FermWrap Heater in fridge for lagers?

[maltMonkey]

Gearing up to do my first lager (an Oktoberfest)....Right now I'm trying to figure out how to get a stable 55°F for the fermenting.

I have a large fridge I bought for lagering (typically runs around 40°), and was wondering if a FermWrap Heater wrapped around the carboy in the fridge could provide a stable 55°.

Anyone have any experience doing this?

 

[abracadabra]

What's the highest setting on the fridge's temp and freezer range? I'd suggest running it up to the highest number and see what the temp. stablizes at.

Or getting a controller such as a Ranco to control the temp. in side the fridge.

Trying to heat it up to 55*F in a 40*F environment is just not an efficient way to go about doing things.

Having a large thermal mass inside the fridge a 55* will force the fridge to run more to cool it down while the belt runs more trying to heat it up.

 

[maltMonkey]

Good points. I think I'm just going to suck it up and build a fermentation chamber.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I have a 16 cubic foot chest freezer. I keep it in my garage and it gets really cold in there. I have had water freeze on the floor.

My control os via a Ranco dual stage digital controller. On the second stage I have one of these (similar concept, different brand, similar price);

http://www.pets-warehouse.com/Vpasp/shopexd.asp?id=89988

It is UL listed and is capable of heating the box up to 90*F (you know for all those Saisons and Trappist Ales).

I think it is awesome and I much prefer it to practices I see other brewers use (space heaters). Again mine is controlled.

 

[abracadabra]

An Igloo Ice Cube cooler works great! You can cut a hole in the top or take the top off and fashion a new top out of styrofoam or foam insulation.

Then take 2 liter soda bottles, fill them full of water and freeze them. Alternate the thawed bottles with frozen ones from the freezer. Depending on the environment people have reported as little as 2 each bottles in the corners will keep it cool enough.

 

[maltMonkey]

good tip - I may have to give that a trial run as it would definitely save me some $$.

 

[ebeer]

I use the Fermwrap in a fridge to control temps and love the control I have. When I ferment lagers ales this time of year (Northern CA) the temperatures fluctuate a lot. Freezing at night sometimes, and sometimes up to 60 during the day. If I leave the fridge alone, the temperatures will drop at night and fermentation will stall. So I just hang a Fermwrap on the inside of the fridge and set the digital temp controller to my desired ale temp. I'm always within a degree or two. Love this setup.

 

[Evan!]

Alls you needs is this.

 

[maltMonkey]

Alls you needs is this.

I thought about that and it would work for several months out of the year for me....the problem is that I have my fridge in the garage which is not insulated, and this time of year the inside of the fridge can get below 40° unplugged. If I do my Oktoberfest in even late March, I still might wind up with sub 40° nights at times....

The other problem is that while I'm not going to do enough lagers to ever have more than one fermenting at a time, I do keep a lot of other things in said fridge that need to stay cold like washed yeast, secondaries that are cold crashing, and....well.....some beer.

What's sad is that I have 2 fridge/freezer combos, 2 mini-fridges, a full freezer, three different areas in my house that stay at constant temperatures 6° apart, and I still have buy additional equipment/build something to ferment a lager for a week or 2.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I thought about that and it would work for several months out of the year for me....the problem is that I have my fridge in the garage which is not insulated, and this time of year the inside of the fridge can get below 40° unplugged. If I do my Oktoberfest in even late March, I still might wind up with sub 40° nights at times....

The other problem is that while I'm not going to do enough lagers to ever have more than one fermenting at a time, I do keep a lot of other things in said fridge that need to stay cold like washed yeast, secondaries that are cold crashing, and....well.....some beer.

What's sad is that I have 2 fridge/freezer combos, 2 mini-fridges, a full freezer, three different areas in my house that stay at constant temperatures 6° apart, and I still have buy additional equipment/build something to ferment a lager for a week or 2.

I am in the same boat as you. Chest freezer, Upright fridge/freezer combo, & a dorm fridge. All serve beer but none are dedicated to lagering and I lager half of every batch I brew. I do plan to utilize the drom fridge more effectively one day.