cheap & easy

Any suggestions how to easily and inexpensively keep my fermenting beers at proper temp. My basement just isn't warm enough and I don't have the room anywhere else.

A tub of water and an aquarium heater. Your local pet store or Walmart. Just checked Walmart.com. There are many choices from $26 - $47.

Experiment with water first to dial in the proper temperature.

this one is 200w for $14 from amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DHOB8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

kh54s10 said:

A tub of water and an aquarium heater. Your local pet store or Walmart. Just checked Walmart.com. There are many choices from $26 - $47.

Experiment with water first to dial in the proper temperature.

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exactly. check this out. it should help ya on your way.

I had NO IDEA that submersible heaters existed. Thanks everybody. That seems like a perfect solution...Until I build my dream brew house of coarse.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

exactly. check this out. it should help ya on your way.

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That was a great read, thank you. Swamp cooler seems to be the way to go for me. I have my first batch in primary now at room temp but I'm looking to combine the swamp cooler with a son of fermentation type of 2 inch foam box to retain the heat since I'll be fermenting in a basement that sits in the low to mid 50s.

This would be beneficial since I'm looking to control the temp of 2 carboys and I can let one finish off higher than the other if need be. Is a small aquarium pump necessary with that small of a volume of water?

Be careful in selecting a heater. The one I started with had its lowest setpoint too high. Be sure the heater will work to maintain temps within the range of your yeast.

william_shakes_beer said:

Be careful in selecting a heater. The one I started with had its lowest setpoint too high. Be sure the heater will work to maintain temps within the range of your yeast.

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the Rena (brand) heater's lowest setting is 66 and the ones i have heat the water bath to ~67 at the lowest setting. you can get ones with lower settings from most quality aquarium retailers. i highly recommend a submersible with actual degree settings on the dial and not the ones with a 'hi-lo' dial. i recently bought an Aqueon 100w for one of my aquariums that has a very nice degreed dial, display and it was only $19.99 (maybe $24.99). it's incredibly accurate, it's set at ~79 and holding a 30 gal aquarium at ~77-78, it's 100% submerged and next time i need a heater for brewing, i'm getting a 50w version of that one.
there's always the option of using a cheap temp controller to keep the heater from cycling on too much, but for ale brewing, the Rena heaters will do just fine without one. for lagers, i run my Rena heater off a $25 Johnson temp controller, i put the probe in a thermowell and it works pretty well. i'll post some pics on that on my blog when i begin lagering my Alt that's in primary now. FWIW, that beer is holding 55 in a swamp cooler that's in a cool (62 degree) room with only ice bottles to cool it. i've been adding one every two hours or so. but it only creeps up 1-2 degrees in 8 hours over night w/o ice. :rockin: