fermenter heating

There has been a lot of discussion on this lately on rec.crafts.brewing. You might ask there. Myself, I would use a homebuilt insulated box (plywood with stryrofoam insulation board) along with a ceramic reptile heater from a pet store.

Wayne Bugeater Brewing Company

thermostat,

I brew in a shed In Aus where in winter It can get down to minus Celsius at night. I find using a heating mat and wrapping the carboy in a carpet keeps the temperature with in acceptable limits.

I like the idea of a mains immersion heated as mentioned in another post and will try and get one

thermostat,

40F is a little low for _most_ lager yeasts. The majority of them will be happier at 45-55F. I ferment lagers in my garage in the winter by putting them in a tub of wtaer. The mass of the water helps to buffer temp. changes. Then I put an aquarium heater in the water and hook it up to a timer so that it comes on a few hours at a time a couple times a day. Works great. It's not elegant, but it's cheap and effective.

--------->Denny

I'm still a "newbie" but I think I've heard somewhere that strong light is bad for beer. You could build the box to block the light while letting the warmed air circulate around the fermenter, I'd guess.

Karl S.

Hi Krash, Here is a URL don't mind the page, its on reptiles but it has the basic Idea your looking for..Enjoy the Hobby...

thermostat,

I live in Fort Worth Texas, USA and have a problem maintaining tempuratures. This time of year, one day is 38F and the next is 80F...I cannot brew in the spring or summer because of high heat in the house. Any suggestions? regards

tempuratures.

I am also in Fort Worth. I use an old refrigerator for my fermenter housing. I put an external thermostat in series with the fridge plug to regulate to a constant temp. This let's you dial it to any place you want. Here is a picture of my setup

I gutted the fridge to make room for a big fermenter, and raised the fridge so I can syphon from the fermenter directly to the keg w/o disturbing the fermenter. (Also makes storage for empty cornys)

If you shop around, you should be able to find a fridge for $0-100. Seems like everyone has an extra one they don't need. Or better yet, the defrost timer dies in them (you don't need that anyway), then they throw them away. The thermostat runs about $50-60.