Brew Belt needed?

[SteviePete]

I brewed an amber ale on Saturday and it's fermenting away nicely in my basement. I have a stick on thermometer on the fermenting bucket and it's saying the temp is between 64-66 degrees F. I live in Philadelphia and the basement is relatively cold at night. If I purchase a brew belt, it says that the temp will go up about 10 degrees(to about 75 F).
Is this temp ideal for fermentation of an ale or should a small heater be used in the room instead of a brew belt? It sounds like the brew belt may increase the temp a little too much.

 

[EvilDeadAsh]

I think that temp is fine for now - might need a brew belt or a space heater in a couple weeks, however. If you do want to pick one up, Barry's has them up in North Philly... just uh... go when it's nice and well lit outside.

 

[hogwash]

75 is too warm for most american ale styles. Mid 60s is generally ideal. You could set up a swamp cooler, do a search on here for it and you should turn up lots of info.

Fwiw, i use a plastic tub i got from target, fill it with water up to the level of beer in the fermenter, and use either a 200w aquarium heater or jugs of frozen water to control the temps. I should also mention that my beer has improved immensely since setting up this operation. I would like to get one or two of those igloo cube coolers for this though, the extra insulation should help keep the temps even more steady.

 

[Safa]

If you are worried about the temps getting too low at night, why not just wrap a thing blanket around the fermenter for now?
Nice and cheap option, and since fermentation is exothermic it should keep itself nice and warm.

The daytime temperatures sound exactly where they should be, so a thin blanket should be enough for the night time drop. That way you dont need to worry about heaters and such.

 

[helibrewer]

Since winter is coming to Philly you might want to consider a simple STC-1000 controller driving a FermWrap. You can buy FermWrap (they call it Flexwrap) by the foot at www.beanfarm.com and with a spare extension cord build it to your specs. I have both and the FermWrap performs much better than the Brewbelt. Your basement will be perfect, just set the controller to the ferm temp you want it it will turn the FermWrap on and off to maintain that. FermWrap power is approx. 40 watts per foot.

 

[jpabian]

Wouldn't having it on the cold basement floor cause it cool quicker than the ambient air? I think maybe having a blanket or jacket, and raising it off the cold floor might be the ticket.