I have to give up on brewing for now..

syd138 · Jan 13, 2009

I just can't get my apartment warm enough. I don't have anyone living below me, so the floors are freezing.. its about 7 degrees in Chicago right now.

I kept my heater on last month so my apartment would stay at about 65 during the day.. and my bill was $250. So now I turn it down before I leave for work and its probably in the 50's. Have a batch of Apfel Wein in the primary that is not doing anything because its too cold.

Sucks, but I'll have to wait.

flyangler18 · Jan 13, 2009

Get yourself a Rubbermaid bin and an aquarium heater. A swamp cooler in reverse.

:mug:

Lil' Sparky · Jan 13, 2009

Or a brew belt

or a small electric blanket / heating pad

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible · Jan 13, 2009

Or a brew belt

Temperature Control :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies

nebben · Jan 13, 2009

Bump for the aquarium heater immersed in a cooler or rubbermaid . I left my house over Christmas for a week at 55F. My 3 gallons of fermenting port never strayed from +/- 3 degrees from 68 because of my fish heater.

Madman · Jan 13, 2009

Wee keep our house heat low, and as a person who also does aquariums for a hobby, I can vouch that a $15 aquarium heater will do the trick.

conpewter · Jan 13, 2009

What area of Chicago? Could always brew with someone else and ferment at their place.

Boerderij_Kabouter · Jan 13, 2009

or brew a lager.... there are sooooo many solutions. When I was in college our house was at 50 all winter and that never stopped us. I used a brew belt for ales.

Homercidal · Jan 13, 2009

Yeah, I'd work it out. Get a cooler to fit the fermenter and add a cheap aquarium heater. Or buy a brew belt (heated fermenter wrap) for around $20. I'm actually thinking of doing this myself, because my available rooms all fluctuate between day/work/evening/night.

Evan! · Jan 13, 2009

I'll toss one in the hat for using an el-cheapo heating pad from CVS, etc. Tie that sumbitch to your carboy/bucket with a piece of string, and you should be able to get it up above 70f if you want. What's the ambient temp right now in your apartment? My brewhouse (slash basement laundry room) stays around 57f this time of year. Right now, I have my heating pad on high, tied around a fermenting batch of Cidre Saison, and the fermometer says 74. So that's a rise of 17 degrees, and cider isn't even one of those high-activity fermenters either. Just the other week I had an IIPA that unfortunately got above 80 at one point because of the combination of the heating pad and the heat generated by the aerobic activity of fermentation. Plus, this is much less space-consuming and less effort (and cheaper too) than the old "rubbermaid filled with water with aquarium heater" trick.

flyangler18 · Jan 13, 2009

Evan!,

How much adjustability do you have with the heating pad in terms of temperature? I'll have to give it a whirl sometime....

Nimrod1193 · Jan 13, 2009

I wish it were that warm here.

Currently -36°F

mmb · Jan 13, 2009

Giving up is never an option.

Brew lagers.

Madman · Jan 13, 2009

Bewing a lager is brilliant! I'd start an Oktoberfest so fast, I'd travel back in time. Then, in the past, I'd give myself that advice just before the universe collapses in a quantum irregularity.

Boerderij_Kabouter · Jan 13, 2009

Madman said:
Bewing a lager is brilliant! I'd start an Oktoberfest so fast, I'd travel back in time. Then, in the past, I'd give myself that advice just before the universe collapses in a quantum irregularity.

Have you been introduced to the "Who's in Charge" thread?

cubbies · Jan 13, 2009

I would definitely just brew something up with a yeast that would ferment that low. Depending on where you are at in the 50's, you could probably still even do some Ale's. Kolsch and other German ale yeasts love it in the 50's.

Evan! · Jan 13, 2009

flyangler18 said:
Evan!,

How much adjustability do you have with the heating pad in terms of temperature? I'll have to give it a whirl sometime....

There's three settings (hi, med, lo), and I can get a pretty good range, you just have to pay attention to it. I wish I could rig something up with a temp controller, but I see no good way of doing that short of actually dropping the probe into the wort, which doesn't sit too will with me.

bull8042 · Jan 13, 2009

Madman said:
Bewing a lager is brilliant! I'd start an Oktoberfest so fast, I'd travel back in time. Then, in the past, I'd give myself that advice just before the universe collapses in a quantum irregularity.

I will have to give you credit on the proper selection of a username based on this post...

To the OP, get a belt heater as previously mentioned. That will make you much happier than living without homebrew for the next 4 or 5 months.

Madman · Jan 13, 2009

Boerderij_Kabouter said:
Have you been introduced to the "Who's in Charge" thread?

As a matter of fact, I have :rockin:

snailsongs · Jan 13, 2009

Evan! said:
I'll toss one in the hat for using an el-cheapo heating pad from CVS, etc. Tie that sumbitch to your carboy/bucket with a piece of string, and you should be able to get it up above 70f if you want. What's the ambient temp right now in your apartment? My brewhouse (slash basement laundry room) stays around 57f this time of year. Right now, I have my heating pad on high, tied around a fermenting batch of Cidre Saison, and the fermometer says 74. So that's a rise of 17 degrees, and cider isn't even one of those high-activity fermenters either. Just the other week I had an IIPA that unfortunately got above 80 at one point because of the combination of the heating pad and the heat generated by the aerobic activity of fermentation. Plus, this is much less space-consuming and less effort (and cheaper too) than the old "rubbermaid filled with water with aquarium heater" trick.

+1 for this method. I did the exact same thing to perform a ghetto diacetyl rest, and got a nice 12 degree bump in under 12 hours...

Revvy · Jan 13, 2009

Just make sure if you buy an heating pad, it does NOT have an auto shutoff...My mom gave me an old one of hers when she got a new one, for just that purpose...trouble is, it has a built in automatic shutoff after 1/2 hour...

I wish I could figure out if there was something I could snip to disable it.

It will probably say on the box if it has a shutoff...

Setzer_777 · Jan 13, 2009

flyangler18 said:
Get yourself a Rubbermaid bin and an aquarium heater. A swamp cooler in reverse.

+1 to this. You get to pick the temp, and it stays within half a degree. Won't shut off on you after a set amount of time, and the water temp will be equal to the temp inside the bucket. Just be sure to run the heater in some water first to make sure its calibrated, and get the right size.

BrewinJack · Jan 13, 2009

+1 to the aqua heater... and also to the lagering... that will set you up right there

Cheers

Rhoobarb · Jan 13, 2009

Lager!!! If you can read this, you need another homebrew!

I have to give up on brewing for now..

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