Wyeast 5335 starter

This is a Lacto Starter and I can't seem to think of a way to keep this warm enough for five days. It has to stay at 90* for five days and the only thing that I can think of is put it inside a cooler with 100* water in my hot garage. At night though the garage gets to about 50* and this is where I am kinda worried. Sure, it won't kill it going to 70* at night and then before I go to work I can just toss some warm water into it, but I don't know...seems like there has to be another way.

I don't have anything that can keep it warm otherwise. No lights (all flourescent), no heaters, no other ways that I can really think of. Anyone have any ideas other than what I am thinking of?

Matt

i use a cheap heating pad to keep temps near 68-70 in winter but thats for 5 gallons.. might be worth a shot

So the heating pad is a good idea, but mine goes for about a half hour and then shuts off. I am doing the warm water in the cooler idea and it has been hanging around at about 100 for the last four hours. I added some refresher warm water and got it back up to about 115 and it is hanging about there. I will add one more shot of this before going to bed, which means that it should be about 100 all night I hope. I am aiming for between 90*-110* ideally, though if I stay below 120 I should be alright according to what I have read. Technically I think it is about 131*, but I don't want to take any chances with my thermo being off. I also want my starter to not get overly sour, but I do want a good amount.

If this works tonight then I have a new way to incubate my culture so that I can leave during the day and sleep well at night. If I really only need to add water every 8 hours to keep it warm, I will be happy. I thought about setting it next to the hot water heater, but it isn't inside a contained area and i think, again, at night it will get too cold. This starter will make my Berliner Weisse and then will be my "yeast" that will innoculate a barrel of beer.

Depending on the ambient temperature your oven with the light on might keep you where you need to be. If it needs to be a bit higher you could keep swaping in/out warm water.

My oven with the light on this time of year stays around 90.