Fermentation chamber

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

There is a cheaper, easier way to generate heat............

100W incandescent globe in a jam tin..........I kid you not.

Should cost R30 per globe or less, everybody is switching to LED or Energy Savers and the hardware stores have old style globes on special.

Use a ceramic bayonet fitting if you're worried about heat soak.

Yeah I just thought that's an interesting one I saw. I'm planning a normal globe right now. Fittings cost near nothing, and I've actually seen people just wrap the globe in tin foil as an even easier fix. I'm not sure how it'll affect the life of the lamp, but I think I might have one lying around somewhere so that's fine. The tin can also seems like a safer choice.

On the other hand, I'm back to that wall wart heater again. It's got a fan built in, I can control the temp on the heater to avoid overheating the inside of the fridge and it's small, plugs directly into something like a multiplug I can stash in the fridge and when not in use (like in summer) I can easily remove it and stick it somewhere for later (and even use it for other jobs as well). This one here: https://www.takealot.com/wall-handy-heater/PLID51849534 It's 400W, apparently, which isn't bad at all.

Will still think about this one a bit. We're heading out of winter now, but you never know when a cold front might hit again.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

When I did my little lamp warmer thingy, it was a bit overpowered so I eventually landed up needing the lowest power incandescent candle globe, and went from 100W to 75w to 60W to 30W.. With all these new LED globes, damn it was hard to find a plain incandescent. I couldnt believe it. Most of them are now halogen, but still do the job. I think I eventually settled on a fridge bulb or some other specialised type, which I think was about 15W iirc



How did this guy seal the hole where the heater wire comes out of the fermenter? I wanted to do this initially, but this was the complication that was a dealbreaker for me. It shouldnt cause any more hot spots than a heater pad underneath the fermenter imo.

Good to know about the overpowered lamps, thanks. Makes me think twice.

On the heater wire - I have no idea. I think he did it manually - open fermenter, insert heater, let it heat, and remove, then replace lid. It wasn't in beer though, he was fermenting a sugar/molasses wash to make rum.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

I guess a nice big split bung could work for the aquarium heater.

I would be careful with a 400W heater, even if it has lower settings. I imagine your fridge atmosphere would be flip-flopping between arctic winter and amazonian summer.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Which is why you use the thermostat on the heater itself. Let it switch off once it reaches, say, 25°C air temperature in the fridge?

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Wait - wouldn't an electric blanket work just wonderfully? I think I might just happen to have an old one in a cupboard somewhere... It's 75W, with adjustable settings!

[jakeslouw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jakeslouw]

Wait - wouldn't an electric blanket work just wonderfully? I think I might just happen to have an old one in a cupboard somewhere... It's 75W, with adjustable settings!

Yes, and the STC will handle 75W with no worries.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Fantastic. Choice made then!

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

How did this guy seal the hole where the heater wire comes out of the fermenter? I wanted to do this initially, but this was the complication that was a dealbreaker for me. It shouldnt cause any more hot spots than a heater pad underneath the fermenter imo.

I had the same setup for a few brews and an on odd Kveik ferment in winter, not too difficult. Cut the plug off the aq heater, drill a hole in your ferm vessel lid, add grommet (5mm iirc could've been smaller) thread aq heater wire through, add plug. et voila. I've completely abandoned it now and only use the ferm chamber, it worked well enough but was a pita to clean and sanitize the aq heater with the lid.

I like the reptile heatpad, it has a low profile and out of the way, efficient enough to heat up the space and fairly safe with all wires sealed up and....out of the way. Ideally you want to do this once and once only without having to revisit workarounds with new workarounds. Maybe just how I see things. Take care of it from the start and replace if needed.

[Valkyrie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Valkyrie]

A great idea

Wait - wouldn't an electric blanket work just wonderfully? I think I might just happen to have an old one in a cupboard somewhere... It's 75W, with adjustable settings!

An electric blanket is perfect as it can cover the fermenter completely and you will have an equal heat displacement over the entire container. the best place to measure the temp to regulate the heat source will be right in the middle of the container, you will have an even heat distribution and a perfect condition for fermentation that should result in great beer flavors.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

An electric blanket is perfect as it can cover the fermenter completely and you will have an equal heat displacement over the entire container. the best place to measure the temp to regulate the heat source will be right in the middle of the container, you will have an even heat distribution and a perfect condition for fermentation that should result in great beer flavors.

That's what I had in mind as well, yeah. Problem is getting the probe in the fermenter without submerging it (not sure it's waterproof), and also getting it in the fermenter without keeping the lid open :P I'm planning on placing the probe in a bottle of alcohol as a "buffer liquid" of sorts. Will have to see how the electric blanket will work in the fridge, but I'm sure I'll find a way...

[Valkyrie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Valkyrie]

Hi

I am thinking of building a fermenter chamber for cooling and heating.
It will cater for 2 fermenters and about 100 440ml / 60 750ml bottles. Approx dimensions (1m X 0.7m X 0.7m)
Max cost should be no more than R2000.
Thinking of using light bulbs for heating or some type of heater / heating pad ?.
For cooling a thermoelectric peltier refrigeration cooling kit from communica (http://www.communica.co.za/Catalog/Details/P3265877730). However this unit uses 12V. This being the case it would be simpler to have everything working from 12V.
I see the STC-1000 temperature controller is a 220V unit.
Anyone know of a 12V temperature controller that can control cooling and heating ?.
Any other generel input will be welcome.

Using a 220 volt controller and 12 volt components is really not a problem. You can easily solve this with relays. It is more about what product you want to use that what the voltage is.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

You could weave the probe though your S-trap bubbler!?


If you heat your fermenter directly, you need to probe/ measure your fermenter directly?

[Valkyrie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Valkyrie]

That's what I had in mind as well, yeah. Problem is getting the probe in the fermenter without submerging it (not sure it's waterproof), and also getting it in the fermenter without keeping the lid open :P I'm planning on placing the probe in a bottle of alcohol as a "buffer liquid" of sorts. Will have to see how the electric blanket will work in the fridge, but I'm sure I'll find a way...

Get 1 meter of 15mm copper pipe, an end cap and a brass connector from Builders. Build a tube that can bolt into your container lid. the copper is safe for beer and it will create a solid seal. just remember to use lead free solder to solder your joints.
I use this with all my mods on my system.

[Valkyrie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Valkyrie]

You could weave the probe though your S-trap bubbler!?


If you heat your fermenter directly, you need to probe/ measure your fermenter directly?

No you don't have to measure the temp on the inside. you can use a stick-on temp strip for normal use. It will work fine.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Just get a long SS thermowell to reach down into the wort from above .....

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