Fermwrap ability in winter

[ImperialDrHops]

I recently converted my outdoor shed, which is uninsulated, to my brewery and was gifted a CF10 conical. I am trying to figure out temperature control and my immediate need is during winter. Normal nighttime lows are in the 20s but can get colder. Will a fermwrap be able to keep the fermenter in the 60s when ambient temperature is so low?

I asked Spike support about this when inquiring about their TC 100 and glycol chiller setup and they said their heater could do it.

Any thoughts?

 

[danimal92sport]

Any concern about loosing power or some other malfunction that shuts the heater off? I don’t know what freezing does to wort mid-fermentation.

Dan

 

[ImperialDrHops]

Any concern about loosing power or some other malfunction that shuts the heater off? I don’t know what freezing does to wort mid-fermentation.

Of course there's concern, but it's low. You could have a power outage inside the home and the wort would just float to ambient temps, although not freezing, and this could ruin/change the beer. I bet a frozen fermentation would just knock the yeast out and fermentation stops prematurely and I would have to pitch more yeast upon thawing although I have no idea.

Let's assume the power doesn't go out for this question.

 

[Hammy71]

The fermwraps get warm, but I would think leaving in an unisulated shed with ambient temps in the 20s may be asking a lot. But, I have no real time experience.

 

[Jayjay1976]

You might look into a space heater for the shed, maybe an oil-filled portable electric radiator. Get some sort of insulation put up, even if only temporarily. In a pinch you could help the fermwrap along by dropping a sleeping bag down over the whole thing to prevent the conical losing heat to the atmosphere. I'd start with a sleeping bag since it's the simplest option. One of those high-tech lightweight jobs with aluminized fabrics, etc. for winter backpacking.

 

[ImperialDrHops]

Insulation is definitely in the cards, but probably not until next summer. I have a space heater but probably not big enough to work in such a big space without insulation. I may just try the fermwrap and sleeping bag idea for experiment sake. Hopefully it works.

Would there be a fire hazard with the heater inside a sleeping bag? I imagine in such cold temps the heater would run constantly.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Insulation is definitely in the cards, but probably not until next summer. I have a space heater but probably not big enough to work in such a big space without insulation. I may just try the fermwrap and sleeping bag idea for experiment sake. Hopefully it works.

Would there be a fire hazard with the heater inside a sleeping bag? I imagine in such cold temps the heater would run constantly.

The wattage should be nowhere near enough to pose a fire hazard. Besides, your temp probe will moderate the fermwrap's duty cycle; as soon as it reaches target temp it will just cycle on and off floating on the 2-3 degree difference between low and high set points.

 

[lawngnomehitman]

So, I have a 14g SSBT Unitank, and am in the same situation. I have put a seedling mat inside the jacket, and it's set at 10ºC, but having trouble holding it. Currently the weather is ~28-35 in the garage in which it lives. I'm curious if the Spike cone heater will be up to the task of keeping the wort at 50-60F (~10-16C) in such a cold garage. I feel like I should just pick it up and see if it can handle it, but if it can't I'm out $90. The reason I'd go with the spike over the SSBT setup is the spike has a wall outlet that I can plug into my temp control system I have, the other one is a proprietary fitting.