eager_brewer

Recipes 

I have a question about how to insulate my fermentation cubby. I have a small space underneath my basement stairs. It is only about 3 ft wide and 4 ft tall and slopes with the stairs so it is about 5 feet long from the top of the slope to the bottom. This is perfect for storing a couple of fermentors and kegs. I was going to just line the thing with 1/2 foam insulation. It is currently carpet but the wood doors have a small opeing where they meet. I would line the inside of the doors with insulation as well. Then I should be able to heat this with a small light bulb. Does anyone have any suggestions or am I on the right track?

Thank you!
EB

__________________
Upnext:Double Bastard Clone
Primary: Empty
Primary:Empty
Secondary: Empty
Secondary:Double Bastard CLone
Kegged: DFH 60 min Clone
Kegged: AHBS Pallisade IPA

Slider46

Recipes 

I would go with the pink 1.5" or 2" thick insulation. The temperature will fluctuate less with more insulation.

As far as the heating with a light bulb, that could work. Just make sure you block direct light from your fermenters (if they are clear) with maybe a piece of cardboard or extra foam insulation. I would also be very very sure that the bulb has no chance of catching anything on fire. Make sure it's not too close to the stairs or sides of the space.

A directional heat lamp may be more efficient. No matter what the method used to heat, keep in mind that you may need some way to vent excess heat and that would require some sort of temperature control either to switch the bulb on/off or a fan/vent.

Is it really cool enough to require heat?

__________________

Brewing:
Ready: Nothing - All Gone :(
Bottled/Aging: Cherry Wheat
Primary: Nothing
Up Next: Irish Red Ale | Almost Flying Dog Pale Ale

My Threads:
Newbie's Fermentation Chiller
Space-Saving "Brew Closet"

Spoke'n Beer Blog - Beer and Bikes

eager_brewer

Recipes 

I have a temp control unit that I used to use for my fridge but I don't need it any more so that is what I am going to use for the heat source. When you say 1.5 to 2 inch think insulation are you talking about the stuff that comes on a roll ot is this just a sheet I can buy? Thank you, as you can tell I know nothing about insulation.

__________________
Upnext:Double Bastard Clone
Primary: Empty
Primary:Empty
Secondary: Empty
Secondary:Double Bastard CLone
Kegged: DFH 60 min Clone
Kegged: AHBS Pallisade IPA

RegionalChaos

Recipes 

The sheet that you can buy. It's probably Polystyrene. Basically Styrofoam.

__________________
How I brew: Stir plate starters, Extract, Full boil in a Keggle, 10 gallon batches.
Brewing upgrades in progress: temp controlled ferment, stir plate re-work, building mash tun, milling station

Planned House Ales: an Amber, an IPA, a dark IPA, a Mango Ale, a blueberry oatmeal stout, a dry Irish stout, a honey wheat, Apfelwien

What kind of R-Value does your ferm chamber need? - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/what-kind-r-value-ferm-chamber-190459/