Reptile tape questions

It's that time of the year here in ny where my basement is about 52. Having just stepped up to 10 gallon batches I can no longer ferment in my upstairs closet. Last batch I used a water bath and aquarium heater but somewhere along the way something happen to my heater and I need a new option. I read on someone's thread that they use the reptile heating tape. I currently ferment in basic plastic buckets. I'm wondering do you guys who use this type, wrap it directly around the buckets or on the inner walls of a ferm chamber type. Also thinking about grabbing the 15 gallon cheap plastic conical so would I be able to wrap it around that as well? I'll be using a Johnson temp controller set up to heating function.

 

well, depending on your fermentor, this is worth at least a read,
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/garbage-can-fermentation-chamber-286474/

 

Appreciate the link. I'm was thinking bout grabbing the reptile tape though. Anybody out there with reptile tape input?

 

I use a product called flex watt heat tape. Get the eleven inch wide stuff. Ii just pitched a 15 gallon batch and its sitting in a fridge on the backporch. Temps are expected to be below freezing tonight and i am confident that my johnson controller and six feet of heat tape will keep that bad boy at exactly 64 degrees.i have three setup right now and i love them. What questions can i answer?

 

I use it. You can maybe see it in this picture. I use one length and wrapped 2 walls of my chamber. It works fine for me. I don't know about wrapping it around a better bottle or bucket. I'm sure it would be fine on a glass carboy. It doesn't really get that hot though. Might be fine. The thing to remember is the closer the "loops" are to each other, the warmer that spot becomes. The one I have is 50 watts.

 

I use flex-watt in both my fermentation chamber, lager chamber and have it in all my snake racks. Its works great in all 3, but I have never used it directly on a better bottle. It seems risky to me. Even though it is very low wattage it does get hot.

If you have a chamber to put it in go with that. I use all sizes of it and use the 11 inch in my fermentation chamber. It is able to keep it at 62 degrees without a problem out here in my detached garage in CO. I use 3 inch in the lager chamber just cause I dont need it to heat too much, just on the really cold nights.

The best place I have found to get it from is www.repitlebasics.com. Rich is an awesome guy, and use a lot of his pre-built Ranco thermostats as well with various brewing applications.

Chromados

 

I appreciate all the replies. Originally I was thinking about wrapping the bucket but now I'm probably just gonna use to to make a quick ferm chamber. Thanks guys