Oh no! My Ale Pail melted!

Hey everyone. I’d like to share a small brewing snafu and solicit some advice. The pictures below document an unfortunate event that occurred in my fermentation fridge. I am not sure when the failure occurred, but it probably was between 48 -24 hours prior to discovering the failure.

I use one of the eBay aquarium dual stage temp controllers (well documented by others on this site) to control my fermentation temps. It works great! The cooling function is performed by the fridge and I’ve wired up a weatherproof 60 watt bulb and socket to provide for the heating function. I loosely wrapped the bulb with tin foil to prevent condensation or drips from reaching the bulb. Unfortunately, during the winter, heat is sometimes needed.

I had brewed a simple pale ale on Feb 20th. Fermentation had proceeded normally and was likely complete aside from the ‘clean-up’ phase. On the evening of March 2nd I opened the fridge to see how things were going. I found that my light bulb and socket had dropped from its safe place onto the top of my pale ale fermenter. The heat from the bulb had melted through the top and part of the side of the ale pale. It left a gaping hole in the ale pale! The hole was partially plugged with tinfoil, but a melted thread of ale pail plastic was dripped into the beer. There was no electrical short in the GFCI circuit.

I cut the power to the fridge, removed the fermenter, and racked to my bottling bucket which is always ready to go because it contains a star san solution. I tasted the beer and its good; no obvious weird tastes. I am going to let it go for a few more days to settle then bottle. I will be drinking this one quick because I don’t think it’s a candidate for long-term storage anymore.

Anyone have any ideas about how to implement a safer heating function in the fridge? Also, I guess I’m in the market for a new fermenter!

Oh, boy! I guess in some ways you were lucky. But that's scary stuff right there.

Just secure the bulb so it can't roll onto the pail. Or use a small ceramic heater.

Wow, scary! I could imagine that turning into a house fire.

I wouldn't think it's safe to leave a bulb dangling or resting somewhere by gravity while in use. It needs to be secured in place. In this case I'd suggest screwing it to the side or top of the refrigerator compartment with a metal bracket.

Congratulations on your good luck! No fire and no loss of beer. Could have been so much worse.

Bummer about the fermenter. I'd definitely recommend securing the bulb to something inside the ferm chamber or going with something like this http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWERS-EDGE-SPACE-HEATER-P518.aspx

wire and mount it properly

I use a heating pad from a drug store. Just make sure it doesn't have an auto-off feature (the cheap ones don't). I wrap it halfway around the fermentor on the opposite side from the temp prob. It works great, and most have multiple heat settings.

metal850 said:

I use a heating pad from a drug store. Just make sure it doesn't have an auto-off feature (the cheap ones don't). I wrap it halfway around the fermentor on the opposite side from the temp prob. It works great, and most have multiple heat settings.

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These also work great for keeping your Blaptica Dubia warm... :-D

crazyseany said:

These also work great for keeping your Blaptica Dubia warm... :-D

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I try to avoid roach infestations....

Wow you are lucky that you did not start a fire.

In the winter when my basement is about 59-60 degrees I just use a bigg cooler full of water and an aquarium heater. Works great. I have a Saison sitting at 80 degrees down there right now.

I use reptile heat cable in my fermenter for the werry reason that it never gets hot enough to do any damage

janivar123 said:

I use reptile heat cable in my fermenter for the werry reason that it never gets hot enough to do any damage

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^this x100. or you can get the 'stick on' type of reptile heating pad. stick it to the bottom of the fridge and plug it in to your temp controller. the carboy can sit right on it, and they don't get warm enough to melt even those cheap plastic reptile enclosures.

Actually, you probably had a few things going in your favor in terms of starting a house fire. For starters, the bulb was in your fermentation chamber and was more than likely filled with CO2 which is used in the fire extinguishers that spray the white gassy stuff (not the powder). Second, it was in a small enclosed area so even if there was any O2 in there it would have been quickly used and the fire more than likely would have smothered itself. Still, an unnerving situation nonetheless.

My condolences to your ale pale. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I am a fireman and no I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll look into the reptile heater cable, but I like the simplicity of the light bulb arrangeement. I would like to secure it to the wall of the fridge, but I don't want to drill holes or screw into a coolant line.

Currently, I am airing out the fridge and I'm letting the 'melted plastic' smell dissipate.

They make reptile tank heating pads that cover the entire bottom of an aquarium. That's a relatively low watt density and you could easily secure it to the wall of the fridge with some velcro.

Bobby_M said:

They make reptile tank heating pads that cover the entire bottom of an aquarium. That's a relatively low watt density and you could easily secure it to the wall of the fridge with some velcro.

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they make 'em that are 'stick on', all different sizes. i think it'd be a great way to get some heat into a fermentation chamber.

I am definitely going to look into this for aging my bottles....

rifraf said:

I am definitely going to look into this for aging my bottles....

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i use swamp coolers to control temps currently, but when i do build a fermentation chamber i'll probably go with a reptile heater for warmth. they're nice and cheap @ PetSmart, don't get hot enough to melt anything (well, maybe ice) and the adhesive is very durable. i've had one on my house gecko's aquarium for years and after many cleanings and movings, it's still stuck on perfectly.

I've been looking into the reptile heat tape. They have this stuff at reptilebasics.com, it is 11" wide and can be cut to any length. If you request it during ordering they will attach the wires to it and insulate the connections. You can wrap it around your bucket/carboy or line the walls of your chamber. And it is only about $3.50 a foot.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

i use swamp coolers to control temps currently, but when i do build a fermentation chamber i'll probably go with a reptile heater for warmth. they're nice and cheap @ PetSmart, don't get hot enough to melt anything (well, maybe ice) and the adhesive is very durable. i've had one on my house gecko's aquarium for years and after many cleanings and movings, it's still stuck on perfectly.

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Nice, definitely going to look into it. My house is cool enough to ferment with no problem but not warm enough for bottle conditioning. Also just realized I put a big old box out to recycle that I could have used the tape on. Damn.