Temperature control (outdoors)

[Ichi-Go]

I currently have a deep freezer on my back patio used to control temp on my ales. It is getting down to 47 at night here in Florida and I want my beers at 65 degrees. Do you think that the exothermic reaction of fermentation and the insulating properties of the freezer would keep the beers in the proper temperature range. I know people that live in the colder parts of the US use aquarium heaters but I dont really want to put an aquarium heater inside the freezer.

Thanks.

 

[flyweed]

I would think that the inside of the freezer would keep an almost constant temp inside..if you are worried, check the temp inside the freezer at night when it gets down that low outside. If you'd want..you could use one of those red "heat lamps" rather than a fish tank heater..it would warm it up inside the freezer nicely, and you could control that with a temp controller as well.

HTH
Dan

 

[elmetal]

65 degrees? that is super warm beer!

unless you're talking abou a fermenter, which you are.

and yeah the insulation of the freezer should help keep it overnight since the temp only gets kinda cold at night.

when temps were getting in the teens here in north florida my keezer never got below 37 (I have it set for 40)

 

[david_42]

I suspect that as long as the day-time temperatures are around 60-65F, you won't have a problem. The only heat my brewery gets is from the kegger and the freezer running, so the temperature in there will be 45-50F for months. Haven't needed to heat the fermenter until the room hits 40F.

 

[maida7]

Do you have a temp controller? Can it be set for heating as well as cooling? I use mine with a heating pad to keep things warm. This is particular usefull towards the end of fermentation to keep the yeast from floculating too quickly. As the yeast slow down, i'll jack up the temp to 68-70F to help with attenuation.

 

[Ichi-Go]

I have a temp control but it is only to keep the freezer from staying on and freezing my beer. I think it will be fine since its starting to warm up. I checked the temp in the freezer last night and it was like 57 when it was really cold out so I think it will be okay.

 

[CrazyBrew]

My fermentation chamber is in a detached garage where it gets cold. I use 2 Brewer's Edge space heater and an electronic thermostat. It works great! Each space heater has the ability to raise the temp 20 degrees F each (so 40 total if you have 2).