Brewbelt anyone?

[NickW]

Thinking of buying a brewbelt. As because of the missus, the temperature in this house it too unstable!!

12'c in the day, 23'c in the evening an morning!

Do you reckon a brew belt will do the trick?

As I've noticed my airing cupboard (where im putting my brews) sometimes tops 25'c. Ouch

 

[EskiBrew]

A brew belt would help to keep things warmer during the day but you will need to turn it off in the evening because they have no thermostat so will heat even of the room temp is 23C :shock:

You might do better with an immersion style heater (like for tropical fish) because they do have an internal thermostat and will switch off if things get too hot because of room temperature.

Personally I use a brew mat which the fermenter stands on. Again, on its own it just heats however I have it wired to a PID with a PT100 dangling in the fermenter so that the temperature stays nicely at 20C. Our central heating is never above about 17 or 18C so works perfectly. :thumb:

 

[NickW]

A brewmat sounds good - do you have to link them up to a PID or do they work independantly? Do you have a weblink to one I could buy?

Much appreciated!

 

[EskiBrew]

A brewmat sounds good - do you have to link them up to a PID or do they work independantly? Do you have a weblink to one I could buy?

They work without any control - plug them in and they are on until you unplug them. Here's a link.

The beer is obviously a bit hotter at the bottom than it is at the top. I have my PT100 sensor about midway up the fermenter so that is where I get my 20C (it is a bit hotter below and a bit cooler above).

I still think an immersion heater might better suit your widely varying conditions but the drawback is that they do involve more cleaning and sanitising because you actually have them dangling in the wort.

 

[delboy]

EB im looking to the solution of the problem of heating my kegerator during the winter months, it holds 4 cornies snugly so no room for a tubular heater, do you think one of those mats connected to an atc800 (the freezer is controlled with it so might as well use it) would be adequate to heat it several degrees??

 

[EskiBrew]

EB im looking to the solution of the problem of heating my kegerator during the winter months, it holds 4 cornies snugly so no room for a tubular heater, do you think one of those mats connected to an atc800 (the freezer is controlled with it so might as well use it) would be adequate to heat it several degrees??

I would think it would work fine. They are only about 35 watts but in an insulated kegerator I bet that would be more than adequate :thumb:

Alternatively you could use a standard incandesant fillament lamp (light bulb :lol: ) - we probably all have a few of those spare nowadays

 

[Jonnyv]

I've thought about adding a lightbulb to my kegerator - but I'm slightly conscious about the condensation the fridge generates - how are people waterproofing their lightbulbs?

 

[Aleman]

I've used a heat tray in my Kegereezer (TM), but will be replacing it with a Tubular Heater (80W) from Ebay, ( . . . . Once my back has stopped being a PITA . . . ) . . . I would be wary of using a light bulb because of the condensation . . . .

I use a brew belt on my FV . . . but it is linked up to a Thermostat (PID In On Off Mode) which switches between heating and cooling