Problem with brew fridge

[Libigage]

Hi All, I've done about 15 brews in my brew fridge in my shed without any problems until now. I have an inkbird and a 1 foot tubular heater which normally hold the temperature perfectly. Problem is now the outside temperature is hitting zero my brew fridge is struggling at between 14 to 16 degrees. I think this is probably because it is a tall fridge(would this possibly be the reason). I currently brewing a cheap kit from Wilkinsons as I bought it a few months ago and have nothing else to brew. Its their classic lager but it only comes with 6g of yeast. Do you think this is enough yeast at this temperature. I have a packet of wilkos Gervin Yeast 11g should I put this in as well or wait for the outside temperature to hopefully rise a bit. Advice greatly appreciated

 

[Clint]

Is your heater definitely working? I had one fail.

 

[Libigage]

It's very hot every time I've checked it. So you don't think it's anything to do with the size of the fridge then?

 

[Cestrian]

I have the same problem in winter. I use a brew belt and a tubular heater both connected to the same temperature controller. Does the trick.

 

[Libigage]

Looks like I may be losing my first brew then as it will take a few days to get a belt or pad, that's why I thought more yeast might give it a chance, thanks anyway guys

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

It's very hot every time I've checked it. So you don't think it's anything to do with the size of the fridge then?

Yes, I think this is a combination of the size of the fridge and outside temperatures. I recently made a Kveik beer with the intention of fermenting it at 40 degrees but even with the 60w heater on constantly I got 36 degrees for a few days then 30 degrees. I think the fermentation was helping temperature the first few days. My fridge is just big enough to fit the FV in but I would imagine a taller one would be far more difficult to heat. You could try adding a cheap (£10) 7w reptile heat mat and putting it under the FV to add some extra heating. Oh, and after that, don’t open the door :)

 

[Clint]

Bring it in the house.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Looks like I may be losing my first brew then as it will take a few days to get a belt or pad, that's why I thought more yeast might give it a chance, thanks anyway guys

You may be ok. 14-16 degrees isn’t a complete disaster.

 

[Libigage]

Bring it in the house.

Any suggestions what I could disguise it as so the missus doesn't notice it

 

[Clint]

Any suggestions what I could disguise it as so the missus doesn't notice it

A great big spider! She will definitely avoid it!

 

[Libigage]

What's better a heat pad or belt, I may try one of them

 

[Libigage]

Just checked the shed and the brew is up to 18.6 degrees. Surely the fluctuating temperature will affect the beer as tonight it will probably drop again, I can't get it inside, should I set the inkbird to 16 and Hope for the best

 

[zeptobrewer]

You could fill up some of the dead space in the fridge with insulation.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

You could fill up some of the dead space in the fridge with insulation.

That won’t help... But wrapping the fridge in insulation certainly will: get down to Screwfix and buy their hot water tank insulation jacket - or use an old duvet

 

[RichardM]

Then fluctuating temperature won't ruin your beer, but it might not be quite as good as it would be otherwise.
If the temperature is lower than you wanted it should still ferment but could take longer than it would have done.
You could just buy a more powerful tube heater.

 

[BeerCat]

I have heat pads and belts. Both will work.

 

[zeptobrewer]

That won’t help... But wrapping the fridge in insulation certainly will: get down to Screwfix and buy their hot water tank insulation jacket - or use an old duvet

Surely it's same same only different? As long as you're not insulating the cooling surface from what you want to cool, it's not important if the fridge is insulated on the inside or the outside?

 

[Bill_g]

Surely the immediate answer is to simply insulate the fermenter. Just wrap it in bubble wrap, cardboard or even newspaper and see what effect it has. When the ambient temperature is lower than your target temperature the fridge should never come on, so it's acting simply as an insulator. Your heater must raise the temperature of the body of the liquid plus the air inside the fridge, so the suggestion to fill the spare air volume with insulation was a sound idea.
The fridge is a heat pump so if you try to insulate that then you would have to ensure that the radiator section is not insulated. So it would both require a lot of insulation and not be very effective.
Insulating the fermenter will probably change the temperature hysteresis a little but not enough to be an issue. Assuming ambient is lower than your set temperature then I'd unplug the fridge from the temperature controller. The heater will then take the temperature up to the point that the temperature senseor tells it to turn off and the system will then lose heat slowly without need forthe fridge until the cycle repeats.
This is a quick & dirty solution of course. The real answer as has already been pointed out is more heater power but this can be addressed by adding an extra heater for your next brew.

 

[Clint]

Just a thought....how have you got the temp probe from the Inkbird?

 

[fury_tea]

A trick I use which works wonders is to put one or more containers with hot water in the dead space of the tall fridge. Just 50c tap water will do it, I have a 12L fermenter but anything will work, like a stock pot or anything that will fit. That acts like a second heater and helps keep the temp up due to the thermal mass of the water. I usually use it for kveik and if you leave some head room in your "heater", once the water temp starts to equalise you can just top it up with a couple of kettles worth of boiling water.