Northern Brewing! - Aquarium heater

Initially I was just going to post pics of the much discussed method that I use for fermenting in northern climes. The water bath aquarium heater techniuque.

However, please feel free to post any cold weather brewing techniques here.

Such as Bradsuls fine post and any others I may have missed or new ones to add...

Okay. Here 'tis. Naysayers i say thhpppptt! to you. It works GREAT for me and am happy with the results:

Cheap Aquarium heater $10 from the local farm and feed shop


I lowered it with wire so as not to fill the bucket all the way, but it is not necessary.



holding steady...


That is it. The "secret" to my ability to brew when the temp is -10° F outside (as it was last night) or lower. Brew room in the basement gets down to the 40's - 50's in the winter. Great for lagers, not so great for ales, which is pictured here. An APA.

Come on folks, we don't all live in the tropics, eh?

Clever idea. Thanks for sharing.

Thats pretty cool...but you've got nothing on this guy!

http://byo.com/feature/208.html

Flyin' Lion said:

Clever idea. Thanks for sharing.

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Well I am certainly not taking credit for this idea. It has often been dicussed here and debated. I just figured I would post some pics for those interested in actually using it. Any other cold climate tips and tricks most welcome, especially with pictures! Please post!

I'd only suggest getting the tub off the concrete to save a little energy, even up on a piece of plywood would help. The slab is probably pretty cold. To take it even further, if you can do this with a sparge cooler, it would use even less energy. I know some guys cut a hole in their icecube coolers for the neck of the carboy to stick out of. That would be perfect.

knights of Gambrinus said:

Initially I was just going to post pics of the much discussed method that I use for fermenting in northern climes. The water bath aquarium heater techniuque.

Cheap Aquarium heater $10 from the local farm and feed shop

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I do the same thing except I throw in a small fountain pump to keep the water bath moving.

http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/fermwarmer.html

-S

Bobby_M said:

I'd only suggest getting the tub off the concrete to save a little energy, even up on a piece of plywood would help. The slab is probably pretty cold. To take it even further, if you can do this with a sparge cooler, it would use even less energy. I know some guys cut a hole in their icecube coolers for the neck of the carboy to stick out of. That would be perfect.

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Hmmm. Good point. Did not take into account the floor temp.

lustreking said:

I do the same thing except I throw in a small fountain pump to keep the water bath moving.

http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/fermwarmer.html

-S

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I have not noticed signifigant temp differnces in the water bath or fermenter. I have placed thermometers (calibrated together) in each corner of the tub to check and they were at most ~1° different. Doesn't hurt though if ya got the stuff I suppose.

Great solution!

I actually have the opposite problem on the fermenting side of my setup. My apartment is set at 70F so I have to use my son of fermentation chiller no matter what time of year.

I use this method in the summer as well sometimes. Only instead of the heater I throw frozen water bottles in. Kind of a pita as they need to be changed regularly. I think I may end up building a chamber such as you mention some day.

I use an old. broken, 22 cubic foot chest freezer with a small space heater. The freezer holds 6 carboys and 4 cases of beer, and the temperature only varies by 2 degrees. The heater barely runs, and any "accidents" are self contained and easy to clean up. The only downside is that lifting full carboys in and out of the cooler is a PITA.

Oh man this is fantastic!! I am about to try to brew for the first time and I'v been trying to figure out how to maintain the right temp when the ambient temp in the room is around 40 degrees. I just googled "home brewing forums", got this one, went searching through the DIY's and saw this thread, man I love the internet!

when doing something like this, is there any problem with using a better bottle and spigot? any chance of the water getting in?

s50///mpower said:

Oh man this is fantastic!! I am about to try to brew for the first time and I'v been trying to figure out how to maintain the right temp when the ambient temp in the room is around 40 degrees. I just googled "home brewing forums", got this one, went searching through the DIY's and saw this thread, man I love the internet!

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welcome to the forum.

I set my lagering tank up yesterday to ferment a Kolsch. Rather than a cooler, I cut a plastic 55 gal barrel and am using the bottom 1/3 of it.

The outside temp is probably 23F. My garage at around 38F and the baby Kolsch is brewing at 62F. 62-64 was my goal.

aekdbbop said:

when doing something like this, is there any problem with using a better bottle and spigot? any chance of the water getting in?

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If the beer is not getting out then the water wont get in. Or so I would think.

My main issue with the water bathes is that I also need a controlled environment for bottle conditioning and it's tricky to stuff 45+ bottles neatly into a bath, especially when I've also got a carboy with apfelwein or ale to deal with. I'm planning a large ferm cabinet, but for now I've just got everything in the bathroom with a small space heater keeping the room at 70F (since we keep the rest of the house at 65 or less). It's not the most efficient solution as, of course, we still use that bathroom, but it does offer the perk of having a nice warm bathroom to use every morning, no matter how chilly the rest of the house is.

Note: From talking to friends, it appears wifey is more tolerant than most in allowing beer to ferment in our main bathroom, so this may not be a solution for everyone. However, I should note that she's as much of a brewer as I am. We're quite the team, actually: She's great with recipes and I'm great with processes.

I'm not too overly concerned about higher temps at the bottle carbing. As long as the yeast can do the job. If the optimum temp is 62-68 I don't sweat 72 or 74 for carbing. Less than 60 just means slower carbing.

You can also shop around for the right yeast temps. A northern brewer catalog is good for this. All the temps are listed for the yeast. Seems like wyeast 1010 and 1007 are the best for my 60F basement. Superior dry lager yeast works well on steam beers.

I fement in the celler of my house I just checked the temp of my porter and its @ 50* the yeast is Nottingham ale bubbling slow but it fermenting. I did the same thing last winter its the smothest porter I've ever brewed takes bout twice as long but well worth the wait.

Schlenkerla said:

I'm not too overly concerned about higher temps at the bottle carbing. As long as the yeast can do the job. If the optimum temp is 62-68 I don't sweat 72 or 74 for carbing. Less than 60 just means slower carbing.

You can also shop around for the right yeast temps. A northern brewer catalog is good for this. All the temps are listed for the yeast. Seems like wyeast 1010 and 1007 are the best for my 60F basement. Superior dry lager yeast works well on steam beers.

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so lower temps = longer "hangin out" for your beer before you can bottle it ?

My basement is probably around 60-68 degrees varying.... does the change in temp have any negative effects on the brew ?

illnastyimpreza said:

so lower temps = longer "hangin out" for your beer before you can bottle it ?

My basement is probably around 60-68 degrees varying.... does the change in temp have any negative effects on the brew ?

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No..:rockin:

This is also my biggest problem brewing. Limited on space to let carboys rest. Currently in the furnace room. stays consistently between 64-68. Pretty good I guess. I'll be doing mostly ales probably anyway as that is what I prefer. And the wits for the wife once the kid pops out and stops gnawing on her for food. Hops for me, Wit for her.

Porter fan said:

No..:rockin:

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no to which one ?

i do exactly the same thing with two large aquarium heaters in to winter when the temps get cold. works like a charm

just thought I would update with my results of the watter bath method, It worked like a champ! I got a 5 dollar rubbermaid bin from walmart used an old aquarium heater and water jet. Then I wrapped an old sleeping bag around it for some heat retention. The room would get down around 40-45 degrees at night but the watter bath stayed a constant 65-66.