Fermentation Heater

[adrianmole72]

Hi,

More questions, I'm afraid...

Is it feasible to use an aquarium heater for fermenting, as these appear to be half the price of a brewbelt ?

Thanks in advance

Stephen

 

[richc]

I've seen aquarium heaters sold by homebrew shops for exactly that purpose so assuming it's an appropriate one it should be fine. Since there are no fish in your beer you won't need the guard thing that stops them swimming into it......

 

[adrianmole72]

:rofl:

Also,would it be best to just "dangle" the thermometer into the FV,or would the suction cups stick to the plastic FV ?

 

[robsan77]

best bet is to sit the fv in a shallow water bath and put the heater in that. :thumb: then no need to worry about cables and sanitising

 

[evanvine]

I second Robsan's advice, it's simplicity it's self :thumb:

 

[mr_spin]

best bet is to sit the fv in a shallow water bath and put the heater in that. :thumb: then no need to worry about cables and sanitising

I have a temp controlled fridge which I normally use for fermentation.

however when brewing big batches, I split the batch into two FV and one FV goes into the fridge and the other goes into a builder's trub bucket filled with water and I have an aquarium heater controlling the water temp. You just need to remember to add the water at 20C and not our current cold (5C) temp water!

 

[evanvine]

the other goes into a builder's trub bucket filled with water

Perhaps a bit of over kill, but a damn fine idea none the less!

 

[ricardo]

I have 3 aquarium heaters in in 3 FV.
I dangle them in the FV......brilliant way of keeping a good stable temperature.
Used to use brewbelts but they seem to be all or nothing.
If you put the aquarium heater in a bucket etc then stand your FV in that surely you are loosing loads of heat ???

 

[Mark1964]

We ferment in a spare room never used any kind of heater yet. As long as the temp doesnt go below 18 deg c its fine

 

[ricardo]

18 degrees in the SPARE room !!!
:shock: :shock:

 

[Chris The Masher]

Don't waste your money on a Brewbelt !

I bought one recently and it kept the liquor way too hot (around 24-25C). Used it for halve the fementation and have now thrown t the back of the cupboard where it will sit for the next 25 years or so.

Tasted a mini sample this morning and think it may of given it an of taste ?

Not sure, beer is still very young, but 24-25C certainly did not help !!!!

Ta.

 

[ricardo]

I stared brewing again after about 15 years......used the brew belts I had once, then chucked them back in the cupboard again !!!
You just cant control the temperature properly........thats why I now have 3 aquarium heaters.
To be honest they are not really that much more than a brewbelt but they can be controlled so much easier & accurately.

 

[Aleman]

Brewbelts are fine as long as you use a thermostat. . . . In fact I would not use any form of fermenter heater that did not have a thermostat.

 

[adrianmole72]

Well, I've won an aquarium heater for £5. It's a thermostatically controlled 200w unit, so there's another bit of kit.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT

Stephen

 

[robsan77]

The fridge i set up to ferment in uses a brew belt in the bottom. Kicks out quite a bit of heat but only heats the ambient air.

 

[graysalchemy]

I use an insulated cupboard with a heat lamp thermostatically controlled.

The ceramic heat lamp is the 100w the type used for heating a vivarium (I think).

It keeps temp very well even in this cold weather when I am sure the room it is in goes down below freezing

Cheers

AG