Heat lamp for fermentation?

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motobrewer

I'm no atheist scientist, but...
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So I'm planning on building a box out of insulation and putting a heat lamp inside.

what type of heat lamp is best? ceramic? incandescent? infrared? i'm worried about sending a bunch of light into the beer.
 
I use a hair dryer plugged into a RANCO temp controller.
 
nm999 said:
I use a hair dryer plugged into a RANCO temp controller.
Click to expand...

that.....is kind of brilliant actually.

but, i think i might stick with a lamp.

oh, i know about fermwrap, not interested. right now i'm leaning toward ceramic, altho i'm not sure how hot they'll get.
 
Hey Moto, I have the same problems being a fellow northlander. My basement is at perfect lager temps right now

I used Christmas lights and a blanket or two. If you have a cheap sleeping bag around, that would be ideal! The light produced did not have any ill effects because it's not UV light.

I Poked the probe of a short thermometer through the blanket to get an idea of the temp inside. I was able to control the temp by either unplugging one of the lights to turn off half of the string, or plugging in a blinker into half of the string. The nice part about this is that the lights are exterior rated and mostly sealed and have their own fuse that will blow if something bad happens.

I was also thinking of building a box soon, so if you end up building one, pics would be great.
 
If it's under 1000W you could put it on a dimmer to dial it in. A little fan for airflow will help even out the temperature throughout the box. Maybe a computer fan.
 
Plastic tote, ten gallons of water, and an aquarium heater... I wrapped mine in foil-faced bubble wrap, and can hold temps in the 80s in my 54* basement. It's wicked cheap, and very effective. I keep a couple caps of bleach in the water to keep it from being a stagnant funk soup.
 
i have a controller for this.

i was just wondering if Incandescent or infrared is bad, otherwise I'll go ceramic.
 
If you are using buckets, light isn't a concern. If you are in glass, just cover them well and incandescent will be fine. Just be aware of the fire hazard with incandescent in close proximity to the fabric you use to cover them.
 
I used 25 to 60 watt incandescants to control temp. last winter in a fridge and had no problems. Changing the wattage as needed, the bulb was on 24/7 with a single stage temp controller cycling the fridge on when it got too warm.

This year I'm using a 50 watt halogen spot with a Ranco 2 stage and still no problems.

On time and the amount of UV emissions are key factors, so I am guessing that even though the Halogen spot probably emits more UV in a given amount of time, the fact that it spends considerably less time on is why it hasn't negatively affected my beers. Also, I understand that halogens now have UV reduction filters built into them.

I would have gone with ceramic, but couldn't find one locally when the weather got cold real quick. Since the Halogen works well, I'll just keep using it until it burns out.
 
I'm heading out to Home Depot in a little bit to get some foam insulation, a ceramic heater with fan, and a temperature controller. I've gleaned bits and pieces from the threads here and I think this will work the best for my situation. The temperature in the basement where I keep my carboys is at 58-61F, I just need to pull it up a few degrees.
 
MeatyPortion said:
I'm heading out to Home Depot in a little bit to get some foam insulation, a ceramic heater with fan, and a temperature controller. I've gleaned bits and pieces from the threads here and I think this will work the best for my situation. The temperature in the basement where I keep my carboys is at 58-61F, I just need to pull it up a few degrees.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is exactly what I'm doing. Home Depot didn't have any ceramic heaters, just heat lamps. One by me, anyway. There are ceramic heaters on amazon tho.

Also, insulation sheets were bigger than i thought, lol. Gonna have to go back and get a truck...
 
A temp control and a heat tape are a lot simpler wraped around your primary with a blanket, and No light issues. Ceramic heaters use a lot more power and why deal with the complication of fans?
 
a fan is complicated?? but, i don't plan on using a fan.

i personally don't care for the idea of fermwrap on glass. not to mention i have things like markings and temp strips on mine. also, if you don't have a thermowell and are taping probes to the side of your carboy, you can really use a fermwrap, can you?

also, i want to build a box to make it into a chiller for the summer.
 
If I didn't have a small heater already, I'd go buy a very small ceramic heater and use that instead of a lamp. In fact, for the price, I might just do that anyway.
 
meaty, did you build this? i have a ceramic bulb along with 72" of 3/8" OD 0.305" ID 316 stainless tubing for thermowells coming from amazon.

Now I just need to get back to Home Depot with my truck....
 
SIXFOOTER said:
Ceramic heaters use a lot more power and why deal with the complication of fans?
Click to expand...

Ummm, how so?

I'd say that the ceramic heater would use less power than an incandescent bulb would. (You have to ignore the fan.)

The bulb "wastes" about 10% of the electricity as light where the heater turns it all into heat.
 
Huff360 said:
Ummm, how so?

I'd say that the ceramic heater would use less power than an incandescent bulb would. (You have to ignore the fan.)

The bulb "wastes" about 10% of the electricity as light where the heater turns it all into heat.
Click to expand...

no, he's comparing ceramic heater to fermwarp
 
motobrewer said:
Yes, this is exactly what I'm doing. Home Depot didn't have any ceramic heaters, just heat lamps. One by me, anyway. There are ceramic heaters on amazon tho.

Also, insulation sheets were bigger than i thought, lol. Gonna have to go back and get a truck...
Click to expand...

I found the last small ceramic heater at the Verona Road Madison HD yesterday for 17.99. I got two sheets of 1 & 1/2" x 4' x 8' and had them cut in half, then I had to call a buddy with a pickup truck to get the stuff home. :cross:

So far it's holding temp pretty well.
 
awesome. what did you use to assemble, liquid nails? I'm gonna run tomorrow morning and get some board.

what's the wattage on your heater? I have a 150w, I'd like to keep a triple at 78F in my 58F basement. shouldn't be a problem, right?
 
No nails, just used half a roll of cold weather tape. I skipped any sort of wood frame since the insulation board fits snug under my workbench and this is sort of a trial run anyway. The heater is a Kenworld 1500 watt with a fan and thermostat and it's keeping the beer at 65F. Idon't know how a 150w would work, what's the brand name on yours?

IMG_4944.jpg
 
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I may have to get another extension cord though since although this one I have is UL rated it doesn't quite measure up to the recommended wattage specs. Back to HD tomorrow I guess.
 
Huff360 said:
Ummm, how so?

I'd say that the ceramic heater would use less power than an incandescent bulb would. (You have to ignore the fan.)

The bulb "wastes" about 10% of the electricity as light where the heater turns it all into heat.
Click to expand...

motobrewer said:
no, he's comparing ceramic heater to fermwarp
Click to expand...

Even so - I still don't see how a ceramic heater uses more power if you ignore the fan.
 
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MeatyPortion said:
Yeah, I couldn't tell you about the bulbs as I've never used one but this heater works fine so far. Here's the one on Amazon that I was going to buy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TKDQ5C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...

man, i feel pretty dumb. oh well.

Huff360 said:
Even so - I still don't see how a ceramic heater uses more power if you ignore the fan.
Click to expand...

bulb is 150w. fermwrap is 40w. 150 > 40. even if they were the same wattage, fermwrap is much more efficient since it's in direct contact with the carboy.
 
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Went looking for a cheap ceramic heater at Lowes. Only thing I found under $20 was not ceramic and I already got one of those and it has a very stable base.

So far it's seems to work very well on my Johnson. At least the garage hasn't burned down.
 
I've made a heater using a lamp socket over a wood base and covering it with a peaches can.
I'm using a 40W lamp AND a stc-1000 for temp regulation.
I've a small PC fan pointing to the can, it never get too hoy and works outstandingly!
Without the fan, it gets hot.
Maybe using a smaller lamp Will work without a fan.
 

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MatyBsAs said:
I've made a heater using a lamp socket over a wood base and covering it with a peaches can.
I'm using a 40W lamp AND a stc-1000 for temp regulation.
I've a small PC fan pointing to the can, it never get too hoy and works outstandingly!
Without the fan, it gets hot.
Maybe using a smaller lamp Will work without a fan.
Click to expand...

You might want to check how hot the base and wire are under the can. Probably better off screwing in a $10 ceramic reptile heater and losing the can.
 
I used to use the light bulb in a can method, but never felt comfortable with it. I switched to a 50W ceramic reptile heater, set in front of a small computer fan to distribute the heat. No more can. The ceramic heater does get hot, but it's made for that. Be sure to keep it a few inches away from anything that could melt or burn and use a porcelain socket, not a plastic one.
 
Use a computer fan. They create heat on their own but you can add a light bulb to it with any wattage you want. Mine is duct taped to the outside of a lamp shade and the pair are plugged into the heating side of an Inkbird 308 controller. I was using a hair dryer but it put too much heat out. This solves the problem of controlled wattage and air circulation and no direct light (although the light wouldn't penetrate my fermentation chamber anyway).
 
DBhomebrew said:
You might want to check how hot the base and wire are under the can. Probably better off screwing in a $10 ceramic reptile heater and losing the can.
Click to expand...
I looked for Hot beds and ceramic lamps but are expensive here (Argentina)
Tested the lamp & can 40' turned on (no fan) and was too hot (on the can. The base and the lamp were fine.
With the fan on, it never get hot. Ndo only get on a couple of minutes every hour
You can use a lower wattage or a LED lamp if you want less heatting.
 
A 14w reptile heat mat will hold 27l of beer at 18c in the fridge. Or a low wattage heat belt. A lamp or tube heater is total overkill IMHO.
 

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