge. Last couple of days I've had a bath towel wrapped round it to try & keep the chill off it, doesn't seem to be doing much.

I don't have any spare blankets, duvets etc. I'm just worried about the low fermenting temperature. I'd just like to keep the FV warm during the time I'm in the house through the week (5pm onwards). I've looked at belts & pads & it seems they need to be left on for hours on end just to get the wort upto temp. I won't leave things like this plugged in when I'm not in the house, so they seem pointless to me (I'm paranoid you see :) ).

Any other suggestions welcome.

Regards,
Chris :drink:

 

[dps]

you could get a aquarium heater which would be safe to leave on all day.
there are a few members on here uses them

 

[aneray]

Hi there Chris

I have mentioned this to a few brewers, but have you ever thought about an electric blanket. Most people have them in their cupboards and nowadays you can leave them on constantly. Left on number one and fitted loosely, you should get the right temperature needed. I have used one for a couple of years without a problem and the new ones can be unclipped and washed as normal.

 

[artiums_enteri]

I can understand the paranoia behind the fermenter heaters, but they really don't get that hot. There really is very little risk from leaving them plugged in. Unlike an electric heater these don't have exposed heat coils that could start fires, and they use very low wattage. I would associate the sane risk of leaving the radio, tv, or fridge plugged in.

 

[Darcey]

A key point some people for get is to insulate the bottom of the fermentor! Before I started using fridges I allways had mine on at least one towel to keep the heat in. The heat belts work ok but you risk over heating the beer. A good way to stop this is to wraping your beer in a towel and then putting the heat belt on top of that. Its not in direct contact with the fermenter that way. But still you have to keep a good eye one it.

The heater belts you see are made from the heating tracer cabling used to stop cold pipes from freezing and are pretty much safe, having said leaving any hot thing on can be worrying!

If you keep it insulated at the start of the fermentation or before it gets too cold the exothermic action of the yeast should keep it warm enough to power it thru!

D

 

[Baz Chaz]

I built a box out of some plywood and gash timber I had lurking around, 'the Den' gets quite cold so thought this would be a good idea as we don't have an airing cupboard, the only downside of having combi boiler

The box is now fully lined with polystyrene instead of just the bottom, I use an Electrim 75 immersion heater on it's lowest setting and so far have had very successful brews :drink:

 

[pittsy]

you could get a aquarium heater which would be safe to leave on all day.
there are a few members on here uses them

yeah i use this it doesn't cost much to run at all and is safe after all its designed for water no no electric/liquid issues and best of all its cheap to buy around £14 , go to your nearest pet store or garden centre. also you can set the temp unlike some other forms of heaters :thumb:

 

[Scorrie]

If you can get over your problem with leaving things on whilst you are out, go for the electrim 75 heater.

Basically it's a small heater sealed inside a glass tube. Plug in and immerse in the beer. It's set to fermenting temperature and only draws as much power as a light bulb...and I reckon you'll have been out and left a light on before now... :

All the info on here about insulating is worth taking on board. :thumb:

 

[Bluebottle]

My aquarium heater is the £10 jobbie from Argos. Works a treat in a low water bath utilising a plastic under bed storage box with 3-4 inches water in.

 

[Chris]

My aquarium heater is the £10 jobbie from Argos.

Is it this one BB: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/store ... IUM+HEATER

Darcey, I see you're in Stockport. Do you use the HBS on the A6? Do you feel like slitting your wrists when you come out of there? I do, not very friendly I found :lol: .

 

[BrewSage1985]

Just use an aquariaum heater or Electrim 75 immersion heater and wrap a camping mat or insulating material around the FV to keep the heat in and the cold out.

 

[Northern Brewer]

Would this be any good if the FV well insulated and leave it on until it goes exothermic?

I hear some use a water bath and some dangle it in the FV, I'm guessing an aquarium heater is OK in the FV as long as you give it a wash after its been in with the fish

 

[Bluebottle]

My aquarium heater is the £10 jobbie from Argos.

Is it this one BB: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/store ... IUM+HEATER

Yup, sure is. :thumb:

 

[BigYin]

Would this be any good if the FV well insulated and leave it on until it goes exothermic?

I hear some use a water bath and some dangle it in the FV, I'm guessing an aquarium heater is OK in the FV as long as you give it a wash after its been in with the fish

ideally just buy a new one :lol:

I have an aquarium heater in my FV - works a treat - BUT you do have to be rigorous about cleaning it up between brews as there are a lot of nooks and crannies there for the nasties to hide in :thumb:

 

[orlando]

I got one of those aquarium heaters off ebay, Chinese jobby via Hong Kong. Very cheap but took 3 weeks to arrive, so if you go this route don't plan on an early brew, at best I've heard 10 days to arrive. Putting it in the brew has attendant risks obviously, but for me the suspicions were, was it working properly. I took several temp readings when using it and they weren't consistent enough for me. Adjustment is a big issue because they have to be immersed a long way into the brew and once the head has formed you just can't change the setting easily. We eventually fell out when it appeared the thermostat packed up and I had to leave the house heating on 24/7 to not lose a brew.

My solution has been to use an old under counter fridge that was not being used for anything; plenty knocking about second hand I'm sure. I bought a 60w tube heater from Toolstation for less than £16 delivered and hooked everything up to an STC 1000. I'm useless at anything electrical so got mine already wired; plenty available on ebay for peanuts if you are handy electronically. I now have somewhere to ferment starters within 1/2 a degree of the temp required, ditto with the fermenting of the brew and can store kegs and bottles in it once things warm up. The added bonus is that on the hot side it will control my HLT for mashing & sparging.

If you already got a spare fridge I suspect that you could get away with less than £50, with a lot of headaches out the way. You don't even have to destroy the fridge to do this as I just run the respective leads through the door seals, works a treat, lost only 1/2 a degree over 1 hour on test.

Here are some shots of it in action:

 

[artiums_enteri]

I just solved a similar problem myself. I live in a desert environment, and right now it is about 60* during the day and about 20* at night. The temp usually changes in the course of an hour after sundown.

Such huge swings in temperature can be detrimental to the beer. My solution was to get a raco temp controller that has a cold plug in and a hot plug in. I then plugged the fermawrap into the hot side and the chest freezer where the conicals are kept into the cold side. Using both devices simultaneously I set the temp in the chest freezer at 55*. If the freeze gets colder than 55* the temp controller turns on the fermawrap. If it gets warmer than 55* the temp controller turns on the freezer.

 

[pittsy]

its just a constant shitty 5 degrees here with maybe a drop or rise of 3 degrees most of the time , its why we Brits all go abroad for our hols , it aint too much better in most so called summers with the exception of a few good years here and there

 

[BrewSage1985]

A simple electrim 75 immersion heater attached to a bung with a hole in the middle for an air lock will do. Camping mat to insulate the FV to keep the heat in and the cold air out, also stops the immersion heater from constantly switching itself on and off all the time if the temperature in the room is cold. The immersion heater switches itself on and off depending what the temperature is inside the FV. Theres a knob on it to change the temperature range (20 - 24 degrees C)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us