Do I need to use a heater too?

[Vandulus]

So I just got a mini-fridge and Inkbird for controlling fermentation temperatures and am planning on brewing a batch this weekend. I see that a lot of people using freezers/fridges use a heat wrap to control temperatures. I've only been brewing ales so I thought I may be able to get away without a FermWrap if I set it for the middle of the fermentation range of the yeast strain i.e. 69 F if the yeast is best at 66-72 F.

Will this work or are there additional benefits to using a heater also?

 

[myndflyte]

I've used a mini fridge before with a controller and I don't think a heater is necessary. Just set the controller to the fermentation temp you want to be at (say 68F), and let the fridge come to that temp. The heat from fermentation will be enough to keep things from getting too cold. Plus you're always better off fermenting at a lower temp than being too high. Even if your beer dropped to like 62F, things will still work, just maybe a bit slower.

 

[ncbrewer]

Like lots of brewers, I like to raise the temperature up to around 72F after active fermentation is finished (I figure 5 days). I think this speeds up the process of knocking off the last few gravity points and dropping down to FG.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

depends on where the freezer is stored, cold basement, warm garage?? the temp will raise on its own at my house because its always at least 80 here but it does take a day or so. so what ncbrewer said it just speeds up the raising of the temp

 

[normonster]

You can get away without heat, but as mentioned it's good practice to bump the temp at the end and it can help keep the temp stable if the weather is very cold. I don't worry about it during the summer but I'll be hooking up the reptile heat pad on my next brew, just to be sure (they're dirt cheap and you already have a two stage controller). You don't want your temp to get too low or you'll end up with off flavors.

 

[kh54s10]

Like lots of brewers, I like to raise the temperature up to around 72F after active fermentation is finished (I figure 5 days). I think this speeds up the process of knocking off the last few gravity points and dropping down to FG.

Unless the fermentation fridge is in an area that never gets to 72 degrees you shouldn't need any heat. I just turn off the controller and let it get to room temperature.

I ferment in my basement that is both air conditioned and heated so the temperature is about 70 degrees year round. So I have to cool year round. I have never used any heat.

 

[Vandulus]

Thanks all - you've pretty much confirmed what I suspected. I have the fridge in my basement where it's 70-76 year round. I'm going to use an Inkbird Itc-310T that allows me to program multiple temperatures based time. My intention has been to ferment @ 68 during primary, raise it to 72 during secondary and then cold crash for 2-3 days.

 

[kh54s10]

What is the reason you are doing a secondary? Adding something? If not that is an unnecessary step where oxidation and infection can be introduced.

Use approximately the same time and temperatures without doing the secondary. Nothing happens there but some settling.

 

[Drumminguy81]

Personally I didn't used to use a heater but I found in the winter my garage was getting too cold and had my fermentation stall out a few times now I use a space heater pad I got from williams brewing. It doesn't come on much but when I need it its there. Also helps to maintain a very precise temperature.

 

[Vandulus]

What is the reason you are doing a secondary? Adding something? If not that is an unnecessary step where oxidation and infection can be introduced.

Use approximately the same time and temperatures without doing the secondary. Nothing happens there but some settling.

I do primary and secondary in the same vessel (no transfers so oxygen isn't an issue), so it's a logical separation of the fermentation process. From what I've read, raising the temperature slightly (2 F) during secondary helps with the cleanup process.

 

[kh54s10]

I do primary and secondary in the same vessel (no transfers so oxygen isn't an issue), so it's a logical separation of the fermentation process. From what I've read, raising the temperature slightly (2 F) during secondary helps with the cleanup process.

I am not sure what you mean by doing primary and secondary in the same vessel. (wrong terminology?)

The usual description of the process is doing a primary where there is trub and a yeast cake present. Then you siphon off into a "bright tank" so there is no longer trub and yeast cake present.

Raising the temperature can help the yeast finish the process of fermentation.