Will I need a heat belt? NSW Mid North Coast

[Bribie G]

Hi Hunter and Mid Northies, with summer about to expire and winter creeping up over the horizon, do you reckon I'd need a heat belt over winter? Never had one in SEQ.
Weather here is identical to Forster Tuncurry, not Taree which is up a frost hollow valley. I guess the temps would be similar down as far as the Central Coast.

As you can see May - Sept is looking a bit alarming. What sorts of mean ambient temps do you guys get in your brewery? The fermenter will be in a temp controlled kegmate in a brick garage. Running on a fridgemate which can be set to heating mode.

 

[stux]

I'm in the lower blue mountains.

Regularly gets below 6 at night in winter here, and I use a heat belt on my ales

Quite possible to have the temp knocked down to 12 degrees if we get a sustained cold spell

Easy tho, just wrap the heat belt round and plug into the STC

 

[mkstalen]

I'm at pennant hills. You'll probably be ok without one. Where it might come in handy is to bring temps up for a dyacetal(?) rest. When Ilived on the central coast the garage could get down pretty low overnight , 10deg or so.

 

[sp0rk]

Here in Coffs it sometimes gets down to -2 around 5-6am in the middle of winter
you may need the heat belt

 

[kubba]

I'm in Newcastle and before I got a ferment fridge I was brewing in the laundry with a heat belt during winter. Ales definitely needed a heat belt as after the initial 2 days or so of fermentation the wort was unable to stay above 18 degrees on its own and could actually drop quite low to around 10 - 12 degrees.

 

[Bribie G]

Yup sounds like a heat belt is the solution. I don't like the idea of heat pads as I suspect they might cause "pluming" of the sediment in the FV which of course isn't what you need. In SEQ May to September was "golden" brewing months for ales as you could just do them in the garage in a switched off fridge to give more temperature stability, provided it was a well insulated brick/tile garage. However even there some guys needed a heat belt now and again, especially in Frost Hollow areas like Caboolture or Ipswich.

 

[jacknohe]

I use a heat pad inside my fridge. Just have it to the side not touching the fermenter. Works great.

 

[TidalPete]

I use a heat pad inside my fridge. Just have it to the side not touching the fermenter. Works great.

+1

 

[Sam England]

PC fan that blows across the heat pad when it's on does the trick here in the Adelaide hills in Winter. Maybe not as efficient as getting the heat into the fermenter as a belt, but does put an even heat around the whole fridge. Also means you can control ferment more than one if you've got the room.

Cheers,
BB