Morrey
Well-Known Member
I have struggled with slow ferment times and low quality tea in the winter as my ferment closet is around 67F. The tea seems weak and it takes forever to develop thin, wispy scoby's on top. Clearly, the tea is not happy at 67F
I have a 10" x 20" germination heat mat to pop veggie seeds in Rapid Rooters in the spring. Since the mat is idle at this point, I decided to lay the mat on the shelf and sit 3 one gallon Mason jars of tea on the mat for gentle bottom warming. (A 20" long mat fits 3 Mason jars of 1G each precisely) To control the heat setting, I used a spare Inkbird 308 I have on hand for brewing, and taped the temp probe to the side of one of the jars. I covered the probe with a piece of neoprene beer coozie taped against the glass jar's side to protect the probe from being influenced by ambient temps.
This system is working in an outstanding way, and the tea is very happy at 77F (set by Inkbird) with the gentle bottom heat source doing a great job with temperature consistency.
I have a 10" x 20" germination heat mat to pop veggie seeds in Rapid Rooters in the spring. Since the mat is idle at this point, I decided to lay the mat on the shelf and sit 3 one gallon Mason jars of tea on the mat for gentle bottom warming. (A 20" long mat fits 3 Mason jars of 1G each precisely) To control the heat setting, I used a spare Inkbird 308 I have on hand for brewing, and taped the temp probe to the side of one of the jars. I covered the probe with a piece of neoprene beer coozie taped against the glass jar's side to protect the probe from being influenced by ambient temps.
This system is working in an outstanding way, and the tea is very happy at 77F (set by Inkbird) with the gentle bottom heat source doing a great job with temperature consistency.
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