Beerquarium

Here is the Beerquarium. I bought the stuff for this over a year ago and just got around to using it. The bucket is from Tractor Supply and costs about $15. The submersible aquarium heater is from WalMart and I think it too was about $15. It appears to be working just fine after moving my Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout from the freezer/fermenator after my basement temp dropped to 61 degrees. The airlock is filled with Tullamoredew.

wots the fermenter read inside?

Same rope bucket at about $6 at Wally World when I got mine. This setup works for me quite well.

Temp inside the fermenter.. maybe a little higher.. but, heat transfer, while slow thru the glass should be relatively reflected inside the tub.. No???

I can't know for sure what the temp inside the carboy is, but I never have known that even in the freezer/fermenator. I assume that in a water bath that at some point the water temp and beer temp would be pretty close.

rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak said:

I can't know for sure what the temp inside the carboy is, but I never have known that even in the freezer/fermenator. I assume that in a water bath that at some point the water temp and beer temp would be pretty close.

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Yes, it is. Water is a perfect insulator, and in a water bath surrounding a fermenter, the water and the beer is within .5 degree of each other when I've tested it!

Yooper said:

Yes, it is. Water is a perfect insulator, and in a water bath surrounding a fermenter, the water and the beer is within .5 degree of each other when I've tested it!

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Actually water is not a very good insulator. The fact that it conducts heat helps keep it the same temp as the carboy. Waters high specific heat causes it to be a thermal flywheel of sorts. It has a lot of thermal inertia which maintains stable temps.

although not the most accurate, get a stick on thermometer strip and see how much of a difference it shows.
Not sure on the differences between ambient, water, and actual liquid in carboy temp.

careful with the aquarium heater .. I've had one almost melt through a plastic container filled with water. I caught it in time and was able to stop a potential watery mess and fire.

I use a very similar setup.

I've found that setting the temp 4º lower initially will keep it where I want fermentation to be, and once most of the activity is finished, I set it to the temp I'm looking for to sit for about 2 more weeks (I don't secondary).

jusware said:

careful with the aquarium heater .. I've had one almost melt through a plastic container filled with water. I caught it in time and was able to stop a potential watery mess and fire.

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Yeah, I was thinking about making some kind of hanger for the heater to
get it away from the side of the bucket.

rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak said:

Yeah, I was thinking about making some kind of hanger for the heater to
get it away from the side of the bucket.

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Cheap Clothes hanger. Bend and mold and fashion to anything. Your heater shouldn't be too heavy to be supported by a wire hanger.

It's not really the weight of the heater that's an issue. Keeping it submerged is what's important. If the wire coat hanger isn't stiff enough I might try stripping a length of 12 gauge solid copper from some 12/2 romex.

I have the same setup. I turn the heater control all the way up and use a Johnson temp controller.

If it's ok to submerge the temp probe I guess that should work fine. I was in WalMart today and picked up one of those over the door Christmas wreath hangers, zip tied the heater's suction cup clips to it and hung it over the side of the bucket. Now it stays down without having to worry about the suction cups losing their grip on the plastic bucket.

I use two aquarium heaters and two submersible pumps. The pumps are always on and create a consistent temperature of water throughout. The heaters are cranked all the way on, and controlled with a separate temp probe and thermostat. It's a good idea to somehow keep the heaters from coming into contact with the plastic tub.

Cornhole, you're outta control, but I mean that in a good way.

AussieBrewerInColorado said:

although not the most accurate, get a stick on thermometer strip and see how much of a difference it shows.
Not sure on the differences between ambient, water, and actual liquid in carboy temp.

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Don't do this. Those stick-on thermos are not waterproof and you will ruin it by submerging. This setup should have the water level at or above the level of the beer inside the carboy to fully regulate the temp.

As Yooper said, the water temp and beer temp are very close to each other, as my checks have also shown. A tub full of water and a tub full of air are very different.

RDWHAHB said:

Actually water is not a very good insulator. The fact that it conducts heat helps keep it the same temp as the carboy. Waters high specific heat causes it to be a thermal flywheel of sorts. It has a lot of thermal inertia which maintains stable temps.

Click to expand...

Pause for slightly OT physics discussion here.

Seems to me you are contradicting a bit here: Lots of thermal inertia and high specific heat, while maybe not the definition of a good insulator, provides a similar effect in this case, no?

And I believe water is a poor heat conductor (I'll admit I wiki'ed this to confirm, water is less conductive than glass by almost 50%), but being a fluid it is an excellent heat convector, hence the discussion of adding a submergable pump to this system to keep the water moving.

Not fighting, just confirming my own [aging] thermo knowledge.