Using a fridge to heat the brew up

[BarnabyRude]

Hello there
Been a little while since my last brew failed because I was brewing it out side and I could never reach the correct temperature.
But now I would like to retry brewing beer again and I have heard somewhere that you can put your brew inside an old knackered fridge and heat it up
Dose anyone know what I am talking about please

 

[yeastinfection]

Hey.
Its not about heating the beer up...more about keeping a controlled temperature for fermentation.
Is that what you mean?.

 

[craigite]

I use a small greenhouse tube heater controlled by an STC1000 (or is it an ST1000?).
google will help..

the other option is a heating belt but that's harder to control.

Main problem with tube heaters that if you try to wire the tube and the fridge, so it can cool and heat, then as each continue to adjust the temperature for a minute or two after the power shuts off then the other trips on. if you turn off a tube heater it is still hot and that residual heat can heat the fridge up enough for the fridge circuit to come on. solution is simple, either don't wire the fridge or fir switches. keep it simple to start, don't wire the fridge.

 

[Leon103]

You will need a fridge that works.

An inkbird controller and a greenhouse heater. Plug fridge and heater into inkbird and bobs your uncle.

 

[Simonh82]

I use a small greenhouse tube heater controlled by an STC1000 (or is it an ST1000?).
google will help..

the other option is a heating belt but that's harder to control.

Main problem with tube heaters that if you try to wire the tube and the fridge, so it can cool and heat, then as each continue to adjust the temperature for a minute or two after the power shuts off then the other trips on. if you turn off a tube heater it is still hot and that residual heat can heat the fridge up enough for the fridge circuit to come on. solution is simple, either don't wire the fridge or fir switches. keep it simple to start, don't wire the fridge.

This can happen if you set the temperature tolerance too narrowly. If you give it 1°C on either side of your desired temperature it shouldn't cycle back and forwards. It is definitely worth plugging in the fridge as fermentation can generate quite a lot of heat.

The inkbird controller mentioned above is good and is plug and play rather than needing wiring in.

You can pick up fridges for free on websites like freecycle.

 

[Bigjas]

Simon above has the answer, its all about how you set up the controller. I use an Inkbird ITC-1000 that I wired up myself, because its a cheap way of doing it and I'm a cheapskate who likes making things. You can see how I did it here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=65983

I have a 45w tube heater from Amazon and an old fridge that works. I currently have 23 litres of AG Porter in there and it holds to within 1°c of my set temp. The fridge is in the garage, so there is a lot of temperature fluctuation between daytime and overnight temps. The Inkbird works really well. If you don't want to make one, then use the Inkbird ITC 308. Its the same thing but comes as a ready to use controller. The brew fridge is the best thing I've done to improve my beer brewing.

Jas

 

[Cwrw666]

An alternative, which I've been thinking of if you don't need the cooling part of the fridge is to use an old fridge that doesn't work, so it's just an insulated box, and install a lightbulb fitting and experiment with different sizes of bulbs until you find one that holds the temperature steady within the right range. You'd need a digital thermometer built in as well but that's all.
Why would this work? Well we have a reptile terrarium in our livingroom that's heated entirely by bulbs and it holds the temperature pretty stable and we adjust it just by using different size bulbs.

 

[craigite]

This can happen if you set the temperature tolerance too narrowly. If you give it 1°C on either side of your desired temperature it shouldn't cycle back and forwards. It is definitely worth plugging in the fridge as fermentation can generate quite a lot of heat.

The inkbird controller mentioned above is good and is plug and play rather than needing wiring in.

You can pick up fridges for free on websites like freecycle.

Good point. Should have said, where I live cooling is not normally needed.
I did set the tolerance and compressor delay but still found it did a bit of temp bouncing. by fitting a switch on each output circuit I can override and eliminate to issue, if there is one.:)

 

[Graz]

The other option is to sit your fermenter in a water bath (builders trugs are good for this), then heat the water and hence the beer to the desired temperature with an aquarium heater (few £ off eBay). Bit of bubble wrap and some creative use of tape around the top to keep the heat in and job done.

That said I now have two brewing fridges (that heat and cool) controlled by STC-1000/Inkbird and I wouldn't be without them.

 

[BarnabyRude]

An alternative, which I've been thinking of if you don't need the cooling part of the fridge is to use an old fridge that doesn't work, so it's just an insulated box, and install a lightbulb fitting and experiment with different sizes of bulbs until you find one that holds the temperature steady within the right range. You'd need a digital thermometer built in as well but that's all.
Why would this work? Well we have a reptile terrarium in our livingroom that's heated entirely by bulbs and it holds the temperature pretty stable and we adjust it just by using different size bulbs.

Yes that is what I ment. I only need to heat the beer and not cool it
I am only doing ale and need to keep it warm.
And my though was as you said the fridge was an insulation box.
When you say a light bulb fitting; are you using a complete light bulb or just part of the light bulb?
Can you please explaine how you would go about finding and installing the digital thermometer?

Thanks