# Temp Control During Fermentation - Please Help A Newbie



## shaunms (10/6/09)

So during my very first brew the weather behaved its self and the temp was around 21 degrees for the entire week of fermentation, everything went swimmingly.
Now winter has well and truly set in and the temp of my last batch <and 2nd ever> was between 16 to 18 degrees and I think I was lucky enough that everything worked out well again, although I may have bottled a little early, anyway.

So now I want to create my Stout Toucan but I am worried about the temp dropping even further. I don't want to spend alot of money so I thought about buying a bar fridge off ebay and then hooking up a temperature controller to help maintain an temp of about 20 degrees however I have no real idea how this works or what I am talking about.
To me this sounds like the temp will drop below 15 degrees.

The more I read about this the more confused I get.

Really what I am looking for is a cheap way to cool my beer in summer and heat it in winter to maintain a constant temp of around 20 degrees, from what I have read that is what I should be focusing on.

I would love to hear from you experts, in simple English please, what you have done to solve this problem or maybe you can forward on a nice and simple article that even an idiot <that's how I am feeling right now> can easily follow.

I know I maybe pushing my luck here, but as I am new to Australia and only recently got to know what an Esky was, pictures <or links to pictures> would be great.

Thanks in advance to all those who are going to help me with this and thanks to all those that have already helped with my last 2 questions.

Shaun


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## Screwtop (10/6/09)

Forget bar fridges. Get an old 380L+ jobbie secondhand, look around $80 - $120 so you can fit 2 fermenters in when the need arises. Buy a Tempmate to control the fridge for cooling or a light globe inside the fridge for winter.

Cheers,

Screwy


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## Verbyla (10/6/09)

Ok well if your wanting to maintain a constant temperature you should get a tempmate. These basically monitor the temperature of your brew with a sensor and then relay electricity to either a fridge or heater to increase or decrease the temperature to the range you set it to. You would have found that even when you had 21 degree days the temperature of your brew at night would have fallen at night.

It will cost you about $60 to put together the tempmate. I know its not what some consider cheap but it is a perfect investment for your future brewing as it offers a constant temperature 24/7.

You'll have to do a search and keep reading to fully understand it all but its worth the time and effect.

I've never done a stout before but i'm guessing 21C would be a little high. Another thing that could aid your furture brewing is to research the correct temperatures to brew your brews at. Eg largers at 12C, ales at 18C or ciders around 15C


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## daemon (10/6/09)

Most bar fridges aren't big enough to fit a fermenter in, although you can be lucky with some models. You'd want to inspect them first and measure them first, personally I was lucky enough to buy one for under $20 and can fit a fermenter in.

Before that I was using a big red tub ($9 at Bunnings) with an old towel and frozen bottles of water. It wasn't ideal but a good step in the right direction. 

Also, try a search on "100 can cooler" as a number of other people have used it with good success.


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## megs80 (10/6/09)

It wont give you a stout. But have you thought about a lager yeast and sticking your fermenter in a colder spot? Try White labs liquid yeast, WLP833 German bock yeast. It will give you a tasty beer and will work best around 10 degrees but 15 at start and 18 degrees last couple of days is fine.
In the end if you want to brew great beer you have to control fermentation, it is one of the most important factors. Splurge on a fridge and a tempmate. You won regret it.

Cheers


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## katzke (11/6/09)

shaunms said:


> So during my very first brew the weather behaved its self and the temp was around 21 degrees for the entire week of fermentation, everything went swimmingly.
> Now winter has well and truly set in and the temp of my last batch <and 2nd ever> was between 16 to 18 degrees and I think I was lucky enough that everything worked out well again, although I may have bottled a little early, anyway.
> 
> So now I want to create my Stout Toucan but I am worried about the temp dropping even further. I don't want to spend alot of money so I thought about buying a bar fridge off ebay and then hooking up a temperature controller to help maintain an temp of about 20 degrees however I have no real idea how this works or what I am talking about.
> ...



Dont you heat your house? I live where it is cold and I use a wood stove to try and keep the frost off the inside of the windows. When I am comfortable my brews are comfortable. During active fermentation they make there own heat and I may wrap them up in an extra towel. If they get cold I will warm them up with a heat pad or move them out by the stove.

To cut a long story short put the fermentor in an extra bath tub or in the kitchen with a towel around it to keep the light off as well as keep it warm. If you are comfortable the brew will be just fine.

Now summer presents a different problem as I try and run the air as little as possible.


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## Yeldarb (11/6/09)

Screwtop said:


> Forget bar fridges. Get an old 380L+ jobbie secondhand, look around $80 - $120 so you can fit 2 fermenters in when the need arises. Buy a Tempmate to control the fridge for cooling or a light globe inside the fridge for winter.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Screwy



+1...best thing I have done to improve beer and remove a point of stress from the process.

I was lucky enough to get a fridge from a friend (without freezer in the top which is perfect) and bought a tempmate...at the moment the fridge is out in the shed where it is about 0c...inside the fridge is perfect 17.5c (with about 56ltrs of Fourstar's Amber Ale on the go  )

I see Jaycar have a new range of temperature controllers this year...


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## muckey (11/6/09)

Yeldarb said:


> +1...best thing I have done to improve beer and remove a point of stress from the process.




couldn't agree more. get the temperature control and sanitization nailed brewing becomes easy. It's worth spending time and money on this as its something you'll always need regardless of how you brew.

Upgrading to a tempmate was 1 of the best things I've done. makes temp control extra easy. I now let that take care of itself and devote my tiome and effort to my brewday and allow myself to be OCD with all the other processes of brewing


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## Fourstar (11/6/09)

Yeldarb said:


> with about 56ltrs of Fourstar's Amber Ale on the go



My AAA aye! The one from teh Recipe DB or the 'what are you brewing II thread?'


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## AussieJosh (11/6/09)

Simple way to not spend any money....if your room temp is under 18 brew beers with a lager yeast. if you wish to brew at 18 or above with an ale yeast simply get your self a heat pad or belt for between 20-60 dollers and they will raise your beer 3 or 4 degrees above what it would have been with out them! Simple!
I have a heat pad, but honestly id just try to stick to brewing beers with a lager yeast during winter.


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## manticle (11/6/09)

Cheaparse brewer here (mainly due to necessity).

I have a dedicated brew fridge (working and a gift from a friend) with no temp/fridge mate that I use for cold conditioning, lagering and storing grain and hops. For ales in Victorian winter conditions I simply keep them off the floor, use a forgiving yeast, wrap them in blankets and occassionally use my brew belt heater (monitored to avoid too high temps). It's worked ok so far. Expenditure has been minimal. If I fridgemate my brew fridge I'll have nowhere to store my hops and yeast slants.

You could also get a large esky (which can double as a mash tun when /if you start using grain) filled with some warm water or use a laundry tub or sink (I've done this with iced water for primary ferment of lagers and it's been ok).

You can brew good ales in winter.


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## HoppingMad (12/6/09)

As the guys have mentioned you have a ton of options: 

Here they are from cheapest to most expensive:

1- Do nothing, buy lager yeast and brew lagers in the cold, and ales when it warms up in the spring.
2- Bring your fermenter out of the coldest part of the house/shed and into the warmer bit. Room temperature in a house with a heating system should give you the ale yeast temp you need.
3- Use an electric blanket, or heater belt/pad with a timer so that it only runs during the colder parts of the day like at night. ($6-$10 for a timer from a hardware store)
4- Buy an aquarium heater from ebay for around $15 + P&H. Use that to heat your brew by submerging it in. Plenty of folks on AHB do it successfully. 
5- Buy a heater/brewbelt controller for between $60-$110. These control the heat of your pad/belt with a thermostat and shut off the power when it gets too hot. Typically used for heating reptile enclosures - so available at pet stores & ebay ($60-$69) or at suppliers like Grain and Grape and ibrew ($119/$95). 
6- Buy a dual purpose thermostat like one of the ones at ibrew.com.au - that don't need wiring to your fridge $145. This will do the same as a heater/brewbelt controller but also control your fridge's cooling for cooling ale temps down in summer. You adjust by flicking the switch.
7- Buy a fridgemate, if you're not adept at wiring you're looking at calling out a sparky to wire it to your fridge so all up high $100s. Details on these on the craftbrewer site & mashmaster. 
8- Buy a tempmate - a more expensive unit but now growing in popularity, if not wiring yourself could set you back over $200. Details on these on the craftbrewer site & mashmaster.

There are a few other options - like using modified Jaycar temp controllers which are cheap but there have been recent posts about these going on the fritz and people having to take them back to the shop so I wouldn't recommend this option myself.

I use the manual controllers personally, but the most popular choice on AHB appears to be a fridgemate with wiring done yourself to attach it to a fridge. 

Whatever you choose, you're doing the right thing by investing in good temp control - it's the one thing that has improved my brews out of sight.

Hopper.


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## buttersd70 (12/6/09)

HoppingMad said:


> As the guys have mentioned you have a ton of options:
> 
> Here they are from cheapest to most expensive:
> 
> snip



2 (ii): Hot water bottle in a dead fridge/esky/brocolli box/old sleeping bag. Low tech, sometimes fiddly (depending on the choice of insulator), but certainly a do-able option.

(having said that, definately agree with the first response in the thread, adn all of the echoes of that.)


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## Screwtop (12/6/09)

Fermenting in ambient = fluctuating temps Day/Night

Stable Fermentation = Good Fermentation = Better Beer

Stable fermenting temps were one of the first improvements made by commercial breweries, thats why they spend so much on fermentation temperature control.

Want good/better beer or cheap beer ???

Screwy


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## Yeldarb (12/6/09)

Fourstar said:


> My AAA aye! The one from teh Recipe DB or the 'what are you brewing II thread?'



From the "What has been your best extract recipe". I couldn't follow it to the letter, as I didn't have any Amber ME (recently bought some bulk LME) so I added a little more Caramalt (I think)...very much looking forward to this :icon_chickcheers:


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## acoggins (12/6/09)

I brew mine in a cupboard in the laundry. I fitted a bayonet light socket low down and I keep an eye on the temp, swapping the bulbs between 25W, 40W and 60W depending on the need. Minimal cost!


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## manticle (12/6/09)

Screwtop said:


> Want good/better beer or cheap beer ???
> 
> Screwy



Sometimes dependent on what people can actually afford rather than just being tightarses though. I know my current set-up is.


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## muckey (12/6/09)

thankfully I obtained aworking fridge and used a timer to turn it on/off for some time before getting a tempmate (same time used for heating solution in winter) and manually checked a thermometer to work out the timer intervals I needed.

if I hadn't get a cheap fridge I'd still be using blankets and hot/cold water bottles to regulate the temperature.

The method doesn't matter here, they all work and some are easier than others, just the fact that you need to regulate the temperature.


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## Fourstar (12/6/09)

Yeldarb said:


> From the "What has been your best extract recipe". I couldn't follow it to the letter, as I didn't have any Amber ME (recently bought some bulk LME) so I added a little more Caramalt (I think)...very much looking forward to this



sounds good mate, hopefully its enjoyable!

Cheers! :icon_cheers:


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## BjornJ (14/6/09)

how do you use the manual timers for a fridge to get 16-18 degrees?

I have bought one of those time-controlled power thingies from BigW, cost like $7.
I was thinking to plug my little bar fridge to this and play with how often the fridge has to turn on.
the timer has 15 minute intervals I can turn on/off.
(my 15 liter cube fits perfectly in the fridge)






Any advice on where to start testing?
15 minutes every 2 hours, maybe?

thanks
Bjorn


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## bum (14/6/09)

Get a fridgemate form the above sponsors. They really are worth every cent and are pretty simple to put together. Truly set-and-forget.

But trial and error with the timer will be the only way, really.


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## Barley Belly (14/6/09)

I run a Tempmate in a fridge only
Can fit two Coopers fermenters
And use a heat belt for heating

Fridge $50
Tempmate $70
Heat Belt $0 (hand me down)
12v Fan & 240v adapter $10


Does the goods for me


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## felten (16/6/09)

I ferment in the coldest part of the house.. my room. It's usually around 15-17 degrees ambient. I have the fermenter wrapped in a big 18 to -7 rated sleeping bag (probably bought it at target) and that seems to keep the temp pretty constant at 18c throughout the day (if you believe the digital thermometer anyway ).


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## Phoney (16/6/09)

Yeah I havent needed to use a fridge for the past 2 months. My kitchen floor keeps it @ a perfect 18C....


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## Screwtop (16/6/09)

manticle said:


> Sometimes dependent on what people can actually afford rather than just being tightarses though. I know my current set-up is.






Muckey said:


> thankfully I obtained aworking fridge and used a timer to turn it on/off for some time before getting a tempmate (same time used for heating solution in winter) and manually checked a thermometer to work out the timer intervals I needed.
> 
> if I hadn't get a cheap fridge I'd still be using blankets and hot/cold water bottles to regulate the temperature.
> 
> The method doesn't matter here, they all work and some are easier than others, just the fact that you need to regulate the temperature.




This is what homebrewing is about, homebrewers will beg/borrow/er look really hard and find a way to do it at their level of affordability, real homebrewing is all about the beer, good beer.



finners said:


> I run a Tempmate in a fridge only
> Can fit two Coopers fermenters
> And use a heat belt for heating
> 
> ...



Finners above is kitted for out for about the cost of 3 cartons of Megaswill. With fermentation temp control he gets to choose how good his beers can be, pointless moving on to extract, partial or AG without this basic kit. Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.

Screwy


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## EK (16/6/09)

Screwtop said:


> Finners above is kitted for out for about the cost of 3 cartons of Megaswill. With fermentation temp control he gets to choose how good his beers can be, pointless moving on to extract, partial or AG without this basic kit. Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.
> 
> Screwy


I'm not sure I agree with it being pointless, sure it will help give you better beer, but I don't think that level of temp control is an absolute requirement.

I live in a suburb of Brisbane that is usually considered a 'hot' suburb during summer and I use a 100 Can Cooler and some 1.25L soft drink bottles that have been filled with water and frozen. This method allows me to keep my brew in a good temperature range and create great (IMO) beer. The temperature only varies by about 2 degrees over a day at the most and I can keep the brew at the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Admittedly I have only done one AG beer via this method after recently changing from K&K but I am extremely happy with the results.

:icon_cheers: 
EK


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## muckey (16/6/09)

EK said:


> I'm not sure I agree with it being pointless, sure it will help give you better beer, but I don't think that level of temp control is an absolute requirement.
> 
> I live in a suburb of Brisbane that is usually considered a 'hot' suburb during summer and I use a 100 Can Cooler and some 1.25L soft drink bottles that have been filled with water and frozen. This method allows me to keep my brew in a good temperature range and create great (IMO) beer. The temperature only varies by about 2 degrees over a day at the most and I can keep the brew at the lower end of the yeast's temperature range. Admittedly I have only done one AG beer via this method after recently changing from K&K but I am extremely happy with the results.
> 
> ...




EK your temp control is as good as it needs to be. You need to keep the temperature under control and especially stable to make good beer which your method absulutely achieves. Some very successful brewers make some very good beer by changing cold/hot bottles once or twice a day.

Temp control is absolutely important. the methods all work and some require more input that others. personally I used a cheap timer for quite some time before shifting to a tempmate and I only changed because the tempmate requires less input from me NOT because its temp control is better.


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## Yeldarb (16/6/09)

My fridge with tempmate cost me about $100 all up (fridge was free from a friend, heat belt is about 6 years old). I wired up the tempmate myself (please spare the flaming... ) The main thing for me is "set and forget"...I simply check the beer every now and then pretty much leave it to do it's thing then bottle when I'm ready to bottle.

With the quality of the beer I am now making I don't need to (regularly) buy commercial beer (I just tasted a "Tony's JSAA" (thanks Tony ) I bottled only last week and I reckon it's as a good as the last actual JSAA I bought...it's my beer and I'm entitled to that opinion :lol 

I normally drink about a carton per week...it doesn't take long for the $ to add up. 

If you are happy with freezing bottles, using blankets, etc, etc, good luck to you...but homebrewing is enough work for me without this extra stuff/work that is easily removed.

I reckon you are more likely to stop brewing if you find it is taking over your life. I'm too busy with other stuff...I've got a 3 year old daughter, a vegie garden, a motorbike that needs riding (but doesn't very often lately), a dog who needs walking, a woodworking habit, and a need to go fishing every now and then...oops, almost forgot the wife :lol:

I like brewing and want to keep liking it.


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## manticle (16/6/09)

Screwtop said:


> This is what homebrewing is about, homebrewers will beg/borrow/er look really hard and find a way to do it at their level of affordability, real homebrewing is all about the beer, good beer.
> Good yeast and fermentation management will make good beer, it's as important as proper sanitation.
> 
> Screwy



I agree with that. I've gone from one hand me down basic set-up from my dad who brewed kits about 15 years ago to fiddling with heat belts, getting a free working fridge from a friend, buying spare fermenters when I can. I've also been forced to use my imagination in working out how to start mashing and so on (cheap eskies, k-mart pots, plastic strainers etc, $50 grain mill from ebay, 0.35c digital scales from ebay etc). I also play around with sinks of iced/hot water, blankets and many other things. You do need to keep these things in mind undoubtedly - I was just making the distinction between someone who can afford to buy a brand new $300 tempmate from Craftbrewer with a whip of the credit card and someone like myself who is forced to think laterally, may have something less than ideal but is still making an effort to do what he can.

You still need to have a go- it's just that people looking for cheap ways aren't always just being 'cheap'.


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## beerbrewer76543 (16/6/09)

I use a second hand fridge and a jaycar temp controller which is good for set and forget. Changing the set temp requires farting around with a screw driver and multimeter thanks to the lack of LCD display which is annoying

I have it set for 18 degrees and after 9 days or so I unplug the temp controller and plug the fridge straight into the power socket to chill to ~0 degrees for a day, rack onto gelatine and return to the fridge for the remaining 4 days which helps to clear up the beer nicely

Consistency is one thing I was aiming for when I took up brewing again and the fridge helps a lot in this regard


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## Bribie G (16/6/09)

buttersd70 said:


> 2 (ii): Hot water bottle in a dead fridge/esky/brocolli box/old sleeping bag. Low tech, sometimes fiddly (depending on the choice of insulator), but certainly a do-able option.
> 
> (having said that, definately agree with the first response in the thread, adn all of the echoes of that.)



I'm surprised that Butters is the only one to pick up on the dead fridge idea. I have been using a dead fridge since November - cost me nowt and a mate and I wheeled it across the suburb on my hand trolley (guy down the road shouted out, 'those things are great with a tap sticking out of the front' so he was on the ball :lol: there).




I have fermented at below 20 during the QLD summer with 2 x 2L frozen soft drink bottles changed daily, or changed twice a day to get down to 14 degrees for lagers. At the moment brews are sitting at 18 degrees with no PETs, the insulating properties of the fridge evens out the day and night variations.

It may get a bit colder here, so I'll put in a hot water bottle (5L jerrycan filled from hot water system) if necessary. The whole setup hasn't cost me a razoo apart from a couple of bottles.


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## RobboMC (16/6/09)

You need a fridge, mainly to act as an insulating box from outside temp changes.
I'm told by another (prize-winning) brewer that the daily temp cycle from nite to day does more damage
to your brew than a low or high temp iteslf.

This week I've been running my heating belt using the power timer, in summer I run the fridge off the timer.

Takes a little bit of 'watching', I check temps morning and evening and adjust the segments to suit,
but you can keep the temp inside a fridge pretty constant without using a Tempmate. 
Of course, if money is no option go for a tempmate.

Use the cool temps to make lager in Winter, makes sense to me. And nothing at all wrong with making a brew with all your Stout ingredients and popping in lager yeast to ferment it. What do you think the Scots, Northern Irish and Baltic states did before energy was so cheap? Historically, Irish Stout, Baltic Porter were all lager yeasted, Baltic Stout anyone? even a Russian Stout was probably made this way, check the temp in Moscow this week.

And I no longer brew in what I call 'high' summer, Jan/Feb when ambient is around 35 deg C or more
every day, even the fridge can't keep it cold when it's 50 plus in my garage. You can only fight nature so much.


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## db73 (16/6/09)

sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but

1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?

2. I can fit my fermenter in an old bar fridge which is not turned on (just put it now!) Would there be a problem since there is not much air space in the fridge and I assume a fair bit of co2 would be released from my fermenter.

Thanks
Dave


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## manticle (16/6/09)

I could be wrong but I believe fermenters are designed to release small amounts of C02 to avoid overloading pressure. They keep a lot of it inside as the blanket of gas helps prevent infection. I'm sure opening your fridge every so often will release whatever small amount is inside.

I use the stick on thermometer and also measure my hydrometer samples with a thermometer.


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## 3GumsBrewing (16/6/09)

db73 said:


> sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but
> 
> 1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?
> 
> ...



Ja, I whack the fermenter into the old chest freezer, sometimes with a heater and fridgemate, some times without (depending on season). Check every day or so.

Dood do yourself a favor and get yourself a temp controler. Easily the best improvement in the quality of your beer you will get.

DK


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## db73 (16/6/09)

DK said:


> Ja, I whack the fermenter into the old chest freezer, sometimes with a heater and fridgemate, some times without (depending on season). Check every day or so.
> 
> Dood do yourself a favor and get yourself a temp controler. Easily the best improvement in the quality of your beer you will get.
> 
> DK



on to it now

thanks


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## Bribie G (16/6/09)

db73 said:


> sorry if these are dumb/newbie questions but
> 
> 1. How are you HBers checking the temps of your brew? ie do you rely on stick on thermometers?
> 
> ...



CO2 doesn't matter, the beer doesn't care. Also the stick on thermometers are crap, they are ok at first, but after you have scalded them a few times while washing out fermenters they get out of whack, in my personal experience. I would suggest what a few brewers here do and just put a good quality glass thermo into a heavy bottle of water that won't tip over too easily (maybe get a squat flower vase from an op shop or a lolly jar), sit it next to the ferm. and that should give a good idea of the ambient in the fridge. I use a high tech laser pointing thermometer with digital readout, worth $75 but I won mine in a comp. It's a brilliant bit of kit and I love and rely on it . First thing I do in the morning is have a pee then head out to the garage to zap my cubes and fermenters  Another goody is to get a shorter glass thermo and sit it on the lid of the fermenter with the end resting down in the well under the central 'lifting' handle so it isn't going to roll off and break.

You can't have too many thermometers in this game :icon_cheers:


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## LLoyd (16/6/09)

money wasn't the issue for us summer gone by, but our LHBS had run out of fridgemates and wouldn't be stocked for a while.. Hooked up a solar pool heater controller on tropical mode (cools at night instead of heats during day) and plugged the fridge into the pump socket. I put the roof sensor in the freezer and the pool sensor in the fridge next to the beer. The only problem we had was that the freezer would sometimes get too warm and stall the cycle. Solved that by putting a light globe in the fridge to make it work a little harder to keep 18C. Now we have our freezer to store stuff in AND a ferment fridge. I've had to play with the light position a bit in relation to convection flows but now it is about as constant as possible. Positioning the sensor for any controller is a headf*%$ when you think about it too much, but a heat source can simplify it somewhat...


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## glaab (16/6/09)

I have a couple of heat pads from my LHBS but even though they are only 30W, they would heat a 30l fermenter up to about 30C. I had an old light dimmer so I wired that up and now my two 30l fermenters are sitting at a 18C. [ale and wheat bier] It's getting down to 5C or so here at the mo. Not much help in the cooling department I know but someone might find it useful. Cheers


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## masculator002 (16/6/09)

BribieG said:


> I'm surprised that Butters is the only one to pick up on the dead fridge idea. I have been using a dead fridge since November - cost me nowt and a mate and I wheeled it across the suburb on my hand trolley (guy down the road shouted out, 'those things are great with a tap sticking out of the front' so he was on the ball :lol: there).
> 
> View attachment 28112
> 
> ...





Anyone out there got a dead fridge big enough for a 400 litre stainless fermenter?????.....lol


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## Bribie G (16/6/09)

masculator002 said:


> Anyone out there got a dead fridge big enough for a 400 litre stainless fermenter?????.....lol



Are you the guy with the ex dairy tank? I could do with one of those but the BIAB bag might be a bit hard to hoist


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## shaunms (19/6/09)

Thanks everyone for you great advice and ideas.

Last week I thought I had come up with a perfect solution to my problem by using a fish tank heater but unfortunately to my surprise the fish tank heater glass broke when I filled up the container with luke warm water so I had to go back to the drawing board.

I have been thinking and thinking about the best/cheap was to control the temperature of my beer the entire week, and of course I have been thinking alot about drinking my beer to.

I jumped onto ebay for one last chance to see if I could score a cheap fridge, and guess what, I DID, check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Fridge_W0QQitemZ320...bayphotohosting

So I recon I am going down the route of working fridge/tempmate, I really hope all this extra money will improve my beer as much as I am expecting.

Now all I have to do is figure our how to get the fridge back to my house, I only live 5km from this guy but I only have a sedan and of course I have to explain this to my wife.

I will update this post with pics once I have my setup complete.

Thanks again.


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## shaunms (22/6/09)

Ok, I got my fridge which can hold 2 fermentors and all is now good in the world, well almost.

Here's the thing, the temp in the fridge is between 15 and 16 degrees and I want to get it up to 18-20 because I use the Coopers kit with the Coopers kit yeast.

Eventually I will get a fridgemate and hook it all up but for now I want to get a low voltage light that will generate just enough heat to keep it at my desired temperature.

I would like to hear from others what they have done to resolve this issue.

At the moment I am using 2 hotwater bottles but this just seems like to much work and a constant reminder of my gorgeous beer.

If you have any recommendations for me please include a link or a picture so I can get a visual understanding.

As always, thanks for your great advice.

Shaun


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