Aquarium Heater

[AVFC BREWER]

Hiya was jus wondering if i could use an aquarium heater in my FV as im a fish keeper and have a few brand new ones lying round instead of buying one of the electrim 75 ones. Cant see any difference really myself?

 

[abeyptfc]

i suppose if you sanitise it first it may be ok but everyone usually advises to put the aquarium heater in a water bath, then put your fv in

 

[Dave1970]

It would work, the general advice is to stand the FV in a larger container of water and put the heater in that. Mainly because there's a lot of 'nooks and crannies' on the heater and people worry about being able to sterilise it effectively enough for it to be in the actual wort.

 

[AVFC BREWER]

How deep would i need the water in the other containerto be cheers

 

[Dave1970]

deeper the better, 1/3 of the way up the wort would probably be OK? Halfway would be better

 

[Stone Cold]

yes it works fine, i have loads of them one for every fv, by far the best way to control temp on the cheap, better than heat matts and belts

 

[The Goatreich]

Stone Cold, do you put them into the FV itself? Doesn't that create hotspots?

 

[Stone Cold]

all I can say is it works, some people sit the fv in a tray of water and have the heater in the water,

 

[pittsy]

me too just in fv nothing else so far alls worked well

 

[BrewSage1985]

A simple electrim 75 immersion heater attached to a bung with a hole in the middle for an air lock will do, it just dangles in the middle of the FV and submerged into the wort. To sanitise, fully submerge the immersion heater and attached bung into sanitising solution for 10 minutes, never ever had a infected batch from doing this. Camping mat to insulate the FV to keep the heat in and the cold air out, also stops the immersion heater from constantly switching itself on and off all the time if the temperature in the room is cold. The immersion heater switches itself on and off depending what the temperature is inside the FV. Theres a knob on it to change the temperature range (20 - 24 degrees C).



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[baggyray]

I use a 25W aquarium heater and a 40 Ltr flexi bin (£5 from B&Q) as a 'water heater'.Peace of cake,and no extra cleaning/sterilising.Economical too

 

[BrewSage1985]

I bought a couple of trugs from tesco to hold my FV in surrounded by water with the immersion heater heatign the water in the trug. My beer go heated up to around 25 - 30 degrees and fermentation finished in about 2 -3 days :shock: . No idea why though, but now the temp is a constant 20 degrees, maybe because the immersion heater is maintaing the temp of a smaller volume of liquid.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

I use the same set up as in the picture above, I prefer the 5 gallon wine fermenters to a brewing bucket and lid.

I use an aquarium heater purchased from Ebay for around £8, with the power cord going through a hole I drilled in the bung and then sealed with silicone, the heater sitting in the middle of the brew. It works perfectly, and to clean I just give a gentle scrub with a washing up brush before leaving in sterilising solution for 30 minutes

 

[adomant]

I understand the sanitisation issue and make sure the aquarium heater is properly seen to, but for me it has to be inside the FV mainly because I have a conical FV but also because it assists the circulation of the yeast around the wort. If using by itself, the temperature measurement is more accurate in the FV than the outside bath, obviously irrelevant if using PID.

 

[Kevin Wood]

I use a large bucket as a "bain marie". 2 bricks in the bottom to support the FV and a 100w aquarium heater between them, so directly under the bottom of the FV. It fills to cover about 2/3rds of the wort and I use a PID controller to regulate the temperature of the water in the outer bucket so the lid can stay on the FV. I drape a blanket over the lot and it sits in the garage where the ambient temperature is cool enough that it needs heat all the time (at this time of year), thus ensuring the temperature is regulated.

I set the aquarium heater's thermostat to a couple of degrees higher just as an insurance policy against the PID failing.

I can't see why it wouldn't work directly in the FV, assuming it's well sanitised. I would still use a PID, though, as they can chuck out quite a bit of heat with the long "on" times that the built-in thermostat gives. It would be gentler with a PID just tickling the element on and off IMHO.

 

[The Goatreich]

Do you find you need to weight the FV down in the water bath? Mine always floats around a bit.

 

[lovelldr]

Do you find you need to weight the FV down in the water bath? Mine always floats around a bit.

As long as the level of fluid in the fv is equal or more than what's in the water bath, it would be ok. I always find that when I'm siphoning,I have too take special care with the fv not to tip up in to the water :lol: Altho I think I've just about got it down to an art...

 

[The Goatreich]

Ha, of course. D'oh!

I like the idea of sitting the FV on a couple of bricks to get the heater at the bottom too. Ideally I like to have the probe in the FV itself, but I don't get a good seal on the lid then, and although I know it doesn't matter I do enjoy seeing the airlock bubble away.

 

[Kevin Wood]

Do you find you need to weight the FV down in the water bath? Mine always floats around a bit.

As long as the level of fluid in the fv is equal or more than what's in the water bath, it would be ok. I always find that when I'm siphoning,I have too take special care with the fv not to tip up in to the water :lol: Altho I think I've just about got it down to an art...

Agreed. I end up with a couple of inches of wort above the outer water level and there's no tendency for the FV to float.. until you start emptying it, as you say. :whistle:

I tend to syphon out the outer water jacket before emptying the FV. Don't use the same hose, though, as it'll be far from sanitary after sitting around warm for a week or two.

That reminds me.. I normally chuck half a teaspoon of steriliser in the outer water just as an additional insurance.

 

[alanwh]

I normally have one 25L FV and 2 x 5L PET's in a large plastic stackable box, surrounded by sanitised water (with a bit of bleach in it) with an aquarium heater suckered at 45 degrees so its nearly all in the water. I've got a length of that orange plastic covered glass fibre insulation surrounding the whole thing. I crumbled a load of expanded polystyrene and that floats on the top which insulates the water contact with the air. It's very economical, I've had it on constantly through the winter and I couldn't see a difference in the 'leccy bill. I just lift out the FV's carefully by the handle first before racking/finning so I don't have issues with floating FV's.