What is the best equipment to use as a heat source in my fermentation chamber?

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Finlandbrews

Finlandbrews

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I have still not figured out what to use to heat my inside fridge for ale temperature control, can anybody recommend a safe equipment to use? I need it for a 25 gallons space.
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HWBMUWQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

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I had some of this laying around. It works great for me. Just wrap it around the fermenter and tape. But there may be better things, this was free for me because it was laying around.
 
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I am going to use heating tape, which is usually for wrapping around pipes to make sure they don't freeze in winter.
 
I recommend reptile heat tape from reptilebasics.com. It's the same stuff that home brew shops rebrand as fermwrap for a whole lot more money. I used 6 feet of it to line the walls of my fermentation chamber, and I have no problem doing saisons at 90F+ in my uninsulated garage in the winter.
 
Fermwrap. Add so,e tape and you're good to go. No hot lightbulb to touch, no concern of heating such a small area with a reptile heater, and they're about the same price. I think it's like 4 watts.
 
drgonzo2k2 said:
I recommend reptile heat tape from reptilebasics.com. It's the same stuff that home brew shops rebrand as fermwrap for a whole lot more money. I used 6 feet of it to line the walls of my fermentation chamber, and I have no problem doing saisons at 90F+ in my uninsulated garage in the winter.
Click to expand...

Thanks drgonzo, can I ask if a heat mat can be as good as heat tape and would 15 watts be ok for 25 gallons space? My concern is to buy the tool and install. Not sure I can do that without being too messy and this tool to make hole seems rather expensive... Thanks for help
 
Finlandbrews said:
Thanks drgonzo, can I ask if a heat mat can be as good as heat tape and would 15 watts be ok for 25 gallons space? My concern is to buy the tool and install. Not sure I can do that without being too messy and this tool to make hole seems rather expensive... Thanks for help
Click to expand...

Don't buy the tool. Just have reptilebasics set it up for you. Buy this wiring set for $4.99, and in the drop down select to have them install it for you for $0.99. Very affordable. Again, this is the same stuff as fermwrap, so if you buy fermwrap you're just paying more for the same product.

I've never used a heat mat, so I can't speak to them, but I did read in another thread where someone contacted the manufacturer and they told them not to use it has a heating mat for fermenting as they were not designed to support that much weight. Again, I don't know, that's just what I read.

As far as how much you need, I really don't think you can overdo it for our application. Just line the walls of your fermentation chamber (use aluminum foil tape to get it to stay put), and you should be all good.
 
Another vote for the Lasko heater. It's small, cheap, has built-in overheat protection, has a fan to help circulate when it's running, and it's available on Amazon Prime (always a plus for me).
 
My heating pad(which was held by electric tape) fell off the side of my fermentor and folded in half and melted the fabric and vinyl, I pitched it. I needed something quick as my chamber dropped about 3 degrees and I wanted to continue ramping up over the next few days. I went to the local pet store and ended up with a 44 watt bird bath de-icer. It seemed to work fine last night. Time will tell. :/

http://www.walmart.com/ip/17718101?...94161511&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=83958211271&veh=sem
 
I use this. Comes with a sticky side for gluing to the inside of your fermentation space. Heats my 8 cu ft chest freezer about 20° above ambient temps. Ordered at Williams Brewing.

S75.JPG
 
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Finlandbrews said:
Thanks drgonzo, can I ask if a heat mat can be as good as heat tape and would 15 watts be ok for 25 gallons space? My concern is to buy the tool and install. Not sure I can do that without being too messy and this tool to make hole seems rather expensive... Thanks for help
Click to expand...


Two 15 watt matts will be plenty. I drilled a hole in my fridge, cut the power cables to the heat matts, fed wires through and repaired the cuts with wirenuts. 10 minute job.
 
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I finally got a 5 m long heat cable 25 watts seemed people were happy about it and easy to install...
 
poptarts said:
lasko my heat ceramic heaters are the way to go I think. They are low wattage and safe to use and do great. I can keep my chamber at 95 in the middle of winter in my garage where ambient temp is single digits with one.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003XDTWN2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Click to expand...

Another vote for this. I'm in Minnesota and my insulated but unheated garage will dip below 20 degrees when it gets real cold out. I have a larger glass sliding two door fridge that I can keep up to fermentation temp without much effort.
 
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drgonzo2k2 said:
Don't buy the tool. Just have reptilebasics set it up for you. Buy this wiring set for $4.99, and in the drop down select to have them install it for you for $0.99. Very affordable. Again, this is the same stuff as fermwrap, so if you buy fermwrap you're just paying more for the same product.

I've never used a heat mat, so I can't speak to them, but I did read in another thread where someone contacted the manufacturer and they told them not to use it has a heating mat for fermenting as they were not designed to support that much weight. Again, I don't know, that's just what I read.

As far as how much you need, I really don't think you can overdo it for our application. Just line the walls of your fermentation chamber (use aluminum foil tape to get it to stay put), and you should be all good.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. I bought heat tape and made my own Fermwrap the first time and it took like 5 mins with clips, etc. That can heat a 12cf freezer to 95 degrees.

Next, I bought 2 smaller 4" strips to slip down the sides of my SS Brewing conical (behind the neoprene sleeve). Those two strips were able to easily raise the temp of the conical up to 80 degrees and I didn't try to go higher. I bought them from this source mentioned and had them do the clip installs - nice job and very cheap. This is such the way to go.

I can't recommend the heat tape enough - very effective and safe to use.
 

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