EASY fermentor heater

Here's my winter set-up:

30 gallon Rubbermaid bin from Walmart filled with water to wort level

An old submersible and adjustable aquarium heater I had laying around

BAM... A set and forget thermostat for your fermentor with no temp swings.

 

itzkramer,

My fermentation chamber is full and I needed to ferment another batch so I decided to use this method.. The only thing that I have a question about, is the difference in the temps from the top to the bottom.. I am use to having dead on temps in my converted frig., but when I measured the temps of the water in the tub, it's a 5 to 7 degree difference between the bottom and the surface. The heat stratification is causing the top to be warmer than the bottom.. I set mine temp on my controller for the mid water level hoping this would even things out. Is this what most people do? I thought about putting a recirculating pump in it just to even the temps.

 

If u have more aquarium stuff a power head would be super easy to use. They're not expensive to get a small new one if you dont. All they are is a small submersible water pump to circulate water in a tank.

I keep my fermentor setup off the ground with some blankets and its pretty even.

 

Other cheap pumps are ones used for the yard in small ponds or fountains. You can go take your neighbors without asking for free.

 

I have bunches of pumps, I'll just add one of those to the tub.. I'm glad I don't have to rely on this method of controlling my temps for all my beer.. I'll take my frig. with my heating and cooling unit any day over this.. I 'm only doing this cause a friend did a 15 gallon brew and he couldn't fit all of it in his ferm. chamber. I thought I could get one more in mine, but it didn't work out.

 

Harbor Freight sells a 66 gph submersible mini pump for a Whopping $4.99

 

I did this last year, before I built my ferment chamber and it worked very well at keeping a steady temperature. I had a powerhead and heater laying around and emptied a storage bin large enough to hold two carboys. At the time it was kind of an emergency because i was having slow/stalled fermentations but it worked so well I used it for the rest of the winter.

 

I have the same aquarium heater setup for my fermenters but I also use a cheap powerhead ($12 from any aquarium shop) to help circulate the water around the fermenters.

I also add a tablespoon of bleach to the water to keep it from turning into a swamp.

Works like a champ.

 

Did you guys do this outside? My wife is threatening to kick my stuff out of the living room. Im trying to figure out how to ferment in the garage but my temp swings are from the high 30's to the low 70's now.

 

I have mine in the garage. The temp. swings are similar this time of year here in North Florida (30-ish to 70-ish) and I haven't had any problems with this setup.

 

that's funny!

 

how do u set a fixed temp with the submergable pump. I saw the price was $9.99.

 

Have mine in my Brewery on the floor... Temps stay around 60 F. this time of the year..

 

I am brewing with WLP500 and need fermentatiopn at around 70. The normal temp I get in my basement is low 60's. So will this pump help me?

 

sheeldon,

The pump circulates the water and keeps it at a more even temp. It will help prevent the heated water causing the surface temps to be hotter than the bottom of the tub. This will make the temp of your fermenter more even. You will still need to monitor the temp of the water to get it to stay at 70 F. Once you find the setting , you should be good to go for the rest of the fermentation. I use thremo-wells in my fermenters to monitor the beer temp. The heating unit is controlled by a Johnson controller.

 

You need an aquarium heater to heat the water. You need a pump or aquarium powerhead to circulate the water.

You set the temperature on the heater to your desired water temp. The pump keeps the water circulating so you'll get an even temperature distribution.

Without water circulation you may have hot and cold spots in the tank.

 

I thought I would need a separate heater/contol. Gota see if we have an old aquarium heater in the house.

 

Just make sure you monitor the temps for a while when you first start to use the heater.. The one I have allows you to calibrate the temp scale on the unit to the actual temp of the water. I found out that my scale on the heating unit was way off. Glad I was using my Johnson to determine the temp.

 

good info, I think Im going to give this a shot.