Looking for cheap fermenter heating solutions

[eadavis80]

Anyone have any success with heating mats or electric heaters available at Midewest, NB or Adventures in Home Brewing? How about brew belts? The other option I've seen is using an aquarium heater to warm up water surrounding your primary. I ran a test of this yesterday, but I think my heater is busted as it did not stay on long enough to warm the water. Plus, the primary bucket started to float in the water. If I got a new aquarium heater, would having the primary bucket float during fermentation cause any problems? (slight movement while it floats). Just wondered what the cheapest/easiest way to warm up my yeast is during the winter. I have my primary on the 2nd floor with a bunch of blankets on it, but my wife wants her blankets back...

 

[sneezye]

I use a hair dryer set on low, plugged into the heat side of my STC-1000 in my fermentation chamber. Not fancy but effective.

 

[JF_HBrews]

I use a hair dryer set on low, plugged into the heat side of my STC-1000 in my fermentation chamber. Not fancy but effective.

^^^ I do this in my kegerator that's in an unheated garage. Another simple and cheap and simple fermentation heater I sometimes use is a light bulb. Stick a small lamp or one of those ceramic bulb holders (~$5) in your fermentation chamber, closet or surround your fermentation vessel loosely so the lamp fits inside with it (an old box even). Some put their lights in a paint can when they use carboys and are worried about the light skunking the beer. The other options like belts and pads are great but you can't beat the price of the hairdryer or light bulb solutions.

 

[davejanssen]

I use the aquarium heater method and I like it a lot. Was your bucket full of water when it floated? If the height of wort/water in the bucket is greater than the height of the bath then i wouldn't expect it to float. What is the wattage of your heater? Different heaters are rated to a a certain volume of water a certain amount above ambient. I've got 75W and 100W and those work well for me.

 

[zachattack]

Aquarium heater works great for me, I use an external controller and thermocouple but the heater is adjustable so you could probably get away without it.

If the bucket floats, lower the water level until it doesn't...

 

[Rehlgood]

I use a $17 ceramic heater from Walmart. Does this trick just fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[QuercusMax]

I use a cheapo hairdryer in my garage fermentation fridge.

 

[Redhawk96]

I put a heating pad under the fermenter, and plug it into a timer, so that it goes on and off every 15 minutes or so to maintain my desired temperature.

 

[QuercusMax]

I put a heating pad under the fermenter, and plug it into a timer, so that it goes on and off every 15 minutes or so to maintain my desired temperature.

Are you sure you want to be direct-heating your yeast cake? Seems like that might potentially lead to autolysis and off-flavors... heating the side of the fermenter or the whole chamber seems safer.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

check out http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-tape I have some of there 12" heat tape, I got four sets for $15 each and they work like a champ. They are way better than the 'brewing' ones because you can size them so the entire carboy perimeter is covered, not 2/3rds like my 'brewing' heat tape I had previously from amazon. I control them with my STC1000.

 

[sfish]

I put a heating pad under the fermenter, and plug it into a timer, so that it goes on and off every 15 minutes or so to maintain my desired temperature.

What kind of timer do you have that goes on and off. I could use one for a broken pellet stove off & on ever 3 min.

 

[MindenMan]

I did a little searching, and an aquarium heater would probably do the job for you if you have a large enough outer bucket to fill with water to transfer the heat. I have a re purposed freezer, and of all the options I tried to provide heat, I prefer to use a heating pad. I already have an STC-1000 controller, so I don't need anything with a built in thermostat.
For $25.00, a bucket and a cover of some sort, you're good to go.

 

[wardens355]

How cheap? I have a jerry-rigged setup that includes a party tub, 4 old bath towels, a heating pad, a $35 seedling mat thermostat, and a cpu fan. The party tub is wrapped on the outside with two of the towels (folded over once), and the heating pad is taped to the side of the tub. The carboy is placed in the middle of the tub, with the thermostat probe taped to the carboy under three layers of pipe insulation. The CPU fan and heating pad are called on by the thermostat when it drops two degrees below the setpoint (differential non-adjustable); the fan keeps the heat distributed. The other two towels are folded over and placed on top of the carboy and bucket to keep heat in. I already had the tub, towels, heating pad, and fan, so I just had to grab the thermostat. A small fan could be purchased for cheap, and a heat mat might be around $20-$30. This setup has worked fine so far. My basement apartment is around 61 and I can keep the carboy at 80-85 without issue.

 

[jbb3]

I use a $17 ceramic heater from Walmart. Does this trick just fine.

+1

I had an old one laying around I use in my chamber. It's turned all the way down and has no trouble holding temp in an unheated space. And it went into the mid twenties last night

 

[Redhawk96]

I have not had any issues using the heating pad. I did a split batch of sans where I put no heat on one batch and heated up the other batch late in fermentation. The batch that had the heating pad I thought turned out far better.

I use a timer like you would use for your Christmas lights just a simple wall plug-in timer that you flip up the dip switches to set the timer on and off


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[eadavis80]

I got a $20 aquarium heater at Pet Supplies Plus - big enough for up to a 30 gallon fish tank - might have been able to go smaller, but whatever. $20 is a little less than the cheapest brew belt I found on Amazon, which was $25 w/ shipping. I tested it last night by putting the heater in my big tub with water and then put my 5-gallon Star San bucket in the big tub. This morning I awoke to 70 degree water. IT was 60 when I went to bed. Checked the temp of the Star San itself and it too was 70, so I think this will work out fine. Now, my next question is this - after my primary fermentations are done (I usually leave beer in my 6.5 gallon bucket for 10-14 days before racking... and NO - I'm not opening that 'rack or not to rack' can of worms here) - are cooler temps (like the 60 I have in my basement) good for secondary fermentation? Or, should I be putting my secondaries upstairs where they'll be about 63 degrees? The basement is 60 even.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Now, my next question is this - after my primary fermentations are done (I usually leave beer in my 6.5 gallon bucket for 10-14 days before racking... and NO - I'm not opening that 'rack or not to rack' can of worms here) - are cooler temps (like the 60 I have in my basement) good for secondary fermentation? Or, should I be putting my secondaries upstairs where they'll be about 63 degrees? The basement is 60 even.

After 10-14 days your fermentation should be over, and colder conditioning / storage temps should be fine. Question, why not just ferment in your basement, the heater should kick enough heat, no?

For that matter, the 60 degrees you have in your basement would work very nicely for some ale yeasts without supplemental heating. Some living in warmer climates wish they were so fortunate to have a cool basement to ferment in. The heat of fermentation will likely raise the fermenter to the mid sixties...

 

[eadavis80]

I understand that heat rises during fermentation. I usually pitch around 70 and put my beer in the basement. By the time it's ready for the yeast to start doing its job, the primary has usually dropped to the low mid/60's and therefore climbs to the mid/upper 60's, which is fine. My concern was after that 4-5 day window my beer would drop to about 60 in the basement and most of the yeasts I use have temp ranges of mid 60's to low 70's, so I wanted the beer to stay at least at 66 during its second week in the primary. This new aquarium heater setup will allow me to do that. Good to know that once it's in secondary, the 60 degree setup will continue to work well - thanks.

 

[svenness]

This has been a cold week in my area, right at freezing in my garage all week, dipped down to 28 one night.

The fermwrap that I have in my chest freezer chamber has kept a fermenting beer at 66 degrees all week and it has not even been running very often (I did the red/blue indicator light STC build).

While the fermwrap is a few dollars more than some other options I like the peace of mind it gives me since it was designed for this function and is built to be in a somewhat wet environment.

 

[geouy0523]

I understand that heat rises during fermentation. I usually pitch around 70 and put my beer in the basement. By the time it's ready for the yeast to start doing its job, the primary has usually dropped to the low mid/60's and therefore climbs to the mid/upper 60's, which is fine. My concern was after that 4-5 day window my beer would drop to about 60 in the basement and most of the yeasts I use have temp ranges of mid 60's to low 70's, so I wanted the beer to stay at least at 66 during its second week in the primary. This new aquarium heater setup will allow me to do that. Good to know that once it's in secondary, the 60 degree setup will continue to work well - thanks.

I ferment in the low 60's all winter long in my basement, I've only ever had one stalled fermentation due to temperature when it dropped into the 50's using WLP-001 and that one I moved to a warmer spot and it restarted and finished. I've also heard that notty will continue to go into the mid-50's, haven't tried it myself though.

 

[lhommedieu]

I've been using a chest freezer with a STC1000 dual controller and a light bulb/base/aluminum can for heat. It has worked well both in the summer and winter. I tape the probe against the carboy and cover it with bubble wrap to insulate it from the air temperature.

If you are looking for a less expensive solution, the fermwrap/STC1000 combination should work very well for you.

 

[eadavis80]

Yeah, I know Notty can go pretty low and some yeasts can, but if the yeast's website says 64-72 and my beer reads 60, I feel the smart/safe thing to do is to warm it up some and the aquarium heater solution seems to have done just that.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

I use garage sink with water and aquarium heater. Other option is I move it indoors after the explosiveness subsides. I hate the glares I get when there is krausen on the ceiling.