Fermenting Heaters ?

[egiblock]

anyone ever use them? i'm thinking of getting 2 for my friends basement where the wine making magic happens. it's a little colder durning the winter months..

thoughts ?

 

[Yooper]

You could do that.

I rarely need a higher temperature fermentation temperature, but the few times I have I just used a cooler, put water in it up to the level of the wine or beer, and put an aquarium heater in that water. It ended up costing me less than $10, and I could put two carboys in there easy. I was able to hold 70 degrees that way, but I usually ferment cooler than that.

 

[egiblock]

i'm going to get a temperature guage and test the various rooms of the basement to see what it's at. i cover them with a hoodie however, with my previous post, i have a lot of c02 left over between stages and end up removing a lot of wine just to mix it around..

 

[riderkb]

I use a 50 watt waterproof heat pad in my ferm chamber. It was made for use under seedlings to keep their roots warm. It will keep things about 10F above ambient with 1" of foam and 3/4" of plywood for insulation.

 

[TexasWine]

I ferment my beer in a keezer at 38F. To hold the beer at ale fermentation temps I wrap a heating pad (the kind you use for a sore back) around it, strapped on with bungee cords, followed by a sleeping bag around the sides and a towel on top. I've got the heating pad controlled by an STC-1000.

You probably don't need to go to the insulation extremes I do. The heating pad by itself would work. Oh, and if you get one make sure it doesn't have an auto shut off feature.