Temp control help

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crnl4bin

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I started brewing about a year ago and when I started, I was living in a second floor apartment. I would stick my carboy in the bathroom closet. I had no temp control and I know this affected my beer, especially in the summer. Well, we moved to a twin in Dec. w/ a basement. I was so excited knowing that the basement would be optimum in the summer. However, This is a old house (probably about 100 yr. or so) and has been cold all winter; the temp throughout the house averages anywhere from the upper 50's to low 60's. Nowhere do I have a place where I can brew an ale right now and I don't have a fridge to be able to do a lager correctly.

Here's the thing: in the basement is a 50 year old Ben Hur freezer (it looks almost exactly like this, but it's much older). My father-in-law convinced me to plug it in and the thing did turn on, but there is no freon in it. We rent and I don't own the fridge, so there is no way I'm gonna pay to have someone come look at it, even if it could be fixed, nor do I have enough know-how to try and modify it myself. But it is a perfect place to stick my carboy due to the fact that is insulated so well (the basement temp currently fluctuates between 52 and 58 degrees). I'm looking for a way to add some sort of heat source to the freezer that I can control well enough to maintain a temp high enough to brew ales. Any ideas? Someone at my HBS recommended setting a light bulb in it, but it has only raised the temp to about 60. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
I use a heated blanket wrapped around the carboy. I know you can pick up heating pads for pretty cheap. That might work in the fridge.
 
Didn't mention if you are willing/how much you are willing to spend to get temp control. If you haven't been please with your beers without temp control (i sure wasn't) then you should look into investing the money into it, even if that means you need to not brew for a while to save up. If you don't feel the need to have the temp control, you can look into using certain yeasts that will work in your temp range. I know off-hand that the Wyeast Scottish ale yeast works well down to 55 degrees. There are kolsch yeasts that work colder and I believe Nottingham can work in the cold as well.

Additionally you could pick up a small $10 space heater and just heat a room or closet up more so the ambient temperature is closer to 60s.
 
How about putting two (or three) light bulbs? Here's a can heater build with lightbulbs as the heat source- http://bit.ly/gEngur

Will you use a temp controller to cycle your heat source on and off?
 
How about putting two (or three) light bulbs? Here's a can heater build with lightbulbs as the heat source- http://bit.ly/gEngur

I use something similar. I mounted a lightbulb inside a coffee can. A computer fan circulates the heat through the can and around my chamber. It's a Son-of-fermentation chiller, and I built my own two-stage controller so it has cooling as well
 
Wow. You guys are quick. I posted shortly before work, thinking I might get a response or two before the end of the day. Thanks for all the great suggestions.

I'm not looking to spend a lot of money at the moment; kind of looking for a quick fix that will give me more control than I have now (which is none). Someday, I'd like to get a fridge with exact temp control, but that's not in the budget at present.

The can and light bulb heater looks pretty awesome. And the Fermwrap looks pretty neat.

I knew this was a situation that I was going to have to deal w/ eventually, but I'm kind of in a rush now. Someone my father-in-law works with has been making his own maple syrup this winter. He has found himself in a situation where he has too much maple sap and not enough time. My father-in-law is going to get me about 10 gallons (of which I'm obviously going to brew a beer with). Apparently the stuff doesn't hold for very long (like 2 weeks), so I am going to be brewing within the next two weekends and I need to rig something up quick because I do not want this beer to go wrong.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions. I will let you all know what I end up with.
 
OK, sooooo, I jumped the gun a bit in my criticism of the "light bulb in the freezer" idea. When I sent the above post yesterday afternoon, the light bulb had been in the freezer for the duration of the morning. Apparently, this wasn't long enough. I let it sit all day and it got the temp up to 68. However, I still would like to find a way to control the temp better by incorporating t-stat or something. But for now, I think the light bulb may be the way to go.
 
Look for a Love, Johnson or Ranco Temp controller and it sounds like you'll be all set.
 
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