controlling fermentor temp

[Darrin Smith]

Id like to controll my fermenter temp better especially in summer, im guessing someone can point me in the right direction.

 

some sort of cabinet with cooling and or heater would be ideal

 

cheers

Darrom

[denimglen]

However having the heat pad does help for things like a D rest, if you want to crank it up a few degrees (with accuracy) at the end of fermentation then you can do so easily.

 

Agreed.  I do it all the time.

 

Stu, I'm in humidity city too, the heat pad is still getting used at the moment though.  Really helps near the end of fermentation when the ferment isn't giving off much heat but you still need to nudge it up a few degrees for it to finish up.

 

Dual temperature controllers are awesome.

[Stu H]

Fuckin' humidity city indeed!

 

Yeh it'd be swell for me to have a heat pad, unfortunately I'm a broke ass mo' fo', and I'd rather spend the $40 on ingredients (beer!) at this stage.

 

Good ideas with the bubble wrap, I'm gonna do that tonight!

[Andrew]

I've seen some people who put thier temp probe in a small test tube like pot of water. This means it attemperates more like the beer in the FV rather than fluctuating to smaller air temp changes, eg when you open the door and a gust of warmer air gets in.

[JackoNZ]

I wrap my probe in blue tac, then cellotape it to the side of the fermenter, with a piece of polostyrene over the top of that, all held on by a couple of bungee cords. Seems to do the trick and opening the door wont effect it, not that you really need to open the door for the first few days anyway.

[Richard Jack]

I do something similar, I have a neoprene cover. Works well enough for me!

[denimglen]

Taped to the side of the fermenter with a folded up piece of bubble wrap taped over top.  Seems to do the trick.

 

I played around when I first got it and during active fermentation the temps on the outside of the fermenter (BetterBottle) were pretty much the same as the middle.

 

At the moment I'm fermenting two beers so I've taped it to one and have the other fermenter pressed up against it.  So I'm getting like half ambient, one quarter from one fermenter and one quarter from the other :-S

 

Personally I wouldn't recommend putting the probe in a jar of water as you're not fermenting the contents of that jar.  I do recommend this for a kegerator though, stops it cycling on and off everytime you open it.

[Darrin Smith]

some sweet tips learnt, i got an old school heater, its pretty much a wire that gets hot like an old jug cord.  how much are the pads and are they any better?

[denimglen]

Pads are kinda expensive - $30-40 IIRC.

 

Are they better?  Sound a shitload safer ;-)

[Brett Mason]

I'm using a $12 work lamp for my heating with a 25w bulb, as seen here . Does the job.

 

Dunedin Malthouse have heat pads on special for $45 which is the cheapest I've seen new.

[Darrin Smith]

just about creamed myself! :-)

[James P]

LOL that's what I used to do in my fridge... until the fermenter leaked! :) Reminds me I have to replace that RCD....

[MrC]

Blue tac, cellotape, polystyrene, bungee cords, neoprene & bubble wrap.  

Gotta love that homebrewing attitude!!!