Best heater for 7 gallon conical?

[NeoBrew]

I succumbed to the irresistible draw of stainless steel today.

My 7 gallon SSbrewtech unitank has been ordered!

I couldn't bring myself to buy the proprietary heating system. I am a tinkerer and didn't like the idea of having to use their controller. I respect that they are protecting their development costs, but I wanted to be free to integrate it with my other systems.

I am thinking of picking up cheap piece of silicon heating mat that I can use with my existing temp control system. I haven't been able to find any that are in a convenient cone shape yet.

Is a silicon mat a common heating method that people are using? If so, what size and wattage do people generally need? In my case I'm in my heated basement. Even in the coldest months 10 degrees would be more than enough temp increase from ambient for me.

If other devices are more popular, what are people using?

 

[NeoBrew]

I found this online calculator for heat input. Without making things too complicated... for 6.5 gallons of water to heat 1 degree from 64 to 65 degrees, 50 watts would take 18 minutes.

Assuming that up to half of the heat is lost in the efficiency, that would take 36 minutes for that 1 degree.

I believe gentle heat is what I should shoot for. So this seems reasonable to me.

It seems like these might be good choices. I would get two of these and put one on each side of the cone to help disperse the heat.

2x Heater
2x With Adhesive

I'm wondering if the neoprene jacket is tight enough that I wouldn't need to permanently stick them on?

 

[helterscelter]

I use heat-tape/flex-watt type heat, wrapped around my fermentor -- though I don't have a conical.. so maybe not 100% applicable to you..

http://www.gotta-brew.com/products/heater-60-watt.html
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DOZGLYM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

gives a really nice even heat distribution. plus it fits real nice under my glycol jackets. I just use some painters tape or electrical tape to hold them on. makes cleaning much easier if I am able to remove..

you can wrap around the cylindrical portion of the fermentor or you can wrap around the cone on an angle to get good contact.

 

[WilderBill]

I used Fermwrap heaters. They are not cone shaped but I just wrapped them around the back side of the cone. On my 14 gal conicals I did have to cut them about 4" shorter which was easy to do. Just make sure you cut at the same spot on each side and put some electrical tape over the end of the contact area afterward.

 

[NeoBrew]

I think that film type product might be challenging to get wrapped around the fermenter. I am planning to try to keep the heat source low to take advantage of convection and avoid stratification within the wert.

You did make me look at more options though. I'm wondering if this wire style heater could work? I could work it around the connections on the fermenter. It would wrap around a few times to cover some surface area.

 

[WilderBill]

Looking at the size of a 7 gal now... I doubt a Fermwrap would be small enough.
I think your plan would be the way to go. You might not even need two.

I have less than 50 watts on a 14 gal fermentor. I just did a saison that stayed at 86 for a week in a basement that was in the mid 60s.

Also, I would tape the pad to the cone even if the neoprene held it fairly tight. What would it hurt.

 

[WilderBill]

Overlapping posts...
A heat tape or heat wire might be an ideal choice for you.

I think that's your ticket. Now you just need a way to stick it on there.