chemist308

Recipes 

This question is for those who control fermentation temps with an aquarium heater. Do you put in anything to ensure some circulation of the water bath you use?

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Primary Fermenter 1: Beer

Primary Fermenter 2: Empty

Secondary Fermenter: Empty

Bottled: ESB Stout

Drinking: Nothing

mw20

Recipes 

I stir mine around every now and then. I use a probe thermometer to check the temp of the water bath at least a couple times a day and it seems to stay pretty constant.

Yooper

Recipes 

I don't really stir it. I guess it would be better to do that, but it seems like the water bath and the fermenter temp are pretty constant and pretty close throughout.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006
You call me a dog well that's fair enough 'Cause it ain't no use to pretend You're wrong
But when it's my time to throw The next stone I'll call you beautiful if I call at all

rickdeckart

Recipes 

I use a hydor Koralia aquarium circulation pump. Cheap, fully submersible and very effective. Without that, my water bath would be hot near the heater and cold at the sensor. Maybe my outer container is too tight for the carboy. With the circulation pump, temps are very stable.

babalu87

Recipes 

I'm using one on a Strong Golden now, havent dont anything with it and the beer is staying at 76-78 degrees.

mattmcl

Recipes 

I don't bother. The fermometer reads a steady 70 so I don't worry about it. I use a mop bucket on wheels, so it's a pretty close fit and there isn't that much water anyway.

flyangler18

Recipes 

There's no need for a pump with such a small volume. The volume of water is low enough that the entire volume will reach equilibrium quickly; thermal mass will help stabilize the temperature once it reaches your indicated temperature.

HairyDogBrewing

Recipes 

I recently noticed that there's a big difference between the top and bottom layers
of water.
I have a 100W aquarium heater in a big round tub.
With an Ale Pail inside, 5 gal water is about 8 inches deep.
Near the bottom the temp is 67F.
The temp rises with height until it's 72F at the top.
I also would have thought that it would reach a more uniform temperature.
The basement is about 56F this time of year.
I may have to switch to some kind of cooler.

jcarson83

Recipes 

I'm using this setup with an aquarium heater for the first time this weekend.

water fermentation chiller

I'm just going to replace the ice in the separate cooler to a warm water tank.

ClassicXJ

Recipes 

Not to Hi-jack this thread, but today I bought a 100W aquarium heater for keeping my beer in the basement warm. My basement can get down to about 58 or so I don't need alot of warming but just 10 degrees or so. I bought an adjustable heater so I can lock in at a temp.

Anyways I would like to be able to keep 2 carboy's warm in at the same time but can't seem to find a cooler big enough to fit 2 at once without spending a fortune. I've been looking alot online but most places only give you the outside diamensions and not the inside. I figure I will need about 26" long by 13 or 14 " wide. I know I could just use a big rubbermaid but I like the idea of also using the cooler in the summer to keep beer cooler.

Any suggestion?