General equipment discussion

[tony0463]

Hiya all,after finishing my very 1st brew and finished my final bottle yesterday I was recently given a 3 draw freezer which I plan on using as a fermentation chamber. My question is will I have to use a heat pad for me to reach lager temps?…thanks Tony

 

[crowcrow]

Depends on the temperature of the room it will be in. It the room as already at lager temps or above it is possible to do without a heater - but a simple heater will give you more flexibility

 

[sgmbrewer]

Lager needs to ferment at lower temperatures 8°C-12°C usually- if your ambient temperature is below that then you’ll need a heat pad/belt to warm up the fermenter, if your ambient temp is above that then you’ll need to use the freezer to bring the temp down. Either way you can utilise a temp controller (i use an inkbird) to control the heating and cooling quite precisely and without a bunch of manual intervention

 

[sgmbrewer]

PS you’ll also likely need to bring the fermentation temperature up to ~20°C for a few days for a diacetyl rest just as you’re reaching your target FG - so probably will need a heat source for that

 

[tony0463]

Thanks for reply’s,freezer will be sitting in the kitchen so without sounding like too much of div I am going to Google how to find out what my ambient temp is lol

 

[sgmbrewer]

Thanks for reply’s,freezer will be sitting in the kitchen so without sounding like too much of div I am going to Google how to find out what my ambient temp is lol

Heh! Nothing too fancy just check the temperature near the freezer a few times at different points throughout the day - the freezer itself will be pretty well insulated so will dampen out the effect of big temperature swings. If you do get an inkbird with wifi you can hook it up to your phone and see the history of the temperature over time - it’s dead useful but a bit pricey! link to example on amazon