Beware of using aquarium heaters in a fv !

[barkar]

Oh lord ,
I breweed a belgian and let it sit for 3 - 4 days t58 ran through it was within a couple of points of finishing. I had it rigged up to a stc 1000 and an aquarium heater (i was aware that these are unpredicatble so i rigged up to stc 1000 so to enure that cut out occured at 18c.

Had a check today: the outside of the container was warm to touch, openned up and tested with another termometer it was literally 44c :evil: yet when i took a sample from the tap at the bottom it was 18 - 19 c similar to my stc reading ? :wha: The fermentor was well insulated

I presume that due to no cirulation that there were various patches of heat in the fermenter , as the heater was at the bottom , it kept raising the temperature the temperature at the top got a lot warmer, the temperature porbe at the bottom was still measuring low . Which was also odd as the heater temp max is supposed to be 30c :wha:

Anyway plugged everything out and hoping it will cool down , I presume i have killed the yeast although it would appear that there is still yeast in suspension , the sample i took looked cloudy
I didnt take a taste sample this morning but i presume its like orange juice
It was after primary fermentaion , there was no krausen left,

Any guidance on this , i think if i was to do this again i would rig up a small submersible pump to ensure that there arent' temperature spots runing low enough just to keep temp even thoughout the fermentor



My final question is is this saveable at all ?

 

[winelight]

I was worried about how even the temperature throughout the FV would be with an aquarium heater, and someone said they measured it in all parts of the FV and found it to be the same.

 

[calumscott]

Blimey that sounds all a bit of a mess!!

Almost like you've managed to set up a thermocline or something...? So the top (hot) and bottom (cold) are sufficiently different in temperature to separate?

I'm guessing your probe is at the bottom and your heater is near the top? You won't have killed them if there is cool beer at the bottom - what the ones at the top will have created though is anyones guess!!

Salvageable? Well its a belgian so "interesting" flavours might not be a fault... :whistle:

Ferment it out and condition it - no point in chucking a beer until you've given it every chance. :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

I always have my probe in the top 3" for exactly that reason.

 

[barkar]

The aquarium heater was from fleabay form far east so i dont know, it behaved well on my stout earlier , i think maybe the stc probe and the heater are slightly fault , down at the bottom it measures fine , when i lifted it up through the wort , it shot up ! i dunno peed off , it smellt phenolic and a bit alcoholic already , i might through in some hop essence to even it out , was supposed to be a competition brew i dunno if it could ever straighten out will sample tonight , I presume my yeasties are all dead for bottling even if i go that far ? I might put in secondary barrel and lift some yeast off teh bottom hopefully they are still alive and may clear it a bit , Any suggestions at temp now crash cool, boil it :lol: ?

I know belgian are funky , but this is a mid strength 5.6% beer shoudl be drinkable as a session beer,

 

[rpt]

Is 5.6% ABV a mid-strength session beer? For me, that would be a very short session.

 

[MadrikXIV]

My setup is more a 'water bath'

Didn't fancy having something else to clean and sterilise, so grabbed a long shallow storage box from Wilko's, I put my brew bucket and a demi in that, added the heater and poured water in, to cover about an inch or 2 above the heater, took about 6 litres.

theory being that the heat rises.

Things are bubbling nicely, I stuck an aquarium thermometer to the bucket and it has stayed constant on the 20-22 shade, one on the outside of the tray says 22.

I checked a thermometer in the water (It was a wall one on wood) it read 21ish.

Heater was about £13 on amazon, big tray was £7.

Hopefully all is good after it's first week

 

[barkar]

Ok suppose i am a bit optimistic , i tend to think that if you have a beer that isn't alcoholic tasting depite its abv , can be very quaffable as a sess beer, where as if it tastes alcoholic , is alcoholic , then you are in bother ie leffe i find like this a bit, anyway will see how i fare with this , this beer doesnt deserve to be entered in a comp due to :

Boiler elements farting out
One element in boiler managed to fart through at 95-8 c for duration , while rest was boiled in a smaller burco
Losing 5 litres due to an unlosed tap on wort being steeped after boil
Yeast took 24 hours to kick in

Asked to name recipe on entry sheet only one that springs to mind is "Pot Belge" !

 

[alawlor66430]

I've never had a problem with my heaters, always dangled them in the top few inches and always had consistent temps throughout, the biggest difference in temp I've had has only been 3 points so that's 3 tenth s of a degree, I always set mine right on 20oC in it keeps it there nicely

 

[alawlor66430]

Is 5.6% ABV a mid-strength session beer? For me, that would be a very short session.

+1, I could see the old fifer 2 step making an appearance if I drank that all night.

 

[barkar]

thats why i cant understand what happenned !? i tested the porbe and the heater before in a big glass pot , it worked fine even clicked out when it got to 30C, i dont know how these operate

I presume the heater has a temp porbe internally whihc measures its own temp, then cuts out. What i did notice is that when it reached this temp it cuts out , then even when it drops in the surrounding water it didnt seem to kick in , maybe the constant on off of an stc 1000 when its close to its desired temp say 19 c ( it was particulalary cold last night in the shed so it may mean that the unit was on off etc , meant it was heating other parts of the fermentor beyond its temp range hence what greeted me this morning !
Dunno , think i will purchase a new heater unit for the next brew or even something to agitate the wort to distribute temp abit more evenly

 

[Stu]

I have 2 FVs with a heater in each of them.

I also have temp strips on the side as well as testing from the top and there seems to be no difference.

Does sound like a faulty one.....

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Was your heater vertical or horizontal ?

 

[bottler]

I have a cheap aquarium heater in one fv and a heater belt on on the other. At the present outdoor temps, and no heating on during the working day my aquarium heater is set at 26c and is keeping brew at 18c-2oc, i have lowered it near to the bottom but keep it vertical. The heater belt, i have on a timer, on/off numerous times a day to hold constant temperature, or the brew gets too warm. :thumb: