Brew Belt

Hi as all, has anyone had any experience using the brew belt? Do they really work, can they be used with glass? I tend not to use my buckets. In Michigan it gets very cold, how do you regulate temp in the winter?

I live in Boston and my apartment is way too cold to ferment an ale during the Winter. People have told me that you can use the brew belt on glass since it is only a light heat, but I don't want to take the chance of the glass breaking and having to clean up the mess (and wasting the brew).

I have used the brew belt on my last 2 batches with a plastic bucket. I keep the bucket in the corner of my bedroom where the floorboard heaters meet (and my girlfriend does not have a problem with this). I just wrap the brew belt 1/4 of the way down the bucket and keep it plugged in for the duration of the fermentation. There is no way to regulate the heat (besides plugging it in and unplugging it).

It is worth the price since it seems to do the job and it is one of the cheapest (and easiest) heating options out there.

-tired

I wouldn't risk it in glass. If it has a flaw or a chip in it, it could thermal shock and crack open.

Supposedly, you can regulate the temp. of the wort by using a timer switch to cycle it on and off.

I haven't used mine too sucessfully. I've never quite been able to get the temperature I desired. I'm going to have to play around with it some more this spring.

There's no thermal shock because they don't heat the glass quickly and the wort draws the heat away. I've used them on glass no problem and regulate the heat by how high up the carboy they are.

i put my glass carboy in the plastic bucket with enough water so the carboy is 3/4 submerged and then put the brew belt around the bucket.
i use a timer for overnight when the house temp drops.

I live in the St Paul, MN area, and my basement temps are low in the winter. To ferment ales, I put my 5 gal carboy in a plastic ten gallon trash can filled with water to a couple inches below the wort level in the carboy. I mount an aquarium heater on the trash can and set the temp to my desired fermentation temp. These cheap heaters hold temperature well. You need to fiddle a bit to set the temp at first, since the control is an uncalibrated dial you turn up or down. I've used the same heater for 10 years now, with no problems.

I have also put 2 carboys into a rectangular storage bin and used an aquarium pump to circulate the water in the water bath, this works well too. I did have to reinforce the sides of the storage bin since it bulged alarmingly when full of water. A rectangle of 2X4s did the trick.

They are not made for glass fermenters.

I just purchased two and used them for my ales. This is the first time I am brewing ales in my house (as opposed to previous apartments) and my glass carboys are in the basement near an external foundation wall. I put a belt on each of two primaries that I had going.

For me, they worked well. I also used a belt hooked up to Ranco controller in my chest freezer to get the temp up for a lager diacetyl rest - for this I didn't put the belt on the carboy, but just set it in the bottom of the freezer.

More beer also sells a carboy cap thermo well for Ranco controllers (if that is what you have). You could use a brewbelt and one of these thermowells to keep your beer to a specific temperature.

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=6666

My LHBS guy said that people use them on glass all the time, so I took the chance. They don't get very hot, so I don't think they would cause a problem - My hot water is a lot hotter than these 20 watt heaters get.

beer4breakfast said:

I definitely don't have a heating problem, living in Texas as I do, and see no need now or in the future for a heating device for my ale fermentation.

But I'm curious about how the height of the band affects the temp. Which way to you move it for more or less heat?

Click to expand...

If the belt is near the top of the fermenter then because heat rises the top of the wort is heated and the heat is lost to the air space (CO2), If the belt is at the bottom then the heat goes into the wort and causes convection.
Yes some convection happens if the belt is at the top but not as much as if it's at the bottom.

MA_Brewer said:

More beer also sells a carboy cap thermo well for Ranco controllers (if that is what you have). You could use a brewbelt and one of these thermowells to keep your beer to a specific temperature.

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=6666

My LHBS guy said that people use them on glass all the time, so I took the chance. They don't get very hot, so I don't think they would cause a problem - My hot water is a lot hotter than these 20 watt heaters get.

Click to expand...

I haven't tried it myself, but I saw a thread (perhaps on this site?) about a DIY project to make these thermowells. Essentially, it was just an old dip tube from a cornie keg that was sealed at the bottom with food-grade silicone. Slip the whole thing in a carboy cap, and insert the Ranco temperature probe.

Warning! My 2 cents.

Was looking at the brew belt and this for a little more $, http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16674

Ended up picking up a heat pad from walmart for $10, also seen them at walgreens for more $. Found it in the same isle as electric shaver. It's got 3 settings, lowest setting maintains 64 degrees, second 74 and 3rd i haven't explored that high.

Helps the yeast to keep working instead of floccin out. The winters here in WI make my basement temp. drop to around 55-57.

More beer please!

I also use the aquarium heater method.

$5 bucks or so for a large plastic tub, $10 for the heater (less if you go to a big box store I am sure) and you are good to go.

The added advantage is the water bath modulates the temp as water temp changes much slower than air. Which is a big plus when you have a cold wildly fluctuating temperature old house. Plus, as AiredAle pointed out, you can use a larger tub and have more than one carboy in the bath at the same time.

I was having major temperature problems and this has helped tremendously.

uuurang said:

Warning! My 2 cents.

Was looking at the brew belt and this for a little more $, http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16674

Click to expand...

I saw that product from B3, but I kind of needed it right away, so I went to my LHBS and they only had the brew belt. It's the type of thing that I'll only need in the winter, and now that I have two of them, I won't need to use them for like 5 years - Murphy's law, and all.