Hello Everyone!

[alhenderson]

What better first post than to introduce myself :-) Name's Al, from Northampton and I'm very much a novice.

My wife brought me a homebrew kit for christmas a couple of years ago, left it lying around for ages then decided one day I was going to make it. In my naivety I had assumed everything I needed was in this little box - funnily enough it wasn't, that was just two tins of yeast etc and some sugar. Fifty odd quid later I had the barrel, bucket, hydrometer etc and was off to the races. Having made such an investment it seemed silly not to carry on, so I now have two brews under my belt.

I'm currently down to my last couple of litres of Youngs American Pale Ale which I have to say I have rather enjoyed. My brewing process is a little hap hazard, especially in the temperature department, but the results have, nevertheless, been very drinkable.

Its my 40th in November, so I've been thinking that I should do a birthday brew for that, might also invest in some kind of beer belt to help me keep the temp up during fermentation. Any suggestions welcome :-)

:

Al.

 

[beechwood]

welcome.....: yeah a brew belt is a good thing to have, makes it easier to keep your brews at a good temp through the colder months....

The woodfordes kits are good one's to try :thumb:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Deleted - X posted.

 

[alhenderson]

welcome.....: yeah a brew belt is a good thing to have, makes it easier to keep your brews at a good temp through the colder months....

The woodfordes kits are good one's to try :thumb:

Thanks - although I've just been reading about using water baths with aquarium heaters in them instead. Seems like more effort, but maybe better results?

Al.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum Al :

You may find this thread of interest -

Temperature controlled fridge - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51855

 

[alhenderson]

Welcome to the forum Al :

You may find this thread of interest -

Temperature controlled fridge - http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=51855

Wow - that's quite a setup, not sure I'd get that past the missus!

 

[beechwood]

Thanks - although I've just been reading about using water baths with aquarium heaters in them instead. Seems like more effort, but maybe better results?

Al.

Yeah you can do that too.....the water bath is a good idea. You can set it to the temp you want. I got this one............

 

[alhenderson]

Does the heater need to be 55W? I'm looking on ebay and there are all sorts of options from 25W upwards. I'm guessing that since the amount of water is probably not the same as an aquarium that I don't need a super powerful one?

Al.

 

[stevej]

Welcome to the forum :thumb:

 

[beechwood]

Does the heater need to be 55W? I'm looking on ebay and there are all sorts of options from 25W upwards. I'm guessing that since the amount of water is probably not the same as an aquarium that I don't need a super powerful one?

Al.

25w would be fine, I only went for the 55w because the 25w one was out of stock....
:thumb:

 

[alhenderson]

25w would be fine, I only went for the 55w because the 25w one was out of stock....
:thumb:

Brill - cheers!

 

[ManseMasher]

Welcome to HBF!

 

[alhenderson]

Welcome to HBF!

Thanks very much, need to order myself a new kit and an aquarium heater sharpish. Sure the wife will be very impressed :-)

Al.

 

[MyQul]

Definatley go for the aquarium heater rather than the brew belt. Brew belts usually don't have temp control on them afaik and therefore can create hot spots on your fermenter possibly leading to off flavours in your beer

Welcome to the forum

 

[HisDudeness]

+1 For MyQuls post above, I used a 25w heater for heat prior to building a brew fridge and it worked well. I would recommend using a bain marie type set up though as I had it in the FV itself and it was a bit of a pain when I needed to get into FV for samples etc and gets pretty messy with yeasty gunk etc

 

[FatDad]

Welcome aboard from another novice (more of a novice than you too). :

 

[LarryF]

Welcome aboard Al, I use a brew belt but I use it with a timer and it worked well for me last winter. I tend to use it 1 hour on and 1 1/2 hour off. If my temp temp drops I move the belt down the FV an inch or two and if the temp creeps up I move the belt up the FV by the same amount but most of the time it just stays where it is. Admitedly I didn't have a digital thermometer last winter but my beers were all fine. I do also use a bubble wrap jacket and hat for the FV.

 

[alhenderson]

Thanks for all the welcome messages, everyone :-) Nice to be here! Water bath with aquarium heater looks like the way forward, just need to do some garage re-arranging..

Al.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Keep us posted.