So here's what I use. It's easy and quite cheap to make.
The panels are just two plywood boards (4mm and 9mm thickness) with 10mm of cardboard sandwiched between. same for the lid but top peace of ply is 12mm.
The box at the bottom has two 40w bulbs in it and the temp controlled by a controller bought of Ebay for about ã12. I normally have it set to come on at 23c and go off at 23.5c. You can't see in the pics but the barrel sits on 4mm thick ribs to allow air flow under the barrel. There's also holes drilled in each corner. The temp sensor is just wrapped around the bin handle so it's touching the side of the bin.
It's also ideal for racking as it's a nice height to sit the barrel on while syphoning.
Unlike a heating mat this insulated box will also help hold down temp on the odd occasion it gets above 25c here.
The panels are just two plywood boards (4mm and 9mm thickness) with 10mm of cardboard sandwiched between. same for the lid but top peace of ply is 12mm.
The box at the bottom has two 40w bulbs in it and the temp controlled by a controller bought of Ebay for about ã12. I normally have it set to come on at 23c and go off at 23.5c. You can't see in the pics but the barrel sits on 4mm thick ribs to allow air flow under the barrel. There's also holes drilled in each corner. The temp sensor is just wrapped around the bin handle so it's touching the side of the bin.
It's also ideal for racking as it's a nice height to sit the barrel on while syphoning.
Unlike a heating mat this insulated box will also help hold down temp on the odd occasion it gets above 25c here.
