Florida guy needs ferm chamber heating tips

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Jim311

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2015
Messages
672
Reaction score
183
I normally get by with a 1 stage controller as it's always hot in Florida and I rarely struggle to keep temps above 60 degrees, but it's supposed to remain in freezing temps for several days and I have a batch of an oatmeal stout with Nottingham yeast that I just put in the fermentation chamber last night. I'm going to struggle to keep it in the right range. I have a Johnson A419 controller (I think that's the model) but it only has 1 stage temperature control. The problem is that it might jump into warm enough ranges in my garage during the day to mess up stable fermentation. So I'm thinking about putting a lightbulb/can heater in the ferm chamber and just running it 24/7 and keeping the temp controller on the fridge so it can still cool when it needs to. I bought a 40 watt bulb that I'm hoping will be enough but not too much to run constantly. Is this a stupid plan? I can't imagine the 40 watt bulb would be able to overpower the cooling capacity of my refrigerator. What do you guys think? Ambient temps in my garage will probably drop into the mid or high 40s at times.
 
I am in florida as well and understand the troubles we face with our frigid week long winters. I have heard of guys using a standard heating pad for your back to accomplish the same thing. I tend to find that chest freezers are well enough insulated that as long as you started out at the right temperature you should maintain you heat in the chamber as long as you are not opening it all the time. The paint can with a low wattage bulb should work as well although I know there are a lot of friend of a friend had a fire stories using that method.
 
I'm not real super worried about the fire aspect of it. I don't think the setup I'm going to use is any different than putting this bulb in a light fixture or something and it's not terribly high wattage anyway. In fact it's designed for refrigerator and ceiling fan service.
 
You should be able to change that controller to heating instead of cooling. Then plug in a light bulb or a radiant heater that screws into a light socket (no light from it) and set it so that it turns on when it is 60 or 62. That way you keep consistent temperatures. I have included a link to a radiant heater so you can see what they look like. They are common and you should be able to pick it up at Petco or Petsmart pretty easily.

http://www.omega.com/googlebase/pro...npDp5Lfqqp13cEgDAoJ5zyYnInx_Vvlje3hoCgt3w_wcB
 
You should be able to change that controller to heating instead of cooling. Then plug in a light bulb or a radiant heater that screws into a light socket (no light from it) and set it so that it turns on when it is 60 or 62. That way you keep consistent temperatures. I have included a link to a radiant heater so you can see what they look like. They are common and you should be able to pick it up at Petco or Petsmart pretty easily.

http://www.omega.com/googlebase/pro...npDp5Lfqqp13cEgDAoJ5zyYnInx_Vvlje3hoCgt3w_wcB


Yeah but then I run the risk of overheating when it gets warm during the day. The garage has some big temperature swings :(


I really need both heating AND cooling but I might only have to deal with this situations a few times a year so it's hardly worth reinventing the wheel if I can just throw a 2 dollar incandescent bulb in the ferm fridge whenever it gets too cold.
 
Back
Top