Brewing Heater Belt and glass carboys???

[Waldo]

Well my basement had been a steady 68 degrees, now that the cold weather is setting in its down to a steady 63 degrees. I was thinking about getting a brew belt but I see the manufacture doesn't recommend using them on glass carboys, have any of you used these on glass?

 

[D@VID]

Waldo,
I have used brewbelts on glass demijohns/carboys with no problem at all,just ensure that the "rubber" casing is the only part of it that comes into contact with the glass.

The one I use will fit around a 5 gallon fermenter and will also wrap around two singular demi's/carboys in a figure of eight fashion.

 

[Waldo]

Thanks! I think I'll order one then.

 

[justbrewit]

there is another type that is just for carboys, northern brewer has them

 

[cheers55]

I've got a similar problem. Storage closet starting to get chilly. I've got primary, secondary and bottles conditioning in there. Would a heat lamp help? Does a regular light throw enough heat? Would the light adversely affect the brew?


Cold in CT

 

[Waldo]

A regular light bulb won't skunk your beer, they will heat a small area very well, if I had more room in my basement I'd make a cabinet heated with a single light bulb. I could move everything closer to the furnace but the temps there are up and down, I think that'd be worse than just being on the cool side.

 

[Waldo]

The main concern I have with the heated brewers belt is the possible fire hazard, I'm paranoid about that stuff.

 

[david_42]

This may not be the most efficient approach, but I've been using a small ceramic heater with a thermostat. I just set it close to the fermenter. This works very well if you have a closet or a big box.

 

[AHammer16]

Why don't you guys try a cheap electric blanket and a digital thermometer?

 

[Waldo]

Ever seen the statistics on house fires started by cheap electric blankets

I'll give the brew belt a try for the primary, the secondaries I'm not so worried about, I did move my bottled beer closer to the furnace for conditioning.

Edit: On the up side when it gets down to the 30's out, I'll probably be able to lager.

 

[justbrewit]

if your worried about using a heater on your carboy, worry no more!!!
try the Fermwrap Heater. its designed to be used with glass carboys!!!

check it out!! its towards the bottom of the page!!http://www.northernbrewer.com/temp-control.html

i mentioned this earlier, but i guess it got lost in the jumble

 

[Windaria]

Well... if you have them sitting on something that is non-flamible, metal shelving or a basement floor, then fire isn't too much of a problem. Since that'd probably cause the bottle to bust, the fire would instantly get doused by 5 gallons of... erm... very good wonderful liquid. You won't be crying over a fire, you'll be crying from the loss.

 

[Waldo]

The fire would be bad enough but the loss of all that beer... that would be criminal. I was just kidding about the blanket and fire, I had considered a heating pad as well. As for the wrap made for glass carboys I don't like the way it covers the whole carboy, I like to be able to see whats going on inside with out having to untape and unwrap it, it also appears that it wold cover the thermometer strip.

 

[DarkStar]

I am running three of the ferm wraps and they do not reach all the way around a 5 gallon carboy there is about a 3 or 4 inch gap on it, they do really heat it up good, should have a temp control with them.

 

[Waldo]

I got mine and put it to use already, they don't generate enough heat to cause any problems with glass carboys. They seem to work pretty good almost to good, Mine is warming a batch of mead right now, its holding between 73 and 75 degrees F. That temp is fine for mead but would be on the high side for beer.

 

[D@VID]

Glad you got it sorted Waldo

 

[cheers55]

I got a light fixture from a pet store designed to keep lizard worm, put a 200 watt heat lamp in it and hung it from ceiling of closet. Hooked it up to a timer and run it 4 hours a day. Temperature keeps 65-72. Glass Carboy is wrapped (with hole for fermentation lock) to keep light out. Shouldn't be too much light to skunk brown bottles.

 

[Robbw]

Heated brewer's belt for my primaries was a life saver. Before I got it, I never got good fermentation because it was too cool, maybe 62 degrees. Now, the buckets are at a consistent 70 degrees and in about 24 hours the airlocks are bubbling away.

 

[Chadwell]

Not to drudge up an old topic here or anything, but I was doing searches on heating belts and came across this one. After pacing around annoyed that my house temperature was dipping below 65 in the room I have my carboy (and trying to conserve heating oil), I finally did it. Yep, I slapped a Walgreens generic heating pad on the side of my carboy, MacGyver style. Figure I'll keep some low heat on it whenever someone is home (excluding when its sleeping time). I can't wait for the warmer weather!

 

[z-bob]

Planning ahead for this winter. My basement gets pretty cold.

I was also thinking about using a heating pad, set to "LOW", strapped to the side of the carboy as well, along with a temperature controller like this. But what do you do with the thermocouple? Tape it on the other side of the carboy and wrap the whole thing with a moving blanket? Or use some kind of thermowell? (or just drop the thermocouple down the neck of the carboy and shove the stopper around the cable -- might need to saw a groove in the stopper.)

 

[Stealthcruiser]

I use a heating pad , wrapped around the side of the fermenter, (glass), which only covers half the diameter of the fermenter.

My temp probe is 180 degrees out from that, and secured in the same way that I use it when cooling whilst fermenting.

I use a small piece of closed cell foam, 'bout 1 1/2 wide X 3" tall, with a slot cut in it, to keep it pressed against the glass.

Held in place with tape.

No real need to "wrap" it, if it is sitting in a ferm chamber, as it'll stay warm.

Sitting on the basement floor, maybe.