conical heating options

[SanPancho]

so long story short, my plans to make a side x side fridge into a freezer and ferm chamber are looking a little more difficult. i may end up needing to add some heat to the conical for temp control. i know there are use-specific options like the cone-shaped heat wraps from spike, brewbuilt, SS, etc. but it seems pretty damn expensive. i realize they're purpose built, custom type units, but hoping to try something else first before i go drop 50-60-70 bucks.

the few times we've had a conical get too cold ( down in Baja of all places.....) the easy solution was to just take a parabola propane heater --

and point it at the cone. (this one is electric obviously) took a while, but we eventually got everything up to bottom of the temp range without having to break into the glycol lines and all that hassle.

no way i'll have enough room for that bad boy in my ferm chamber, but i have to imagine that i can do the same with a standard infrared heat bulb pointed at the cone on my little conical. 100w, 200w, 250w, etc.

like 10bucks on amazon for a 250w unit. i cant really see any downsides to trying this first. i know its old school to put an incandescent bulb in a coffee can to raise temps in a chamber, but this is obviously much more direct application of heat, i.e. infrared radiation directly onto the steel. i cant recall the physics, but the intensity of the heat decreases with distance so i wouldnt get the whole 100w, but i think like 50w should be doable.

im wondering if anyone else has done this to a conical?

 

[tripelthelightfantastic]

i havent done this, i used to use a cheap fan heater inside a fridge controlled with an Inkbird:

now for my 30L SS conical i wrap one of these around just above the cone, again controlled by an Inkbird and optionally platic bubble wrap over it:

 

[tripelthelightfantastic]

seems the links didnt work, here are the pics:

 

[McMullan]

Heat cables work very well in a fridge fermentation chamber environment. They're moisture resistant, low voltage, don't get too hot and easier to get a more even heat distribution. Stick to the inside walls of the fridge with some electrical tape in any configuration.

 

[Ridenour64]

I strapped the brew belt on my SS 7 gallon unitank when I had one and it did the job.

 

[SanPancho]

seems the links didnt work, here are the pics:
View attachment 767206
View attachment 767207

so the issue is the shape of the conical makes wrapping anything tough to get good contact. and the x1 conical i have comes with four legs. very stable, but even harder to try and wrap something around the cone. i think i might have a decent sized heat pad that maybe i could wrap around like 2/3 of the tank, and it wouldnt be on the cylinder, not the cone. not the end of the world, but maybe an option.

i wouldnt use the fan as that would heat the whole chamber, which could affect the freezer compartment next door. (side x side fridge unit). the lamp would heat only conical.

seeing as i already have a heat wrap, i'll try that first and see what we can do. nothing cheaper than something you already own.

 

[tripelthelightfantastic]

yep if you have the heat wrap already thats a good start.
attaching to the cone would be tricky to keep in place, mine goes around the cyclinder but not all the way , something like this:

but its enough to provide the required heat. and i fasten it in place using a few loops of thick string (dont know what its really called) or elastic straps. Actually with a blanket around the conical over the heatwrap it doesnt need to go in the fridge - holds temp pretty well. the heat wrap also has a built in shut off incase its on too long.

And i dont wrap it around until after the fermentation temp free rise is done - incase really active yeast overflows from the airlock

 

[Deadalus]

You had me wondering if something like pipe wrap might work (also expensive). Then this customizable heat tape showed up (4 watts per foot), 3" width (other widths available.) Might still be awkward on the cone part though.

 

[SanPancho]

so i'm just now getting into my fridge build and it looks like the issue im having is that the freezer blower is creating so much air movement that its "leaking" into the fridge compartment through my fan even though the fan is off. so im right in my original assumption, which is that i need a damper to be able to seal off the fridge from the freezer to cut off the cold air. unforntuatley it has definitely not been as easy to find an automatic close damper as i thought it'd be. they're all pretty damn expensive. so i think im going to just try one of these-

and most likely will have to add weights to the louvers until i get to the point where the freezer fan wont open them, but the 4" box fan i have pointing at them will open them when cooling is called for by the inkbird.

even without the louvers being pushed "open" im guessing there's still going to be some freezer air bleeding through when they're closed so that's why im thinking i'll need the heat. its all theoretical until i get the damper on and weighted down later today.

one other thing- you gotta get yourself some of these. they're infinitely better than random cords, bungies, etc. just thin strips of velcro. i got mine by the dozen on aliexpress but that'll probably take months to arrive. this set is from amazon. $9

 

[Deadalus]

As a matter of fact the 12" size mentions homebrewing. It is $4.79/ft and 23 watts/foot. That's pretty good wattage, as my seedling matts which I also use for brewing are ~20 watts and 10"x20".

 

[SanPancho]

You had me wondering if something like pipe wrap might work (also expensive). Then this customizable heat tape showed up (4 watts per foot), 3" width (other widths available.) Might still be awkward on the cone part though.

saw those. theres a few that are 7w per foot. seems easy to wrap around the conical to get your heat, but they have to be jury rigged as pretty much all the ones i saw had a thermostat integrated into the unit which you'd have to defeat to get it to turn on.

 

[Deadalus]

saw those. theres a few that are 7w per foot. seems easy to wrap around the conical to get your heat, but they have to be jury rigged as pretty much all the ones i saw had a thermostat integrated into the unit which you'd have to defeat to get it to turn on.

The ones I linked need this power cord. And maybe the pliers too.

Those velcro strips look useful...maybe a sleeve though of some kind. The shape to fit seems to be semicircular with a hole for the nose. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to build with this heat tape or not. Potentially a few dollars less and customizable.

 

[Deadalus]

On my carboys I have used mats between the carboy and the carboy hauler. I also have a long piece of 3/4"? wide webbing with a tightening buckle (like on a backpack) wrapped around the carboy. Those wouldn't work too well on the cone though but I thought I'd mention them.

 

[SanPancho]

The ones I linked need this power cord. And maybe the pliers too.

Those velcro strips look useful...maybe a sleeve though of some kind. The shape to fit seems to be semicircular with a hole for the nose. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to build with this heat tape or not. Potentially a few dollars less and customizable.

yeah, i saw those too. but sounds like you need a bunch of extras to get it all working at once. these are the ones i saw pipe heat cable and they all seem to have integrated thermostats unfortunately.

although realistically you could probably just open the thermostat and just rig it so its always on, then tape it all back up and be on your way. so maybe not a big deal after all. (assuming its the typical kind with the strip of metal that shrinks/expands)

the velcro strips are the greatest thing since sliced bread. use them all the time in the house, brewing, have dirty ones for holding car/motorcycle stuff together or out of the way when im wrenching, hold materials or pieces together when doing carpentry, plumbing (although definitely flammable), etc.

 

[tripelthelightfantastic]

Good call on the Velcro-I have some andnever used it-thanks!

 

[Deadalus]

...

the velcro strips are the greatest thing since sliced bread. use them all the time in the house, brewing, have dirty ones for holding car/motorcycle stuff together or out of the way when im wrenching, hold materials or pieces together when doing carpentry, plumbing (although definitely flammable), etc

Good call on the Velcro-I have some andnever used it-thanks!

I've gotten some skinny pieces with computer stuff and it is great for cables. I'm going to order a roll though for some other uses.

 

[Mark3885]

I use a seedling mat like this one , it’s waterproof and stiff so it stands on edge so I can surround my fermtank and it’s run off an Inkbird 308 controller.