How do you heat your fermentation chamber? (Poll)

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How do you heat your fermentation chamber?

  • Heating Lamp

  • Reptile Heating Pad

  • Swamp Cooler w/heating element

  • Blow Dryer

  • Space Heater

  • Heating Pad

  • Brew Belt / FermWrap

  • Other (please describe in thread)

Results are only viewable after voting.
T

thehopbandit

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I am looking for a good solution to heat my fermentation chamber (small 5 cu. ft. chest freezer). I built an STC-1000 temperature controller and am currently controlling the cooling on the freezer with that. Now, I'm looking to add heating.

There seem to be a lot of different opinions as to which method works the best and I am curious to see what most people are using.

Please vote in the poll above and feel free to discuss in the thread. Thanks!
 
Wow, good topic. This time of year my basement is around 58-60F so ales are out of the question. I never really thought of using a heat source in my freezer (fermentation chamber) to keep the temps up. I think for me a light bulb would be the easiest.
 
I use the Brewbelt with my STC1000 and it works amazingly well. I use it on a 60L Spiedel and in the middle of winter, in a mini fridge but my ambient basement temps are 58f, it had been able to ramp my Saisons to 84f. Normally I like to ramp higher but that's 26f above my ambient so I'm very happy.

YMMV
 
Begin2Brew said:
Wow, good topic. This time of year my basement is around 58-60F so ales are out of the question. I never really thought of using a heat source in my freezer (fermentation chamber) to keep the temps up. I think for me a light bulb would be the easiest.
Click to expand...

Actually those are pretty fantastic temps for most ales, non Belgians of course.
 
I use a brew belt, never used anything else, but the belt gets the job done.
 
I use the Brew Belt which I think is basically a wired-up reptile heater. It works well, quickly, and efficiently. And it isn't that expensive. I highly recommend it. I've never used one of the radiant heating options (the ceramic heater, or the lightbulb-in-a-can option, etc.), but I would think it would be slower and less effective since it's separate from the beer, rather than wrapped right around the fermenter. Of course YMMV.

Edit: I really wouldn't recommend something like a blow dryer. Those things just aren't meant to run for extended periods, and quite frankly as electrical appliances are pretty janky. It just scares me to think of something like that roaring away for hours in a confined environment.
 
I also use a smaller space heater on low with an stc-1000 controller. Not sure the wattage. Works great once the beer is up to temp.
 
i would like to add that using a radiative heat source like a reptile rock might even inhibit the growth of mold or mildew, whereas a hair dryer or space heater dries the air and helps prevent mildew.. just a thought. it seems more economical (to me) to get some air movement taking advantage of the benefits of convection - over radiation.

i live in phoenix and my keezer is indoors, so i have no reason to test this thesis. i almost wish that it was colder in here... ;)
 
I have used both reptile panel and ceramic space heater. I much prefer the space heater due to convection as stated earlier and amount of heat needed. Reptile panel couldn't keep up with Spokane Washington winter temps.
 
I have my fermentation chamber (freezer with Johnson controller) in my garage which is at 62F this time of year. I have a small space heater in the garage next to it and set at 71F so that I can ferment at 62F-71F as needed. I have a mercury thermostat in my garage and the heater does quite well at keeping it at 70+. My electricity bill takes a hit though so I should probably look into something more energy efficient.
 
ResumeMan said:
I use the Brew Belt which I think is basically a wired-up reptile heater. It works well, quickly, and efficiently. And it isn't that expensive. I highly recommend it. I've never used one of the radiant heating options (the ceramic heater, or the lightbulb-in-a-can option, etc.), but I would think it would be slower and less effective since it's separate from the beer, rather than wrapped right around the fermenter. Of course YMMV.

Edit: I really wouldn't recommend something like a blow dryer. Those things just aren't meant to run for extended periods, and quite frankly as electrical appliances are pretty janky. It just scares me to think of something like that roaring away for hours in a confined environment.
Click to expand...

Truth be told, it (blow drier) runs for a few minutes every few ours on the coldest days. The thermal shut off on the drier never engages and it works well. I'm using it on a Ranco controller in a chest freezer.

I watched it like a hawk when I started using it because just the notion of it scared the hell out of me but, since seeing it in action, I can't see needing to go to somthing else.

Oh yeah, it also has GFCI built into it. I'm using it on a GFCI circuit already so not so important for me but it's another way they try to keep ditsy teen girls from killing them selfs with them and makes me all the more confident my solid state temp controller has the intelligence to handle the job. :D
 
I put a hot plate under a false bottom set on low.
it puts out a nice gentle heat and I have no problems with overshooting.
 
Black Island Brewer said:
I use a 150 watt 120 volt ceramic heat emitter.
Click to expand...

This. Floyd recommend it, scored. it. on Amazon really cheap and it works surprisingly well. Not only do you do you get heat, but you also get a fan onboard to recirculate air inside. Paint can isn't giving you that.
 
Black Island Brewer said:
I use a 150 watt 120 volt ceramic heat emitter.
Click to expand...
+1 on the ceramic heat emitter. I had a fire from a small heater w/ fan unit I my original ferm chamber. It's being refurbed & converted to lagering. My new chamber holds 6 carboys and holds temp in hot or cool weather w/I issues
 
govner1 said:
+1 on the ceramic heat emitter. I had a fire from a small heater w/ fan unit I my original ferm chamber. It's being refurbed & converted to lagering. My new chamber holds 6 carboys and holds temp in hot or cool weather w/I issues
Click to expand...

Brief synopsis from your fire plz??
 
I will use an arduino controlled aquarium heater with a swamp cooler put in a cold room so i can do anything from like 50f to 90f.
 
butterpants said:
Brief synopsis from your fire plz??
Click to expand...
I has a small Sunbeam heater & the heat control failed and it caught on fire. Fortunately my temp control unit shut off the power so the core was contained within the ferm chamber. All the insulation, glue , etc., was fire retardant. Mostly smoke damage & nasty fumes from the melted heater.
I had two beers in secondary that were unharmed even though the heat slight deformed one corner of one of my BB's.
Gutting it and steam cleaning then replacing all the insulation before using for lager.
 
I was using a heating pad for one bucket, and my fermentation box will hold two, since the buckets sit on different levels, the heating pad is no longer effective. I read so much about the 200 watt Lasko heater being used, so I spent the $20.00. The fan keeps the air moving so their should be even fermentation in both buckets. I haven't tried using two buckets yet, but I will keep you all informed as to how it goes. I would be happy to hear from anybody using this particular heater.
 
I use a 12V car seat warmer wrapped around the carboy. My fermentation chamber is placed in the garage with an ambient temperature of around 55F this time of the year.
 
eval, how do you regulate your carboy temperature? I am sure you have have some sort of a 12v power supply. Is it "well, that is close enough..", or "what will I do when it gets real cold?"
 
Flex watt heat tape here (the expensive fermentech one) wrapped in metalicised bubble wrap insulation that you can get at Home Depot. I can get 10-15 degrees above ambient that way, without impacting my other fermenters that much.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Null_Paradigm said:
I also use one that I made. With my two phase controller I have used the setup for a ferment and ramp range of 62-80 for a strong dark Belgian so far. The chamber is a stand up freezer and the environment outside the chamber was 34-56.
Click to expand...

Another vote for the paint can heater. I put a computer fan behind it wired up to an old DC adapter to circulate a small amount of air. Works brilliantly.
 
I made a "Heater in a Can". After going through a handful of incandescent bulbs with delicate filaments, I went with this instead of a bulb...

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=16657676&lmdn=Brand&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

image.jpg
 
I found this out by accident, but I use a fan inside my chest freezer to keep the air circulating. It also turns out that the fan creates enough heat on it's own that it will (eventually) heat the chamber and raise the temperature of the beer.
 
I use a Fermwrap hooked up to an STC-1000 controller. Right now I just have it in a cabinet in the basement - so no coolin element - but this time of year my basement is in the 50s anyway so I only need a heating element for the next ~5 months.

My temp is always within .5C of target temp.
 

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