9 replies to this topic

[Thirsty]

So I have my 2 stage Ranco hooked up now and programmed correctly. The first day I hooked it up though I made the mistake of just putting it all together while brewing, and did not secure the probe in place, so when I stuck my BB in there after pitching, I knocked the probe down and it fell right next to the heating pad. So the next day it was reading 65 on the unit, but the fridge was actually 54 deg. Luckily it was us-04, and only about 16 hours went by before I noticed it, chugging away fine now.So what I am using to heat is the fermwrap, and it took really to the next day to get the interior up to 65 from this setback. I am wondering if this will be a strong enough element to use in extreme conditions when my garage is 25 degrees this winter. I dont see it happening. So I have seen/heard people using small space heaters and light bulbs, so I am wondering what might be the best thing to use as a heater. Now I also have to deal with the fact of a wooden platform to make the bottom even (see pic) so I am reluctant to use something too strong that will become a fire hazard. Because I can fit 3 fermenters in there on top of the platform I would like to leave this in, and it gives me a lot of deadspace underneath to have a heater if it works well. Any suggestions?

[xd_haze]

If you don't open the ferm chamber much, you don't need many watts to warm it, even in the dead of winter. I use a heating pad (I cut out the auto switchoff thingy), and I don't think it is much more than 50 watts. You could probably get by with less. mike

[zymot]

Over on the other board, I posted the same question for my 7 cu ft chest freezer. I ended up putting a 50 watt aquarium heater in a couple gallons of water.I wanted to use something that was designed to be used in a wet environment and did not emit light. Worked great for me. But I am in the reasonably mild climate of Norther California. A larger heater may or my not be required if you are in frozen tundra land.zymot

[MoreAmmoPlz]

I use an Omega 120 watt electric enclosure heater like this.

[3rd party JKor]

What's your budget?

[Thirsty]

What's your budget?

Dirt. The fermwrap puts out 40W, maybe it is enough, just dosnt seem like it. I already spent the $30 on it, so I hope it does, keeping my alternatives at the ready so when winter comes and I do nee to put something in there, it dosnt take a week to get it back to temp.

[3rd party JKor]

Dirt. The fermwrap puts out 40W, maybe it is enough, just dosnt seem like it. I already spent the $30 on it, so I hope it does, keeping my alternatives at the ready so when winter comes and I do nee to put something in there, it dosnt take a week to get it back to temp.

Remember, your fridge is insulated. My take is that you're generally going to be putting your wort in there at, or slightly below, your ferment temp. So you won't need to heat the mass of liquid, you just need to maintain the ambient air temp in the fridge so the fermenter isn't losing heat. That should be able to be achieved with 40W. A heat lamp and a fan would probably work a lot better.

[NWPines]

I would think the fermwrap should be fine. I use a heating pad in my ferm fridge and it works great. My garage rarely gets below 35F though.

[Darterboy]

Common drugstore heating pad.

[BrewerGeorge]

I use a cheap hair dryer, set on low and controlled by the Love.