CF10 Users with the conical heating pad:

[lawngnomehitman]

I have a garage which is where my fermenters live. I have an SSBrewtech unitank that I need to be able to temp control. I have an inkbird controller, and a glycol chiller. I'm considering the $90 cf10 heating pad from spike. I would like to know if it'll be able to support 65° fermentation when the garage is 45° in the winter. I've tried the seedling heading pads and they don't provide enough warmth (when slipped between the neoprene jacket and the fermenter). I just don't want to drop the $90 to find out it doesn't do a good enough job. Does anyone have the cf10 and the pad and can speak to the performance of it?

 

[Tom R]

If have the chilling coil, have you considered running heated water through it?

 

[lawngnomehitman]

I've done this, in the middle of winter, with a sous vide and the temp controller pump plugged into the heat outlet. My concern as we come into spring is that I'd like to be able to hold the fermenter at 65, not 'at or above', so I need the coil to be for cooling. The problem is that if it gets warm, then the beer will not have any cooling ability. Forecast is calling for freezing temps tomorrow morning and then 70 on Sunday, so I'm trying to ferment in wild temperature ranges this month

 

[matt_m]

I haven't tried to figure out a max for my Spike pads, but 2 points of measurement for you:

2 inkbird seedling mats were borderline overkill for a keg in my 65 degree basement for fermenting kviek at 95. I used a double wrap of Reflectix for insulation.
An SSB 12v pad had no problem doing the same in a 7 gallon SSB Chronical or Brew Bucket. Both had the SSB jackets.

If I were you I'd save a bunch of money, buy 1 Inkbird seedling mat and see if that cuts it, if not add another.

 

[lawngnomehitman]

I guess I might be using the cheap seedling mats, I'll try the inkbird one and go from there, thanks.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

I have a garage which is where my fermenters live. I have an SSBrewtech unitank that I need to be able to temp control. I have an inkbird controller, and a glycol chiller. I'm considering the $90 cf10 heating pad from spike. I would like to know if it'll be able to support 65° fermentation when the garage is 45° in the winter. I've tried the seedling heading pads and they don't provide enough warmth (when slipped between the neoprene jacket and the fermenter). I just don't want to drop the $90 to find out it doesn't do a good enough job. Does anyone have the cf10 and the pad and can speak to the performance of it?

We test all of our heaters in our walk in cooler which is about 40F. The heaters can get the fermenters up to about 75-80F in those conditions. We can't speak for SS's insulated jacket however. Also as a Pro Tip, you can tape your heater to the cone to increase the thermal transfer.

 

[lawngnomehitman]

Oh cool. Thanks for commenting! Now I might just have to pick one up to give it a try.

 

[Craiginthecorn]

I have the CF5 and the Spike heating pad. It generates a lot of heat, but it's critical to keep the pad in close contact with the fermenter. If not, the fermenter doesn't act like the heat sink necessary to prevent the pad from overheating, which causes the pad's overheat switch to trigger, shutting off power to the pad. After a period of perhaps a few minutes or maybe less, the pad turns back on. The result is very inefficient heating as it repeatedly cycles on and off.

Counterintuitively, the Velcro attachments to the neoprene jacket can act to hold the pad further away from the fermenter, rather than keeping it in close contact. I think this is because the pad is in the cone section where the jacket fits more like a diaper than a wetsuit, sometimes sagging a bit. When attached to the jacket with Velcro, the pad can be pulled away from the fermenter. I have had success using some spare Velcro to cover the pieces on the pad, preventing it from attaching to the Velcro in the jacket. Whether or not you use the Velcro attachments, it is important to keep the jacket fitting closely to the cone. Don't allow it to sag. Conceptually, the pad is brilliant, putting heat in the lower section of the fermenter. It just requires a little extra care to allow it to perform optimally.

As a closing note, the overheat switch will not allow you to heat your wort to say, 95F, like some beers like to do with Kveik and some Belgian strains.

 

[Mr.Wyatt]

We test all of our heaters in our walk in cooler which is about 40F. The heaters can get the fermenters up to about 75-80F in those conditions. We can't speak for SS's insulated jacket however. Also as a Pro Tip, you can tape your heater to the cone to increase the thermal transfer.

We test all of our heaters in our walk in cooler which is about 40F. The heaters can get the fermenters up to about 75-80F in those conditions. We can't speak for SS's insulated jacket however. Also as a Pro Tip, you can tape your heater to the cone to increase the thermal transfer.

I have the CF10 with the cooling coils. Would I be able to run hot water through the coils to heat my wort up to around 90 degrees. I am using a kveik strain and taking the heating pad to the fermenter won't get the temp up to where I need it.

 

[lawngnomehitman]

I've yet to purchase the spike heating pad, probably in about 6 months as the weather starts to cool off again. Instead I ran my sous vide in the glycol bath set to 85, and my temperature controller set to 70. The controller pumped to heat when needed and it kept my wort comfy, you'd be fine to do that.

 

[mcomb]

I’ve had no problem maintaining around 100 degrees for lactic fermentation in sours with the spike heating pad and an extra seeding mat with ambient around 60. I don’t think the spike pad on its own would have any trouble giving you a 20 degree increase.

 

[lawngnomehitman]

Cool, thanks!

 

[Craiginthecorn]

I just finished fermenting a beer with Bootleg Biology Regal Lager in my CF5 with the Spike heating pad. I continue to be very disappointed in its performance. That yeast is supposed to ferment three days at 50-55F, then crank to 85-95F. I couldn’t achieve a temperature over 79F in my attached garage in late spring here in the Chicago area. It’s the darned built-in thermostat that torpedoes it.