Ceramic IR reptile heater VS Ceramic with fan VS Brewers edge space blanket

[Flanman]

Hey I am looking for some pictures of what people might be using for heat sources used in their fermenters. I live in Alaska so heat is a big deal for me up here even in my garage. I am building a side by side kegerator and fermenter ( link here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=594486 and was looking to explore more ideas. Show me what you got and what you would change if you did it again.
My fermenter will be used mostly for ales with the occasional lager in a conical 14 gallon. Thanks.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I use the Brewer's Edge Space Heater in a fridge-based ferm chamber in my garage. It can get down in the low teens here during the winter, but definitely not the sustained low temps that you get in Alaska. I think they only claim you can keep a small insulated area 20 degrees above ambient with the BESH, but I've found it works much better than that. I've been able to do Saisons in January when the ambient temps in my garage were probably 35-45 F. I do mostly 5 gallon batches but I'll occasionally do 10 gallons, or at least have 10 gallons in the ferm chamber. Car battery heaters are another option I'd look at because they tend to be higher wattage than the BESH.

 

[Flanman]

I use the Brewer's Edge Space Heater in a fridge-based ferm chamber in my garage. It can get down in the low teens here during the winter, but definitely not the sustained low temps that you get in Alaska. I think they only claim you can keep a small insulated area 20 degrees above ambient with the BESH, but I've found it works much better than that. I've been able to do Saisons in January when the ambient temps in my garage were probably 35-45 F. I do mostly 5 gallon batches but I'll occasionally do 10 gallons, or at least have 10 gallons in the ferm chamber. Car battery heaters are another option I'd look at because they tend to be higher wattage than the BESH.

How warm does the surface get that the BESH is stuck to? Since I am fermenting in a side by side kegerator I just wanted to make sure I dont dump too much heat into the wall where it is adhered to and then over shoot my temp SP. There should be ample thermal mass inside the fermentation side.
Also would you recommend running a small fan to circulate air in the chamber with the mat powered on?

 

[microbusbrewery]

I've never measured the temp, but I've put my hand on it while it's heating. It definitely gets warm to the touch, but not so warm that you can't touch it or that it would damage a fridge. I use a fan. Even though it's a small space, you can get quite a bit of temperature stratification.

 

[mabrungard]

A standard heating pad that does not have an auto-shutoff feature is suitable for fermenter heating on a small scale. I have one that I put in my fermenter chamber and it works well.

 

[Dfitz]

I use my hot plate set on warm. I put a 6x6 piece of ceramic tile on the burner and it works just fine for me.

 

[timdillon36]

I dont need heat very often but one time when I was doing a kettle sour I just put SWAMBOs hair dryer in my ferm chamber with my kettle.

Im not sure why more people dont do this. If i needed heat more often i would probably use a small space heater, like the ones people use under their desks at work.

Both are cheap and provide heat and air movement in one. And the space heater would have built in temp control.

Sorry for such a long link but like this one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NXZ7UMA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[pigroaster]

I made an insulated cabinet out of 2 inch thick steel garage door panels that have foam insulation in the centre ($2.00 each with some bruises), I could send you photos! It opens in the front and the top lifts off and can be used to be partially open when I have my screens inside for drying hops. I use two ceramic rhino heaters screwed into light sockets (ceramic is recommended) screwed to plywood movable boards. My controller is simply set to a temperature and the thermometer sensor is inside a bottle of water. If I was in Alaska I would use cheap vodka! This acts as a smooth temp controller. I put in my 6 gallon primaries (I have had three in at a time and possibly could squeeze in four.) Set to the temp and leave it alone. The steel is white and textured on both sides so it looks good. I used plywood and castors on the bottom (castors allow me to slide it out of the way when not in use.) and 1 inch insulation and plastic board on the bottom for possible spills and to make sliding primaries around easy. Perhaps I would have made it smaller if I did not grow hops which I dry in about 22 hours. The unit is 26 inches wide x 45 long x 34 high (inside 23 x 42.25 x 32) Two butt hinges and metal screws work fine.

 

[Flanman]

Thank you all for your answers. I liked the idea of the Brewers edge heater mat. I plan on using one in my side by side on the fermentation side. I also ordered a second one for my lager vessel. I have decided to go with the fermostat from ohmbrew in addition to the heater pad. I have ordered a second 110 VAC fan but I will try the pad without it to see how well it works first. Stay tuned. Thanks again for all the ideas and replies. I will also be doing another thread on the review and impressions from the fermostat.

 

[skraeling]

I use a seed germination mat. Im not sure if it would be beefy enough for Alaska however. I just tape that thing right to the side of the, in my case glass carboy, and put the probe the complete opposite side of it. I just like the fact that it doesnt have an exposed heating element like a hair dryer would. Thats probably fine, but it kind of worries me.

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoo...0-propagation-heating-mat/p-1444429211023.htm

 

[mongoose33]

How cold will it get? I'm using a 21 watt heating mat wrapped around the fermenter inside a fridge. Ambient in the garage is 50. Easily keeps fermenter at 66 degrees, 5 gallons. I show it in the pic below--it's wrapped around the back of the fermenter, and I have a hand towel over it so that the heat is directed to the fermenter not to warming the refrigerator. It's inside the straps of the lifting harness, and I use a couple of bungee cords to help hold it against the fermenter.

The wires you see are 1) to the temperature probe held against the fermenter with a piece of insulating foam, and 2) the power cord to the heat mat.

Will it be enough for your application? Depends on how cold your ambient temperature gets.




I also have a fermwrap. It's 40 watts. Very good for this kind of thing. I'm pretty confident that unless you're down around 32 degrees this would suffice. The trick is to wrap something around the fermenter over the fermwrap so the heat goes in, not out.

 

[Flanman]

I can get to around mid 30's at night with the heater running. I don't keep it turned up very high because the gas bill will get out of hand. My plan is similar to yours me I will used the Brewers edge mat to keep the space warm and I also have a 25 watt belt heater I will employ if needed to keep the temps in range.

 

[Flanman]

How cold will it get? I'm using a 21 watt heating mat wrapped around the fermenter inside a fridge. Ambient in the garage is 50. Easily keeps fermenter at 66 degrees, 5 gallons. I show it in the pic below--it's wrapped around the back of the fermenter, and I have a hand towel over it so that the heat is directed to the fermenter not to warming the refrigerator. It's inside the straps of the lifting harness, and I use a couple of bungee cords to help hold it against the fermenter.

The wires you see are 1) to the temperature probe held against the fermenter with a piece of insulating foam, and 2) the power cord to the heat mat.

Will it be enough for your application? Depends on how cold your ambient temperature gets.

View attachment 379493


I also have a fermwrap. It's 40 watts. Very good for this kind of thing. I'm pretty confident that unless you're down around 32 degrees this would suffice. The trick is to wrap something around the fermenter over the fermwrap so the heat goes in, not out.

Is that a glass big mouth? How do you like it?

 

[mongoose33]

Is that a glass big mouth? How do you like it?

No, it's the plastic one. I love it. Incredibly light, cannot break into a million artery-slashing shards, easy to clean.

They've had trouble w/ their universal lid staying in place. There's a workaround, and I've found I can "train" the lids to stay in place. Used to have two that worked, two that needed the workaround. Now I have three that work.

Mine all have spigots. Bought the original BMB w/o a spigot, then bought another with one to compare. Liked it enough that I bought a third, with a spigot, and drilled a hole and installed a spigot in my original BMB.

If I were to do it over again, probably would go w/ the Fermonster from Morebeer; cheaper than the BMB by about $6.

 

[dordelli]

I use this in my 21cu freezer/ferm chamber. Maybe a little overkill but easily maintains temps here in Southern Ca.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FRFFC4W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[beernutz]

I use one of these

inside one of these

As I just wrote in another thread, even though the upright freezer they're in is outside under a deck, I am using only 51 cents/month worth of electricity (per my Kill-a-Watt energy meter set to our $.90/KWH rate) to keep the freezer at 55F degrees year round since it is used for wine storage.

FWIW, the Inkbird that maintains the temp is set to 2 degrees hot and 2 degrees cold variance. Full disclaimer, it doesn't get particularly cold here in lower Alabama but it has dropped into the low 30s a few times this year but my freezer temp remains stable without using much power.

 

[Flanman]

I use one of these

inside one of these

As I just wrote in another thread, even though the upright freezer they're in is outside under a deck, I am using only 51 cents/month worth of electricity (per my Kill-a-Watt energy meter set to our $.90/KWH rate) to keep the freezer at 55F degrees year round since it is used for wine storage.

FWIW, the Inkbird that maintains the temp is set to 2 degrees hot and 2 degrees cold variance. Full disclaimer, it doesn't get particularly cold here in lower Alabama but it has dropped into the low 30s a few times this year but my freezer temp remains stable without using much power.

How many watts is the light you are using. I ordered a 100 watt and it was plastic melting hot. I decided not to use it so i woulding over shoot or have to over control it.

 

[wishingiwasfishing]

In Northern Illinois we'll get under freezing, into the single digits and sometimes -5 to -15 below. I've got a beer fridge and a keezer in the pole building and it gets very cold in winter time. I use a hair dryer, works great in the beer fridge, keezer and the converted upright freezer to fermenting chamber.

Some cool things about a hair dryer is you don't have to worry about breakage and it circulates the hot air

good luck!
Dan

 

[beernutz]

How many watts is the light you are using. I ordered a 100 watt and it was plastic melting hot. I decided not to use it so i woulding over shoot or have to over control it.

That is actually not a light, it is a ceramic infrared heat emitter that looks like a light bulb. The heat emitter is 150W and the clamp light fixture is also rated for 150W.

 

[Ike]

How many watts is the light you are using. I ordered a 100 watt and it was plastic melting hot. I decided not to use it so i woulding over shoot or have to over control it.

I'm currently using a 100W version of one of those as well, in the metal-sided housing shown up thread. I agree: the thing gets DANG hot. That said, now that winter is in full swing and the kegerator is outdoors, the reptile heating cable I had snaked around the interior of the unit just isn't getting it done anymore. I was careful to position the element away from any of the gas and beer lines, and so far it's been aces. No fan at the moment.

For the record: it's somewhere around a 6cuft unit, run by an Inkbird set to +/- 2 degrees. That said, I just unplugged the fridge compressor so that it wouldn't bounce back and forth if it overshot a bit, so it's basically heater-only until March or so...

 

[stever1000]

I use a 100w ceramic bulb with a PC fan - I can maintain well into the 80's with my STC-1000 in my ferm. chamber.

 

[Flanman]

I use a 100w ceramic bulb with a PC fan - I can maintain well into the 80's with my STC-1000 in my ferm. chamber.

Thanks, I ordered a ceramic bulb initially but once I turned it on it was very hot. Even with the fan it was very hot. I was worried about over shooting. Are you using it in a chest freezer or a side by side fridge? I don't anticipate ever needing to get into the 80's.
I just worry about using the ceramic bulb with the STC-1000. I have heard of them sticking on. Originally I thought this to be a problem of someone using them over their rated amperage but after the first two were not properly soldered out of the box I began to question their reliability and decided against the bulb. I have now decided to use the Brewers Edge Mat.
I also will be using a contactor to prevent any in rush current for the compressor circuit from frying the cheaply made STC-1000.
CHEERS!

 

[stever1000]

Thanks, I ordered a ceramic bulb initially but once I turned it on it was very hot. Even with the fan it was very hot. I was worried about over shooting. Are you using it in a chest freezer or a side by side fridge? I don't anticipate ever needing to get into the 80's.
I just worry about using the ceramic bulb with the STC-1000. I have heard of them sticking on. Originally I thought this to be a problem of someone using them over their rated amperage but after the first two were not properly soldered out of the box I began to question their reliability and decided against the bulb. I have now decided to use the Brewers Edge Mat.
I also will be using a contactor to prevent any in rush current for the compressor circuit from frying the cheaply made STC-1000.
CHEERS!

I have used the STC-1000 for almost a year straight for my fermentation chamber and have had zero troubles with it. I also use one for my kegerator and have zero troubles with that one too.

I'm using the cooling system from an old mini-fridge to cool an insulated chamber I built.

I used a light bulb for months, but I was always worried about the light, so I wrapped my glass carboys in blankets.

The ceramic bulb is warm, but with a fan blowing at it, it circulates the heat and I haven't had any troubles with overshooting. I never position it nearby a fermenter, or shield it if there is that risk.The way the STC works there is inherently some overshooting (with heating or cooling) but only 0.5*C or so

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

If you're worried about the light interacting with your beer, build a good old fashioned paint can fermentation heater (like this one):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=461917

 

[stever1000]

If you're worried about the light interacting with your beer, build a good old fashioned paint can fermentation heater (like this one):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=461917

I didn't have any paint cans, and finding and cleaning one was more hassle than using towels. Upgrading to the ceramic bulb was the best situation in my case

 

[Ike]

I didn't have any paint cans,

Just for those who may one day wonder: most big box stores sell clean, empty paint cans in the paint supply department, maybe a couple bucks a pop.

 

[Leadpencil]

I use these radiant heat panels. They work great.

http://www.sshcinc.com/enerjoy1specs.htm

 

[stever1000]

I use these radiant heat panels. They work great.

http://www.sshcinc.com/enerjoy1specs.htm

Wow those are super neat! Never heard of those before

 

[Flanman]

I decided to go with dual Brewers Edge Heater mats. I am Still testing but without the new fan installed to circulate air they do a pretty amazing job of keeping the fermentation about 45F above ambient in the garage ( Maybe higher given enough time) all while the freezer ( kegerator) side is at or below freezing. Thanks for all your help and recommendations. Hope you all enjoy. I will keep you posted of the "wet" test results.