Get wrap, etc temperature range

Hi all. I have a question for those that use fermwraps and similar products.

I need to find a way to ferment up to three batches at different stages in my chest freezer. From primary fermentation to cold crashing.

I thinking that I can use my temperature controller to keep the ambient temperature at 40 degrees and then get fermwraps each with their own temp control to keep the fermenters at whatever temperature I want.

This way I could do an ale and a lager at the same time, etc. When a beer is done I could just unplug its fermwrap and let it cold crash at 40.

Would a fermwrap be able to keep a fermenting beer at 60-70 in a 40 degree chamber?

Sorry about the double post. Either my phone or the app glitches. Can't figure out how to delete this one.

I'm not sure how well this would work. The fermwrap does give off some heat externally as well as warming your fermenter. It seems that it will be constantly battling the freezer. Fermwrap heats up the air space in the freezer so freezer kicks on, which makes the fermwrap keep working, etc, etc. My gut says the fermwrap will lose the battle and be unable to keep the temp up against the freezer. One way to find out

Thanks. Good point. I might get one and try it with a smaller heat differential. Maybe with the freezer set at 60 and the wrap set at 70 and see what happens.

Many homebrewers do this frequently to test differences in ferm temps. I would keep the temps within 10 degrees of each other

Yeah, I think with the smaller differential it may work. Does this mean you have 2 controllers? If so, I'm jealous.

Yeah I don't see the 30 deg differential working. The 10 degree will probably work if you insulate the fermenters over the wrap, with no insulation in my experience they heat up the ambient temp in the freezer pretty well.

I bet you could do it if you wrapped the ale in some insulation, which could be as simple as a few towels.

kanzimonson said:

I bet you could do it if you wrapped the ale in some insulation, which could be as simple as a few towels.

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I think even better would be to wrap it in fiberglass insulation with the heat wrap inside

Sure, it just depends on how meticulous you want to be. Realistically, so long as you can get through the first few days of fermentation you're good. After that you could just take the ale out of the chamber and use the external environment to finish it.

BlueHouseBrewhaus said:

Yeah, I think with the smaller differential it may work. Does this mean you have 2 controllers? If so, I'm jealous.

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No I don't have two controllers but I would buy more if this could work. The controller I use is a dual temperature one that only costs $45. I was hoping to get a couple of different beers in there so that I could brew more often.

Right now I just try and stagger my brew days by at least two weeks so that one beer is finished before the next goes in. It can be a longer wait if I have to dry hop, lager or brew something big.

I guess I'll just have to stick with my current way of doing things and brew a little less often.

I highly encourage giving a try to what I mentioned above - chill your batch to pitch temp, add yeast, ferment in the chamber on the low end of temp range for the first three days, and then as fermentation subsides remove the batch to room temp. I have no concerns if my beers finish in the 68-75 range, though I do target about 70. You can brew every week if you do it this way.

kanzimonson said:

I highly encourage giving a try to what I mentioned above - chill your batch to pitch temp, add yeast, ferment in the chamber on the low end of temp range for the first three days, and then as fermentation subsides remove the batch to room temp. I have no concerns if my beers finish in the 68-75 range, though I do target about 70. You can brew every week if you do it this way.

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I will try this for sure. I'll leave it for a week though. I rarely brew twice in 7 days.