Newbie Q Re Heat Pad

[gc78]

Hi all new to this so sorry for what may be a dumb question. Got a coopers homebrew kit for xmas off the wife thats the good part !!! Just reading thru the booklet, havn't watched the tape yet but just have a question about keeping it at constant temp. Is it pretty much the norm to get a heat pad to maintain temp ?
Reason I ask is I'll make up a frame to put the container on in the laundry but obvously without one of those heat pads there would be to much temp change to produce a different brew ?
The only one I have seen is one they sell at kmart but figured I'd ask here as I'm sure you all know much more about this sort of stuff then I do.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

-GC

 

[wezz]

Hi GC,

I got a coopers kit for fathers day and so far have put down about 4 batches. So I'm no expert, but I have had good brews so far with the Coopers kit.

I have no heat pad, and most of my brews have lived in my kitchen (much to my wife's digust). Because of some strange whether here in Gosford NSW and the airconditioning, there has been some major temp fluctuations between 18-28 degrees.

I haven't had any problems with Coopers Lager, Coopers Canadian blonde, or Toohey's Real Ale kits.

I did just get a heat pad for Xmas so I suppose that will be most useful during winter. The heat pad I got doesn't have a thermostat - it just raises the temp by 3-4 degrees so it doesn't appear to help with regulating temp.

Some kits / varieties of yeast require different temps so just check the instruction before you buy and make sure it suits the approx temp in your laundry and you shouldn't need a heat pad.

I hope that helps. Happy Brewing

Wez

 

[Paleman]

Far better off without any heating devices in summer.

In fact keeping your beer cool will be a problem.

Try for 18 - 24 degrees constant for a good Ale. No heating should be needed, unless you live in the Snowy Highlands.

 

[benno1973]

Hi GC,

Depends what the temperature is in your laundry as to whether you'll need a heat pad. I've never needed one myself, as I've always found there to be plenty of other options for maintaining a good stable temperature.

One option is to keep the fermenter inside the house. In winter I have a room that stays pretty warm all the time, and fluctuates around the 18-21C range anyway. Also remember that the fermenter temperature won't necessarily be the same as the ambient temperature - the liquid in the the fermenter has a large thermal mass and will take some time to equalise with the outside temperature, so if the laundry gets cold overnight but warms back up the next day, you may find your fermenter temps hardly fluctuate. Also, yeast produce some heat during their active phase of the fermentation, so the fermenter will always be a bit warmer than the outside environement.

Another thing you can do is to insulate the fermenter somehow. Try wrapping a towel around it, or building something more fancy for the purpose.

Personally, I'd say that buying a heating pad isn't the norm, but people might disagree with me. Look for other options for maintaining a stable temperature, but as others have pointed out, make sure you don't keep the fermenter too warm - anything over 21C is not so good for ale yeasts - so you might find that during summer your fermenter is fine without heating...

 

[blackbock]

Heat Pad? in Aussie summertime? DON'T DO IT!

You're better off aiming to keep the wort temperature within a small range (within limits of course) rather than trying to achieve a particular temperature. Fluctuation is bad.

Having said this, if you're starting out using a heatpad now and spoil a brew's taste by excessively high fermentation temperature, you'll probably produce poor-tasting beer that will turn yourself off the whole hobby and ruin your reputation as a beermaker!

 

[Finite]

gc,

Welcome to the forum. Seriously, cooling it enough will be your major problem in summer. The coopers yeast list a pretty damn large range of OK fermentation temps 18-26C or something?

Be warned that at higher tempretures Ale yeast (which coopers kits come with) will give off a fruity component and some off flavours to the beer, drinkable still but not disireable. Unless your producing a style that calls for it like a belgian ale then try to keep it toward the low end of the scale.

Aside from sterilisation the best thing a brewer can learn is maintaining fermentation temps. I sudgest you consider buying a thermometer or something that can messure the ambient temp of the room. I use a digital probe themometer from Jaycar (no affiliation). Its a bit pricey at $39.95 but is easy to mount on a surface goes from -50C to 150C, the probe allows me to stick it to the fermenter, has a high / low alarm and memory which means I can go check in the morning and see the highest and lowest it got over night or the day. This is great for telling me whether you need to add heat or cool. Generally you will be wanting to cool. The cheapest and easiest way to do this is to wrap the fermenter in a wet towel, sheet or piece of cloth. As the water evaporates it will cool the wort a few more degrees. Try and keep the temp from rising or falling for than +/- 2C. Consistant temps are the key here so put the fermenter somewhere where it wont change much like a cubboard, under the stairs etc. Belive it or not the gararge is NOT a good idea as its not insulated and it will get cold at night and warm in the day. Aim for the lower end of the yeasts fermentation range. As said above the temp inside the fermenter will be warmer as it ferments.

Home brewing can be as easy or as complicated as you like. You can do it with very little equipment or alot. The quality can also differ very much but if you follow the golden rules then every beer will be highly drinkable.

for a new brewer the big rules are:

Good Sanitation
Constant fermentation temps

Having a search around the site for these issues will show a plethora of info. Blackbock's comment is a good one. Do it properly first and you will without a doubt come back for more. That being said do have fun and relax, of course after a few times you will be much smoother.


Check out these threads for some help:

FAQ for the new brewer (including a cheap temp control option)

10 Most inportant things to making better beer

 

[FazerPete]

What I do is sit the fermenter in a big plastic container that is half filled with water and has a fish tank heater in it. The fish tank heater has a variable thermostat on it so it only heats up the bath of water if required. I can keep everything at a constant 20deg

This is the simplest way to stop the temperature dropping during the night without ever having to worry about checking it. It's also the cheapest, I picked up the plastic bin for $14 and the heater for $15 from K-mart. I chuck in some steriliser into the bath to make sure that the tap is kept clean because it's under water.

Of course it can't keep it cool but as long as you keep it all in the coolest part of the house, it's a no brainer. I can keep everything at a constant 20deg in normal weather (24 on 40deg days) because I have mine in a double brick garage that doesn't get hot.

The only negative to this is that you need to lift it out of the bath to take hydro readings but I don't bother anyway because I just leave it in the fermenter for 3-4 days after fermentation activity has stopped and I've never had a problem.

 

[Paleman]

100 Can Cooler Bag !! !!!

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=12817&hl=