Has a brewbelt tainted my beer ?

[Popspicker]

Could a brewbelt have given my brew an unpleasant tang, I have heard that they can overheat the FV and do this.

 

[pittsy]

depends on what you was brewing but yes if too high a temp its poss , best way to use 1 is have a stick on temperature on side of vessel and if getting too hot move belt higher which will help bring down overall temp

 

[RobWalker]

Theyre not ideal pieces of kit, from what i hear you should only use them to keep a cold fv warmer, not blast it with heat constantly...

 

[Hollow Legs]

I use my brewbelts very effectively with my thermostat or temperature controller (as they are called), set the temp on the controller to your specified heat (say 20degC) and the brewbelt switches off when that temp is reached, simples.

 

[evanvine]

Oops, was my humour not appreciated!

 

[jonnymorris]

Oops, was my humour not appreciated!

Did I miss something?

 

[evanvine]

I suggested that PP should put his brew belt on the outside of the FV, but it appears to have been deleted.
Or I may be imagining things.

 

[Chlorate]

I would have said it was more the yeast than the brew belt.
A lot of yeasts start giving off really funky flavours when kept at the top end of their temperature range for too long. I had a brew going with S04 once, in a warm kitchen, temperature averaged about 24 degrees (operating temperature range 15-25 I think) and yeesh was that odd tasting when it came out of the fermenter. Got better with time though.

 

[Mark1964]

brewbelts ruined my kit brews when i first started out they are ok if controlled by a thermostat i took the temp of my kit ale and was worried that it was nearly 30 degrees when fermenting. I got rid of it.

 

[springtime]

I too was worried about the lack of control when using a brewbelt.
My solution is to switch it on until the brew is up to the required temperature & then connect it up to a digital timer.
The one I've got allows me to switch it on for half an hour every 3 hours - this seems to work for me & ensures that the brew doesn't overheat.

 

[Mark1964]

Thats a good idea if it keeps beer at right temp :thumb:

 

[Paulm1979]

I've opted for the water bath and aquarium heater solution, seems to be holding a steady 20 degrees very well indeed and cheap at 12 quid from the local garden centre/fishy shop.

 

[seanipops]

You could also use a brewbelt with a 24 hour timeswitch. When I did some brewing demo's at Easy Home Brew we set it to heat for 15 minutes every hour. It worked really well in a very cold building, fermenting down to 1010 in 10 days with no funky flavours.

 

[justink]

I'll second the brewbelt + timer plug. Exactly what I have done in the cold weather. Get it up to temp and then half an hour every couple of hours, maybe slightly more in the night when the heating is off and the temp drops.

Trial and error really.

 

[evanvine]

I use a PID to control mine, they're just sat there doing nothing, so I make use of one!

 

[Popspicker]

Thanks for all the help guys, I don't know why the jokey one from Evanvine was deleted coz it certainly had me chuckling :lol:
I'm hoping it has been the BB that has given my first two attempts a dodgy taste, although I have changed my pan for boiling the hops and DME for my 3rd brew. I'll let you know if there is a significant improvement :pray:

 

[flamingo]

Hi fellas,

Interesting thread. I have a question on a similar topic.

I've been given a heat pad which is not 'thermo controlled and when used would probably overheat and lead to the "off flavours" as described above. At the present time it's standing idle. Would using a timer plug during the colder weather as previously stated make this heaterpad useable? And if it would I'd be grateful to know if anyone knows if a particular plug type would be suitable.

 

[jonnymorris]

All sounds a bit complicated to me. My aquarium heater cost £7.50 and keeps the brew at a constant 20 deg C without any fiddling.

Re: the original question... I got rid of my brew belt as it heated up my brew too much.

 

[pittsy]

All sounds a bit complicated to me. My aquarium heater cost £7.50 and keeps the brew at a constant 20 deg C without any fiddling.

Re: the original question... I got rid of my brew belt as it heated up my brew too much.

i 2nd that

 

[Good Ed]

Hi fellas,

Interesting thread. I have a question on a similar topic.

I've been given a heat pad which is not 'thermo controlled and when used would probably overheat and lead to the "off flavours" as described above. At the present time it's standing idle. Would using a timer plug during the colder weather as previously stated make this heaterpad useable? And if it would I'd be grateful to know if anyone knows if a particular plug type would be suitable.

It's not at all complicated; it's horses for courses; I had a heat pad, that my Dad used to use for winemaking, when I started brewing and I used a timeswitch from Homebase to control it, fairly simple really once you get the adjustments right.