Winter Brewing

[Hugo]

Some advice please...

I have a planned brew day/evening tomorrow, but it's currently snowing in my part of the world. I can house a fermenter inside overnight after the initial yeast pitch, but space constraints mean it will have to be banished to the sub-zero temperatures of the shed for the bulk of the primary and all the seconadry. I've previously just wrapped the drum in sleeping bags and blankets, which has worked OK, but I haven't tried brewing through current temperature extremes.

Is there enough heat generated by the fermentation that insulation alone will keep it rolling, or will I have to look into heat pads/blankets? Never been much a of a fan as I prefer a longer primary and my one attempt at artificial heating seemed to rush the process.

Thanks

 

[wyatt_girth]

Hugo, this gets a mention here quite a bit lately as you would expect. Here are a couple of recent ones. Here and here

 

[wambesi]

Some advice please...

I have a planned brew day/evening tomorrow, but it's currently snowing in my part of the world. I can house a fermenter inside overnight after the initial yeast pitch, but space constraints mean it will have to be banished to the sub-zero temperatures of the shed for the bulk of the primary and all the seconadry. I've previously just wrapped the drum in sleeping bags and blankets, which has worked OK, but I haven't tried brewing through current temperature extremes.

Is there enough heat generated by the fermentation that insulation alone will keep it rolling, or will I have to look into heat pads/blankets? Never been much a of a fan as I prefer a longer primary and my one attempt at artificial heating seemed to rush the process.

Thanks

Mate,
Read up on what WG has linked too, but I would be lost without my heat belt and fridgemate for the winter months.

I would never use a heatbelt by itself (I did before my fridgemate, but I'd position it so only part of the belt was in contact with the fermenter) as the temp can get upwards of 26deg but with the fridgemate I currently have my second AG hefeweizen sitting at 21deg to try and get some of these fruity notes before I tune the temp back to 18 or so for a week or so after that.

 

[0M39A]

i second what wambesi has said.

would be lost without my fridgemate + heaterbelt combo. i do all my brewing in the shed as well.

keep the carboy in the fridge (turned off) with the door closed, and the heatbelt plugged into the fridgemate to keep a stable temperature.

current apa (using nottingham yeast) is set to 15C. without the heatbelt it would be well below. without the fridgemate i have no doubt it would be much higher

 

[reviled]

i second what wambesi has said.

would be lost without my fridgemate + heaterbelt combo. i do all my brewing in the shed as well.

keep the carboy in the fridge (turned off) with the door closed, and the heatbelt plugged into the fridgemate to keep a stable temperature.

current apa (using nottingham yeast) is set to 15C. without the heatbelt it would be well below. without the fridgemate i have no doubt it would be much higher

Whats a fridgemate? Does that control how warm the heating belt gets?

 

[domfergo]

do a quick search reviled, buck loads of info on fridgemates.

they are a basically a thermostat that turns the belt on or off when needed

 

[Jazman]

brew lagers in winter easy