Opinions on keezer heating

[jayk34]

My keezer is currently in an unheated garage and will probably remain there for the foreseeable.

Due to the size of freezer and fitting in 4 kegs and taps, I don't have any room for the typical tube heater to be mounted horizontally and from reading the instructions they can't be mounted vertically.

With this in mind I thought of a 50w ceramic heat emitter bulb like This and a cage/holder like This . Anyone used by these before or have any thoughts on whether this would be safe and effective for maintaining temp s during the colder months.

One possibleproblem I can think of is that this would be sitting on the base of the keezer and therefore directly beside 2 of the 4 kegs. It might therefore heat those kegs quicker than the others providing inconsistent heating depending on where the temperature probe is located ?

 

[samale]

Why do you need heat.

 

[jayk34]

Why do you need heat.

The beer is too cold for me. Dropped to 8°C at the weekend with the cold weather. Find that 12°C is the temperature that I prefer

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

FV Heat pad, maybe?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Or soil warming cable.…? Basically you just want something that provides a gentle amount of heat distributed evenly over a biggish area
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elixir-Gardens-Warming-Thermostat-Propagator/dp/B01N5TGL0P

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Whatever you use you’ll want to be careful with your thermostat settings to avoid the heating and cooling systems ‘fighting’ each other :-)

 

[jayk34]

FV Heat pad, maybe?

I do have one of those. It's 25w, do you think that would be enough for 198l freezer ?

 

[jayk34]

Or soil warming cable.…? Basically you just want something that provides a gentle amount of heat distributed evenly over a biggish area
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elixir-Gardens-Warming-Thermostat-Propagator/dp/B01N5TGL0P

That sounds like an idea. Will do a bit of research tonight

 

[The Baron]

Don't you need a Inkbird with the heater cooler plug ins on it so that it either heats or cools and the thermostat does not have the cooler working against the heater.
I think that is what TETB was referring to

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I do have one of those. It's 25w, do you think that would be enough for 198l freezer ?

Hard to say, because it depends on the outside temp and how good the insulation is.
It sounds worth a try if you’ve already got one :-)
As @the baron says though it would be best to have a temp controller that ‘knows’ about both the heater and the chiller so that it all works together.

 

[jayk34]

Don't you need a Inkbird with the heater cooler plug ins on it so that it either heats or cools and the thermostat does not have the cooler working against the heater.
I think that is what TETB was referring to

Yeah, I have an inkbird controlling the temperature which at the minute is just the freezer side as I don't have a suitable heater. Only kicked in for a bit last week during the mini heatwave we got.

 

[jayk34]

Hard to say, because it depends on the outside temp and how good the insulation is.
It sounds worth a try if you’ve already got one :-)
As @the baron says though it would be best to have a temp controller that ‘knows’ about both the heater and the chiller so that it all works together.

Will give the heatpad a try. I have an inkbird set with 0.5°C hysteresis and 10 minutes compressor delay.

 

[CaptAwol]

Not sure if this might help with ideas but I use a chest freezer with an inkbird and 40w tube heater as I go for real ale and serve about 12c, I'm having to jig things about as I'm moving to corny kegs and 8 will sit snug in main part, rather than have the heater on the shelf bit at one end, I plan to raise the floor as if the kegs are sitting on pallets and place heater below.

 

[jayk34]

Not sure if this might help with ideas but I use a chest freezer with an inkbird and 40w tube heater as I go for real ale and serve about 12c, I'm having to jig things about as I'm moving to corny kegs and 8 will sit snug in main part, rather than have the heater on the shelf bit at one end, I plan to raise the floor as if the kegs are sitting on pallets and place heater below.

That is genius, never thought of that Have tried a fv heat pad at the minute but might go for this option. Thanks

 

[jayk34]

Will give the heatpad a try. I have an inkbird set with 0.5°C hysteresis and 10 minutes compressor delay.

Thanks @The-Engineer-That-Brews for the suggestion. Have had the heat pad connected up to the inkbird for the last few days and it's doing the job of maintaining the temp. It will get a good test in the next few mornings when we are due 0/-1 °C.

Might try the suggestion by @CaptAwol in the future when I get a bit of free time.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Excellent!