# Fish Tank Heater



## ironxmortlock (20/5/07)

Hi folks,

I've heard people talking about keeping their brew at a constant temperature by immersing the container in a bath of water regulated by a fish tank heater.

I was wondering if there would be any problem with drilling a hole in the top of the container and having a well sanitised fish tank heater suspended in the brew. I was thinking an airlock gromet (or similar) could do the job of sealing the air space around the cord.

Has anyone done this before or can you think of any problems with this method?

Thank you,

M


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## Barramundi (20/5/07)

havent done it myself but know of many that do , you can even buy a stainless steel heater these days rather than the easy breakable glass models , some are even able to be controlled from the wall plug rather than on top of the element ....


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## razz (20/5/07)

IRONxMortlock welcome to the forums. Many years ago I purchased a lid and immersion heater for my coopers fermenter to do the very same thing. The lid had been drilled out to accomodate the rubber seal fitted around the glass heater. If you are interested you can pm me.


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## tangent (20/5/07)

i did it
i didn't work
i'm still not sure why. all i can come up with is: heat goes up, not around and around. i ended up heating a small layer of wort around the element at 19C and the rest of the brew ticked over with lack of ambient heat at about 16C.
the tub of water works well with the fermenter propped up on bricks and the element sitting (propped on an old key above the plastic of the tub) underneath the fermenter. 
otherwise if it isn't underneath the fermenter it needs a small aquarium pump to keep the water moving and the heat dispersed around the base of the fermenter.

a lot of hassle compared with a normal electric heater pad or belt (an old bloke told me that he'd had 2 heat pads melt/"catch on fire")


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## pokolbinguy (20/5/07)

I've used this method, and seemed to work well for me.

I just drilled a hole in the fermenter lid, detached the plug off the heaters cable, fed in through the hole and attached a new plug. 

Make sure you use a nice tight grommet around the cable so its air tight.

And also make sure you clean the heater well and they tend to have a few knook and crannies.

Cheers, Pok


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## reVoxAHB (20/5/07)

Hey IRONxMortlock, welcome to the forums!

I've read of guys successfully doing what you're considering. Never tried it myself, but I know it can be done. As tangent pointed out, it didn't work for him so your mileage may vary.

Many of us here use temperature controlled fermentation chambers- a fridge works nicely. I use a FridgeMate (external digital control unit) to set cooling to whatever I'm fermenting (eg 19C)

The unit also features a heating mode, and in the cold winter months (now!) I use this setup:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=200580

I've had it in heating mode (my solution) for several weeks and it works a treat! Not a problem in the world.

Hope helps,
reVox


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## danman (20/5/07)

back in the good old days i used to wrap an electric blanket around my fermenter
used to work very well but looking back im lucky to have not burnt the house down!

things we do to brew :blink:


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## tangent (20/5/07)

hey it's worth trying!
i thought it was a perfect idea, even dialled up higher temps but the brew stayed cool.


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## bugwan (20/5/07)

Hi Iron,

I have a few pics of my set up with an aquarium heater and pond pump for winter fermentation.

I've used it many times and it goes a treat. The tub is about 75Ltrs and is about $9 from Bunnings. Pond pump was $5 and the aquarium heater is 50W (about $10?). 

Pic here


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## tangent (20/5/07)

now with the pump and a heap of thermal inertia, that's the go!


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## chris.taylor.98 (20/5/07)

You can actually buy modified fish tank heaters that are designed specifically as immersion heaters.

I have 2 of them, and they are fantastic for brewing ales during the cooler months. The ones I bought have the cord threaded through a rubber bung. You just put an appropriate sized hole in the lid and the heater is suspended in the fermenter.

Note the temperature gauge on it is not very accurate, so I usually calibrate for the temperature I require prior to brew day.

IMHO these are actually better at keeping temperature constant then most fridge controllers.

I purchased it my from the Brewer's Den in Boronia. Melbourne. Cost about $45.


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## bugwan (20/5/07)

tangent said:


> now with the pump and a heap of thermal inertia, that's the go!



I can't imagine the pump actually in the beer  , but it does a great job just outside!


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## Thirsty Boy (20/5/07)

I have been heating my winter beers with an immersed aquarium heater for 18 months now. It works very well indeed.

I Drilled a hole in the fermentor lid big enough to put the heater through, then purchased a rubber stopper big enough to fill the hole. Drilled a small hole in the stopper and "spilt" the stopper so I could put it around the cord.

Once the thing is shoved into the hole in the lid, the split seals up no problem, not that I really think you need to freak out about having "airtight" fermentors anyway, but it is nice to see the airlock bubble away, gives you confidence things are working properly.

As Chris says, the temperature settings aren't spot on, but once you have given it a calibrate ie: on mine 19C as a setting relates to a reading of 18C on the outside thermometer. It will maintain your temperature really well with very little variation.

Only drawback is that most of the heaters dont have a setting any lower than 18 or 19 degrees. So thats your lowest temperature limit unless you use an external controller on them.

You should be able to pick them up for well under $20 on ebay. I'd go for a 100W version.

Thirsty


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## boingk (20/5/07)

In all my glory, I've decided that cheap and effective is the name of my game at the moment. So the fermenter is on top of a set of shelves that is built into my wardrobe on one side, and too keep it cool I leave my window open at night and use the t-shirt & fan method. To keep it warm I just switch the fan heater to low heat setting and blow over the fermenter and surrounding area until I get the temp needed.


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## sstacey (21/5/07)

I tied it. Seemed to work okay for me.


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## ironxmortlock (21/5/07)

Thanks for your responses everyone!

I think I'll give it a go.


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## tangent (21/5/07)

> I can't imagine the pump actually in the beer , but it does a great job just outside!


No not a pump in the beer <_< , a pump moving the water bath around the fermenter.


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## therook (21/5/07)

I have been contenplating putting a heater into the fermenter also...has anyone had any bad experiences?

i.e Are you going to get an even heat through the whole of the wort or is it going to be ferment at a hotter temp next to the heater therefore creating unwanted tastes?

rook


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## Thirsty Boy (21/5/07)

therook said:


> I have been contenplating putting a heater into the fermenter also...has anyone had any bad experiences?
> 
> i.e Are you going to get an even heat through the whole of the wort or is it going to be ferment at a hotter temp next to the heater therefore creating unwanted tastes?



I would imagine that there would be some slight uneveness.. but I dont see how that wouldn't be common to every method of heating. Brewbelt - localised heating, Warm chamber/bath - cooler in the middle than on the outside.. whatever, unless the heat source is distributed evenly throughout the wort, there will be some localisation.

We aren't talking about high density heat here and there will be convection currents in the wort from the heat as well as currents from the fermentation, I really cant see that it could be all that bad. Anyway, I'm confident enough that i just permanently installed a heater at the bottom of one of my fermentors. Horizontally mounted through the side so the controls are on the outside but the heat is on the inside. Food grade silicon sealant.

Holding my kolsch at a lovely 14 degrees as I type

Thirsty


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## PostModern (21/5/07)

I plan to stick a fishtank heater into a bucket of water and stick it into my fermentation chest freezer. With all that insulation, it should work OK, no?


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## FazerPete (21/5/07)

PostModern said:


> I plan to stick a fishtank heater into a bucket of water and stick it into my fermentation chest freezer. With all that insulation, it should work OK, no?


It should work fine but keep in mind that you'll get a bit of condensation in the freezer caused from heating an uncovered bucket of water. It'd probably take a little while to get the whole freezer up to temperature as well.


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## Deja_vu (25/5/07)

bugwan said:


> Hi Iron,
> 
> I have a few pics of my set up with an aquarium heater and pond pump for winter fermentation.
> 
> ...



Hi Bugwan,

How do you take readings etc, is it difficult, I'm a total noob at this, but I imagine you need to be really careful not to stir up the crud? Also is the pump/heater on permanently or do you use a controller?


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## Tangles (25/5/07)

PostModern said:


> I plan to stick a fishtank heater into a bucket of water and stick it into my fermentation chest freezer. With all that insulation, it should work OK, no?



I have an aquarium heater in a tub of water sitting on the shelf under my fermenter. I takes a while to heat up the whole (350 lt) fridge but that's OK as the wort initially produces its own heat anyway. It's been no drama for the last lot of ale brews that I have done.


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## griffo17 (25/5/07)

G'day & Welcome Iron,

I've just bottled my first brew and I used the aqauriam heater method and it seemed to work fine.
I had a few minor hiccups though and a have a few tips.

I bought a large tub from Bunnings for $9 and filled to about 1/3 the way up the fermenter.
Aquariam heater was $12 from Kmart, this was attached via suction caps to the inside of the plastic tub.


Tips.

-Make sure you put some Sanitizer in the tub with the water to keep the tap nice and clean. Thanks AHB.com

-Remember to turn off the heater at least 5 mins before taking a gravity reading, if not the water level will go down (when you take the fermenter out) and the heater will be left exposed and explode! That happened to me, I'd had a few beers before hand and wasn't thinking straight. Oh well what's another $12?

-The tub I bought was rectangular in shape so that I could sit the heater up one end away from the fermenter and it kept a nice regular temp. until I exploded it.

Good luck and enjoy the brewing, it's good fun (except for washing / sanitizing the bottles!)

cheers (& beers)

Griffo


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## FazerPete (25/5/07)

griffo17 said:


> G'day & Welcome Iron,
> 
> I've just bottled my first brew and I used the aqauriam heater method and it seemed to work fine.
> I had a few minor hiccups though and a have a few tips.



Glad to hear it all worked OK Griffo. :beer: Whoops, forgot to tell you about not leaving the heater exposed.


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## griffo17 (25/5/07)

No worries Fazer,

Like I said, I should have really been switched on to it but I'd had a few beers with a mate and decided to show him the setup and thought it would be a good idea to take a reading.

You always need to learn from your experiences I reckon. :lol: 

cheers (& Beers)

Griffo


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## troywhite (27/5/07)

has worked fine for me. I've got a couple of brews down right now using submersible fish tank heaters.

you can get them on eBay really cheap too!!!!

I just use blutack to seal the hole I drilled in the top (cbf'd finding a grommet to fit and the blutack is easily removable.

Edit: Just read some of you guys are talking using tubs and stuff. 
Not here. Just drilled a hole and whacked in in. Fully immersed the heater into the wort and away she goes. 
No problems at all.


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## Jazzafish (27/5/07)

I just put the fermenter in a bath of water. Then I add a fish tank heater to the bath surrounding the fermenter.

It works to the degree.

Cheers,
Jarrad


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## bugwan (27/5/07)

Marcus said:


> Hi Bugwan,
> 
> How do you take readings etc, is it difficult, I'm a total noob at this, but I imagine you need to be really careful not to stir up the crud? Also is the pump/heater on permanently or do you use a controller?



Sorry guys, I missed this thread cropping up again...

Marcus, I bought a digital thermometer off eBay for about $5 about a year ago. I use it as a temp checker for my fridges and the fermentation 'pond' I use in the winter (bucket full of warm water  ).

PoMo, I tried putting a bucket of water in a fridge recently, and dialled up 18 degrees on the aquarium heater. Within a couple of hours, the lining of the fridge was dripping, within two days, the interior had turned green. A lot of Exit Mould later, I was back where I started. 
If you're going to use warm water to heat a space, make sure there's adequate ventilation or a bottle of anti-mould solution handy!


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## frogman (27/5/07)

DAM IT!!!!! YOU GUYS KEEP GETTING ME INTO TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS..................




FROGMAN


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## lucas (27/5/07)

frogman said:


> DAM IT!!!!! YOU GUYS KEEP GETTING ME INTO TROUBLE WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS..................
> View attachment 12816
> 
> 
> FROGMAN


bwahaha


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## ironxmortlock (4/6/07)

Thanks for the responses everyone! Turns out that Brissy has perfect brewing temp. at the moment. I've just wacked the fermenter under the house and it's stayed at a pretty consistent 19C.

It is starting to a get a little cooler though so I might put the heater in for my next batch (making an ale).

Thanks again,

M
:beer: 

P.S. ROFL at troywhite for the "cbf'd" acronym. Never seen it written like that before. :lol:


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