Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
How to keep the FV warm
Not sure how good this is, but I saw in ASDA today they are selling Electric Blankets for £15. I would think it would do a good job wrapped round an FV, and it has a thermostat.
If you're not living on the edge..... you're taking up too much space!!
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Awesome. Man you should change your name to Ba Barackus. That is an awesome plan. I wonder where the probe for the thermostat is though???
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Interesting!
I can find info on the maximum temp (37C) but no info on the lowest setting. Would it go down as low as 18C?
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
I think they are a bad idea as you need to monitor the temp of the liquid in the fermenter and I can't see how an electric blanket would do this very accurately, especially given the temp of the liquid will not be the same as the ambient air temp and also the fermentation will create heat too.
I've been using a 200w fish tank immersion heater, immersed in the fermenter and plugged into a ATC800. I taped the probe from the ATC 800 to be outside of the fermenter and covered the exposed side with bubble wrap to insulate it. Its working a treat and I'm fermenting 60l in my garage which is about 2 or 3 degrees. I can change the temp by adjusting the ATC and have been starting fermentation off at 18c then raising it to 20c after a few days to help the yeast clear up all the nasty by products. It has been struggling a bit to get above 20c since the cold has come again but its hovering around 19+ which is fine. Hopefully it will be able to get warmer once things warm up a bit so I can do some wheat beers at around 24c.
Fish tank heater was £19.99 and ATC is about £30 but its money well worth spent if you ask me as I now have total control of my fermentation temp and I can ferment outside. Most of the fish tank heaters have built in thermostats to give you the range you need so you could avoid the ATC if you didn't want to alter the temp although I personally the ATC is well worth the money and its also great to see the temp on the read out.
I may struggle a bit if it gets really hot in the summer but my garage never really gets much about 18 so I don't think I'll need to cool even then. I'll just need to do any lagers in the winter.
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Why dont you put the probe in the beer greg to get a more accurate temperature, or have you measured it already and found no difference?
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
There doesn't seem to be any difference and its easier to tape it to the side as you don't have the sterilise it plus one less wire coming out of the top of the fermenter.
I can't claim to have come up with idea, got a tip from a book on fermentation.
Reply
You must log in to post.