Temp Issues

[Hopper31]

I am planning on making a Hefe tomorrow but my basement keeps dropping in the low 60's to high 50's what is a good inexpensive way to raise the temp up until I can get a freezer with a temp control unit?

 

[McKBrew]

If you can't move it somewhere warmer, you are going to have to get creative to keep it warm. I really don't know what to suggest if you can't raise the whole basement temp.

Maybe a large cardboard box over the fermenter, with some cheap styrofoam insulation glued inside ight keep the temp a bit higher. A heat source is the difficult thing. A heating pad or some bricks warmed in the oven maybe? But then you run into the issue of having an unregulated temperature that might get too warm.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious here.

Your best bet would be just to move the fermenter someplace warmer.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Move it close to the water heater or furnace.

Place a therm on it to gage the heat radiating. If it's too warm? move it a way, too cold? a bit closer.

 

[shafferpilot]

You need a cardboard box, brewbelt, and a couple blankets.

Tear the box into squares about the size of the carboy/bucket. stack the cardboard on the ground. Set the carboy/bucket on top of the stack. slip the brew belt around it followed by some blankets to help keep the heat in. Check the temp regularly and adjust temp by adding or removing blankets.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4078

Your LHBS should carry these.

 

[Professor Frink]

Also keep in mind that if the ambient temp is 60 degrees, then the temp inside the fermenter is probably about 65 or so.

 

[Hopper31]

I am just reading the temp strip on the fomenter, it says it is 55 right now. I am thinking of getting some insulating foam and building a box then putting a light with some foil around it in the box for heat do you think that would work? What wattage would you think I need?

 

[Soulive]

You can't bring the fermenter into the main areas of the house? Obviously you don't live in those temps? How about a closet upstairs?

 

[McKBrew]

That works as long as you can keep the bulb shielded well enough to prevent a fire. This post https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49739&highlight=light+bulb discusses a 40 watt bulb as being adequate for a chest freezer, so for a small box, I'm betting something along the lines of an aquarium bulb would be what you need.

 

[Hopper31]

Great I will try that out. I wish I had somewhere upstairs I could bring it. The only closet that would be available is my kid’s rooms but I don’t think the SWMBO would go for that. (I am lucky enough to have a non heated beer room).

Thanks for the input I am going to run to the HD now.

 

[sirsloop]

Raise the fermenter up off the floor... its going to be much much colder down on the floor.

 

[shafferpilot]

Raise the fermenter up off the floor... its going to be much much colder down on the floor.

especially if the floor is cold concrete

 

[Gnome]

Kids and Brew equipment= Danger, They got a stick man sticker for that.