Heater trays..

[Stings27]

Was thinking about purchasing one
Any thoughts from you guys?
Or is there a better alternative?

Thanks :

 

[pittsy]

I would suggest an aquarium heater (50/100watt £10/15) and a storage container (£7 70 litre ) put your fv in and fill storage container with water and have the heater in the container not the fv , also i get a digital fish tank thermometer with probe (£5) and pop that in your fv .This way you can adjust the temp easily and it remains stable because of the larger volume of liquid to heat , plus it also catches any overflows from the fv .

 

[Stings27]

Thanks pittsy :clap: :thumb:

 

[Underscore]

To add a contrary viewpoint, I have a tray and I'm happy with it, but I control it with an STC1000 with the temperature sensor taped to the side of the FV behind some foam. This allows me to keep the wort at 20-21*C during fermentation - provide the ambient temperature isn't too high, of course.

_

 

[photek1000]

I currently run the setup as suggested by Pittsy, but with two 25W Aquarium heaters as that's what I had, only one tends to be on at a time though really, only both if it feels it's got really cold, and a digital thermometer sanitised on brew day and dangled into the FV, the whole lot then lives in my garage.

And apart from last weekend when the wort seemed to spike up to 29°c it has remained a steady 22°c all week so far including over night when the temperature has really been dropping around my way.

I use a large trug from Homebase, £6.49 and it's once the FV is sat inside it filled up to about the 3 litre mark on the outside of the FV.

I'm considering a bit of planning ahead and building and STC-1000 set up just for the heat side for now until I can use the heat and cool function with a fridge, need to start gauging swmbo reaction to the brewing take over first.

 

[Steveicky]

I am also running a heating tray controlled by an STC1000. Works a treat.

The link below has some descent trays. I have not purchased from this company but I saw a post somewhere that suggested they could make the trays up to any size you want.

http://www.twowests.co.uk/product/heated-tray

 

[rpt]

So the key point is that the heater trays are ok provided you add some sort of temperature control.

 

[Underscore]

So the key point is that the heater trays are ok provided you add some sort of temperature control.

For be fair, a mate uses one open loop when the weather gets cooler and seems happy with that. However, I would rather have something temperature controlled - whether that's a tray or a water bath - to give a more controlled fermentation.

_

 

[PD]

I've had heater trays in the past from two wests for the greenhouse. I can't see anything wrong with them being used for fermenting, although they are initially a lot more expensive than a stc1000 and a water bath.....or better still a free fridge,tubular heater and stc.

 

[Robbo]

I've made 5 gallon wines and submerged a sanitised aquarium heater directly into the must, but you do need to cut a hole into the fermenting tub's lid and use a stopper for a DJ to plug the hole.