Heating belts ?

[Truckin and brewin]

Hi anyone out there using heat belts on fermenters,
I brew in a shed which is concrete and dry and draft free the fermenters are in a pine half wardrobe lined with polystyrene and sit on a heat pad but temp is fluctuating down to 16/18 at night and up to 22 in day time.
I have thought about heating belts to try and stabilise the temps .
Anyone have any input for these ,I have a ceveze larger and an ipa to brew open to all ideas, only brew from kits at the moment

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you use a belt you are going to need a controller as they are a bit of a pain to use, without a controller you have to move them up and down the FV to find the sweet spot and in a shed where the temperature is going to fluctuate a lot its going to be near impossible to find the sweet spot a better method is the water bath.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/

 

[Truckin and brewin]

If you use a belt you are going to need a controller as they are a bit of a pain to use, without a controller you have to move them up and down the FV to find the sweet spot and in a shed where the temperature is going to fluctuate a lot its going to be near impossible to find the sweet spot a better method is the water bath.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/how-to-set-up-a-water-bath-for-your-fv.66407/

Thanks unfortunately my fv have taps so can't use ,but I have a greenhouse heating tube in the bottom of the wardrobe just to keep it warm and thought a belt would regulate it better than a mat
So the expiment rumbles on ha ha need to talk nice to the wife and brew indoors over the winter cheers nick

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You could put a couple of pieces of something in the bottom of the trug to keep the tap off the bottom.

 

[trummy]

I have a belt but prefer a heat pad. If cold throw a coat over the FV. To regulate I use a timer - Set it to come on every 15 min in the hour. If it goes colder reset it for 30min in the hour.
18 - 22 considering the liquid will be very slow to change temperature. I would not consider it being a real problem

 

[sgmbrewer]

I use a heat belt combined with an inkbird controller and some cheap radiator reflector foil wrapped around the fermenter secured with bungee cords and folded over the top of the fermenter held in place with another bungee. I ferment in an area that can regularly drop to around 10ºC overnight and is drafty and have had no issues maintaining 18ºC - 24ºC range (depending on style I'm shooting for)

 

[Shinjuku]

As others have said, you need a way to regulate it, and in the current climate, it's mainly raising the temperature rather than the need to cool. You'll need an Inkbird or an equivalent. You can get cheaper single input temperature controllers where you will only either be able to heat or cool. Can find these on Amazon for under £20. Providing your FV has a flat bottom, then your heat pad should be fine. Keeping the temp constant is your challenge, and temperature controller should do the trick.

 

[fgoulding]

For one of my fermenters (an all rounder) I use a heat belt and an inkbird. But the temps only stabilised once I bought an insulated jacket for it. Now it works a treat.

 

[Truckin and brewin]

Thanks everyone for the info it's a big help will order a Inkberrow and try it thanks again nick will keep you posted

 

[DuncR]

I use an old dressing gown and outdoor jacket for insulation with temperature probe tapped to the FV. The dressing gown and jacket are ideally shaped to cover over and around the FV

 

[Beer Please]

As suggested previously, the Inkbird is the way forward. Had similar issues to yourself and now use inkbird in an old fridge with a greenhouse heater at the bottom. Have had to wrap the FV in bubblewrap with the cold weather recently too.