Initial set-up, heating/cooling questions

[stixy]

Hi Guys,

Sorry to highjack this post but it is very relevant to the question i have regarding the heating and cooling of beer.

So rather than bothering with the whole fridge or freezer could i just stick an aquarium heater straight into the FV to get the required temp that way, as to me it seems the fridge/freezer part comes into play when you want to get the temp down i.e in the summer time, which means ill have between now and then to get this set up (providing we get a summer this year!!) but i do require a quick fix to get the ferment temp stable so any advice would be very helpfu indeed.

Thanks

 

[Aleman]

My advice would be to get a storage container . . . put the FV in that then add a few inches of water and put the aquarium heater stat in that . . . much more gentle heating . . . and you don't need to worry about disinfecting the heater stat

 

[Wez]

My advice would be to get a storage container . . . put the FV in that then add a few inches of water and put the aquarium heater stat in that . . . much more gentle heating . . . and you don't need to worry about disinfecting the heater stat

Top advice :thumb:

 

[chiefstoker]

I'm currently fermenting a gallon of TC in my garage as an experiment (I now know I can use this system for a 25lt bin). I improvised with whatever i could find kicking about, which consisted of:

An old wooden box about 12"x12"x12"
Some ceramic tiles various sizes
40w light bulb with holder

I made up this simple heater box and used the ceramic floor tiles for the top of the box (double thickness and perfect size) - these seen to retain the heat well and block out the light. The other tiles i lined the box with and placed the light inside.

My gallon of cider sits in a bucket of water on the box, thus absorbing all the heat from the tiles. This is working a treat :thumb:

I had to play around with, bulb height, water levels in my bucket, and insulation around it a bit but now the liquid temp is a constant 19 degrees

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