Fermentation chamber heating

I love my heat wrap that's connect to a digital thermometer. However, the wrap only heats the Carboy not the whole chamber. Cost was $30 for the wrap and $60 for the digital thermometer, or close to that.

 

I use a heat wrap too. I just set my thermostat to heat mode and connect it to the wrap rather than the freezer. Works fine.

 

Well, if you are looking for a cost effective way, make sure your chamber is insulated well...that way a minimal heat source will be sufficient.

 

I use a chest freezer for the chamber and a 40 Watt light in a metal box for the heater. The metal box has slits in it to let the heat out and I fabricated aluminum baffles inside so no light escapes. It keeps the light in and heats the chamber nice and toasty when needed. One of these days I should open the box and let all that captured light out.

 

my 25 watt brew belt is more efficient... in the long run

 

Nothing is cheaper than bringing your chamber inside . . . but I leave mine outside 'cause it's ugly. My area just had the coldest day of the winter, night-time low of 58° which I countered with a 40 watt trouble-lamp (ferm'ing at 72°). Just in case it really gets cold (<50) I have a 60 watt bulb on standby. If I used a glass carboy I would buy it a pullover to keep it dark & snug. My Miller Lite-drinking neighbors laugh at me.

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*This is a re-enactment based on actual facts (actual outside air temp is low 70s). BTW, LEDs & CFLs are not your friends here.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lasko-100-My...5557697&sr=8-2&keywords=personal+space+heater

I use this heater paired with an Inkbird 308 temp controller. It's low wattage and works great for this application. I keep my ferm chamber (full-size refrigerator) in a non-insulated garage where temps have fallen as low as -10*F. Chamber has held @68* in those conditions.

 

Not to jack the thread, but what are your opinions on the best way to heat the ferm chamber when you have 2 or 3 carboy going at the same time?

 

Man, those are my highs on warm days this time of year. I wish I had those fermenting temps!

 

My fermenting chamber is home made, using as much cannibalized materials as possible. I had to buy the controller and two sheets of 1-1/2" foam insulation. It heats only. It can accommodate 4 carboys. It uses a 40W incandescent bulb in a gallon metal can, which is painted flat black. I have an ancient equipment fan (~4" dia.) blowing on the can to make a breeze and homogonize the temp in the chamber. I keep the temp probe strapped to the carboy.

I have a separate chest freezer with a temp controller for lagering, etc.

My basement, which is where all this stuff is, never gets above 66F in the summer and is around 58F in the winter.

 

I use strand of Christmas lights. Depending on the temp you are trying achieve you add more or less lights.

Cheers

 

I was just going to suggest the same thing. Hook the light string to an external thermostat and attach the wires all around the interior walls for heat dispersion, I think they'd give off at least 65 degree heat. If bright light affecting the wort is a concern, go for the dark blue ones. (Are incandescent light strings still available, or is everything LED now? LEDs may not give off enough heat for this application.)

 

If you do, be careful. It moves really fast.

 

The best way would be with three heat wraps and three sets of controllers/probes. Even if you want all of the worts to ferment at the same temperature, they won't if the only controlled temp is ambient.

 

That's fairly anal

 

Then you'll really like this...

In my chamber I have two 6.5 gallon carboys fermenting side by side. The temp probe is strapped onto the side of one carboy. I have a fan circulating the air inside the chamber constantly, specifically to make the temp as uniform as possible. Even so, the two carboys have different aspect ratios, hence the thermal profile through the beer may not be the same and fermentation may not be identical, even if miracously all other variables did somehow match.

C'est la vie.

 

If you are worried about light impacting your beer, and don't want to use a metal can... you could always go to a pet store and buy one of those porcelain/clay terrarium bulbs.

 

I use a germination mat, essentially a heating pad, hooked to a ranch controller with a thermwell for the probe. My mat is long enough to wrap around the entire cylinder of a bucket fermenter. If necessary (e.g, making a saison and aiming for temps maybe 5 degrees or more higher than ambient) a blanket or sleeping bag to insulate.

 

While I agree that the setup you described would be ideal, I don't have the funds to invest in separate heat wraps and temp controllers, so I should have specified that I am looking for the best solution, short of dropping $150+ for a heating solution for multiple fermentors. Thoughts? (For example, One temp probe held in place between two carboys with a paint can heater?) thanks