Heat belts , heat pads or other sources -what's best

[Spiesy]

Isn't the only bad spectrum ultra violet?

Agree about heating ambient, much more gentle a manner of heat. I personally use heat pads in the fridge door.

Re: light. Yes, I believe you're right.

Still, with ceramic heat lamps or heat pads heating the ambient - there's no worry about any light!

 

[Unclestewbrew]

Thanks for all the info guys , I'm now a little confused about which way to go lol.

Might try the reptile cord first as I can get my hands on one straight away as the nights are getting pretty chilly already in Sydney ,

Cheers Stu

 

[QldKev]

I agree about heating ambient, much more gentle a manner of heat with no hot spots on the fermenter. I think most of the ways are great. I went the reptile heat cord as it's long and makes for a more uniform heating.

Here's the thread with links to the one i got.

 

[stux]

I tried ambient heating. Ended up causing temperature swings. So switched to heat belt with in wort temperature thermowell

 

[Unclestewbrew]

Hi QldKev , how did you put the cord in the fridge ? Did you just hang it off one of the racks ?

I'm more than a little concerned about a heating element coming into contact with the fridge surfaces and the possibility of a fire ,

Thanks Stu

 

[QldKev]

Yep just off the top rack. The reason I prefer the reptile cord over the brew heat belt, is the reptile cord does not get that warm to touch. Mine is 7m long, so the heat is spread over a large area. It gets threaded from top to bottom a few times. The heat could not cause a fire, it would not get much warmer than 50c. So no issues with it touching fridge walls, fermenters etc.

 

[GalBrew]

It does need some kind of heat sink though.

Your fermenter full of wort/beer is the heat sink. I would not use a heat belt that isn't in direct contact with the fermenter, they get way too hot otherwise.

 

[QldKev]

I def would not use a normal beer fermenter heat belt without the fermenter to suck the heat away. I think it was Ross that posted a pic of one that had caught on fire.

 

[nosco]

Very true but as Speisy said being in direct contact with the fermenter would create uneven heat. Heating ambient temps is better I think. Plus I have my STC probe stuck on the outside of the fermenter so I don't want it to mess with the temp readings.

 

[superstock]

Very true but as Speisy said being in direct contact with the fermenter would create uneven heat.

Ever heard of convection currents?

 

[nosco]

No but if you mean the hot and cold will create currents that will mix the wort in a hurry....
Probably not quick enough i reckon. Either way heat almost directly in contact with the wort doesn't sound good to me.

 

[zeggie]

I've never had an issue with my heat belts. When its wrapped on a full fermenter I can touch it and its vaguely warm. Takes ages to raise temp so its gentle enough.
That being said I'd never seen those reptile heat globes so have ordered one on ebay


But true ALWAYS wrap around a full fermenter, theres pics floating around of when its wrapped around an empty fermenter and also another left on a fridge shelf and it is NOT pretty.

 

[nosco]

Ditching the heat belt in the fridge idea then. Id wrap around the fermenter but i have 2 fermenters in there atm. Plus im doing lagers so i dont need it yet

 

[bookers]

i am using a small decommisioned fridge holds a 30 litre fermenter,i am using the lampholder in the fridge with a 25watt globe connected to a thermostat.works ok me.

.PS i put a old t-shirt over the fermenter also

+1 for this, this is exactly the same as mine, works a treat

 

[yankinoz]

i am using a small decommisioned fridge holds a 30 litre fermenter,i am using the lampholder in the fridge with a 25watt globe connected to a thermostat.works ok me.

.PS i put a old t-shirt over the fermenter also

Uncle, you need very little heat if the fermenter is insulated. I too use an old fridge. A 1 L jug of somewhat warm and 4L jug of water at brewing temperature (adds heat buffering to the mass of wort in the fermenter) keeps beer right overnight. If I have to raise the temp, I use some warmer water.

Of course, in the fast fermentation phase, you'll probably need ice to keep the temp down.

It takes some experience. At first I woke in the night thinking my batch is f__d. It wasn't. All the same, DU99's thermostat and 25W globe would be easier. It's where I'll go once I get around to drilling the needed hole in the fridge.

DU99--what do you do when the fermentation is cranking out heat?

 

[TheBigD]

This, gentle safe heat source no drilling required
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/14W-Reptile-lizard-snake-terrarium-black-heat-mat-AUSTRALIAN-PLUG-/131499057639?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item1e9df461e7

 

[zeggie]

So bought one of those ceramic reptile heat lamps off ebay. Glowed bright red with a bad burning smell and died. Lucky I didn't leave it unattended or it would have burnt my fridge or my house :unsure: :unsure:

Think I'll stick with the safer heat belts!

 

[BradG]

I've got one of these heat belts and just ordered another.


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/301629647281?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Turned out to be a Keg King packaged one. Cheap at $20 delivered

 

[earle]

This, gentle safe heat source no drilling required
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/14W-Reptile-lizard-snake-terrarium-black-heat-mat-AUSTRALIAN-PLUG-/131499057639?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item1e9df461e7

For only a few dollars more you can get a 20W vetsion which is the same wattage as the heat mats sold specifically for home brew. Just got one and have it in my brewing fridge, not in contact with fermenter and its working a charm.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Re: light. Yes, I believe you're right.

Still, with ceramic heat lamps or heat pads heating the ambient - there's no worry about any light!

So bought one of those ceramic reptile heat lamps off ebay. Glowed bright red with a bad burning smell and died. Lucky I didn't leave it unattended or it would have burnt my fridge or my house :unsure: :unsure:

Think I'll stick with the safer heat belts!

Gotta chime in here, ceramic heat lamps emit heat primarily by radiation.

Air is an extremely poor conductor of heat, so the infrared radiation will be transmitted from the light through the air to whatever the nearest surface or thermal "body" it is pointing at. So if that's the side of your fermenter than you will get a warm spot (albeit it may be minimal). Heat transfer is never perfectly uniform, sadly we are governed by the laws of thermodynamics and in order to transfer heat you need a temperature gradient to drive it. The ambient air inside your fridge will most likely be heated by natural convection of your fermenter stirring the air around and transferring heat that way.

As long as you have a gentle source of heat, be it a low wattage belt, pad or light I think it will be fine. We're competing with the exothermic heat of fermentation anyway so it's quite a complex beast in that sense to hold a perfect temp throughout fermentation.

The key is measuring the variable you want to control, so a thermowell in your ferment at the centre is the best position. I don't do this (I tape my probe to outside wall) and I personally don't adjust for the initial heat of fermentation, neither do some commercial breweries I've seen. Like all things brewing we need to make a decision up front as to how far we are willing to go for the desired result.

Ps. For the record I use a low wattage heat belt wrapped around my FV just above the lower "ridge" in the plastic (Bunnings style fermenter). Even with 3 FVs at once in my chest freezer I only wraps the middle fermenter and find consistent temps on all three batches (due to the natural convection effect I mentioned). I measured this with an infrared temp gun.