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Author Topic: heat pad  (Read 5261 times)

Offline paulmaybee

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heat pad
« on: May 05, 2015, 12:40:24 PM »
Has anyone used those heating pads that sit under the carboy?  Any reviews?
on tap: IPA
fermenting: Roseway Red, Rye IPA, Tripel, Flanders Red, Sour #1
Cellar: Roseway Red, IPA, Brett IPA, Orval Clone, Brett Red, Rye IPA, Grapefruit PA

Offline blisster

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2015, 01:30:55 PM »
I use heat coils I wrap around my carboy(s) when it gets too chilly in the garage, held in place with masking tape...  They work pretty good, especially with a blanket put on top of the coils.  My wife's electric blanket works nice too (shhhhh).

Yep, I can't afford and don't have room for a fermentation chamber so I hillbilly-rig my beer  :wavebeer:

I suspect a heat pad would work better than a coil if taped to the side. I'm not sure I'd want to sit a carboy on top and warm up the beer through he dead yeast/trub at the bottom though...

by the way, don't use duct tape to on heating coils. Bad idea.
Give a man a beer and he'll waste an hour, teach him how to brew beer and he'll waste a lifetime.

Offline paulmaybee

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2015, 02:14:23 PM »
Thanks for the input Blisster.  That was also what I was wondering about heating it through the dead yeast.  I wonder if anyone has tried it and noticed any negative side effects??
on tap: IPA
fermenting: Roseway Red, Rye IPA, Tripel, Flanders Red, Sour #1
Cellar: Roseway Red, IPA, Brett IPA, Orval Clone, Brett Red, Rye IPA, Grapefruit PA

Offline Roger

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2015, 02:48:58 PM »
That's funny I never gave it a second though! Before I built a Ferm. Chamber I would sit my fermenter on a water bed heater on the floor wrapped in a blanket. I never noticed any issues. But I always do a transfer into a secondary after a few days maybe that's why... Duno! Interesting thought though.

Offline jamie_savoie

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2015, 02:52:45 PM »
when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place.  Works great for me
if you’re not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis.  Dead yeast doesn’t taste that great....speaking from experience lol

Offline Roger

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2015, 02:59:10 PM »
when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place.  Works great for me
if you’re not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis.  Dead yeast doesn’t taste that great....speaking from experience lol
Well there you have it a tip from the pro!

Offline paulmaybee

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2015, 06:47:04 PM »
when souring with lacto I use a seed germinating mat and wrap it around the middle of the carboy and I use duct tape to hold it in place.  Works great for me
if you’re not using lacto or a hot tolerant strain like some saison yeast I would be worried of autolysis.  Dead yeast doesn’t taste that great....speaking from experience lol

Thanks Jamie, this is helpful. I'll take a look for a seed germinating mat.  Is there one you'd recommend? 
on tap: IPA
fermenting: Roseway Red, Rye IPA, Tripel, Flanders Red, Sour #1
Cellar: Roseway Red, IPA, Brett IPA, Orval Clone, Brett Red, Rye IPA, Grapefruit PA

Offline jamie_savoie

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2015, 09:25:24 AM »
Well I just used the mat because I already had it and didn’t want to buy another gadget.   Maybe some wine belt would work too or the heating blanket like @blisster said.  Whatever works  8)
Another thing I tried was putting the fermenter into a big bucket of water and use an aquarium heater.  The only thing I didn’t like about this is there was a good difference in temp for one side to the other and top and bottom.  Would work great with a small recirculating pump

Offline paulmaybee

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2015, 10:27:48 AM »
Well I just used the mat because I already had it and didn’t want to buy another gadget.   Maybe some wine belt would work too or the heating blanket like @blisster said.  Whatever works  8)
Another thing I tried was putting the fermenter into a big bucket of water and use an aquarium heater.  The only thing I didn’t like about this is there was a good difference in temp for one side to the other and top and bottom.  Would work great with a small recirculating pump

I had also tried years ago with an insulated rubbermaid garbage bin and aquarium heater.  I found it worked well, but was cumbersome to work with and took up a lot of space.  I'm looking for a simpler solution, so I think I will try the heat pad route.
on tap: IPA
fermenting: Roseway Red, Rye IPA, Tripel, Flanders Red, Sour #1
Cellar: Roseway Red, IPA, Brett IPA, Orval Clone, Brett Red, Rye IPA, Grapefruit PA

Offline feldmann

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2015, 11:15:22 AM »
I made a paint can heater. It cost me $10-15 and has worked for me for years. Warmest I've ever fermented at was 23 during the winter and it kept it there steady for a week.

Here's the link if you're interested.




Offline paulmaybee

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2015, 11:41:40 AM »
I made a paint can heater. It cost me $10-15 and has worked for me for years. Warmest I've ever fermented at was 23 during the winter and it kept it there steady for a week.

Here's the link if you're interested.

Do you use this in a fridge/freezer, or did you build a wooden ferm chamber?  I'm thinking I might just need to build a deluxe ferm chamber, but was trying to avoid it if possible. 8)
on tap: IPA
fermenting: Roseway Red, Rye IPA, Tripel, Flanders Red, Sour #1
Cellar: Roseway Red, IPA, Brett IPA, Orval Clone, Brett Red, Rye IPA, Grapefruit PA

Offline feldmann

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2015, 02:31:04 PM »
I use an old fridge but as long as you put some insulation in a wooden one, it should work fine.

Offline Scott

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2015, 02:41:38 PM »
We use an old fridge for a ferm chamber, just a couple of lightbulbs wired in series for heating and a temperature controller. We have to switch manually between heating and cooling.

Offline Two Wheeler

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Re: heat pad
« Reply #13 on: May 19, 2015, 10:05:26 AM »
Hey Paul,

Not sure if you can easily source these parts in Canada, but here's a heater based on heat tape for a lizard enclosure

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=6879426#post6879426
Jordan Harris
BIAB'er