Maintaining a steady fermentation temperature

[floydmeddler]

Hi all,

I'm planning a Belgian Pale Ale and am planning on using some White Labs WLP500 yeast. My research tells me that I should maintain a fermentation temperature of around 23c. The only way I can do this in my tiny 1 bedroom flat is to use awalker's method (http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=) by submerging the FV in water. I have a 10 gallon Igloo cooler and my fermenter will fit in with approx 1 inch space between it and the walls of the cooler. Will this inch of surrounding water be enough to heat the beer to 23L and keep it there? Bear in mind it is a cooler and should help keep in the heat!

Any thoughts greatly appreciated before I order the heater from Hong Kong!

Cheers

[MightyMouth]

You can just use a fish tank heater and put it right into the wort.

[floydmeddler]

You can just use a fish tank heater and put it right into the wort.

Cheers MightyMouth. Is it as easy as that? Has anyone used this method? If so, was it a success?

[MightyMouth]

I used it for more than 10 brews, worked perfectly. Make sure you clean and sanitize it thoroughly and keep it suspended so it doesn't touch the sediment at the bottom where it might overheat.

[CJBrew]

I have used a big plastic stackable box for a fermenter cooler full of water, rotating 2l bottles of ice from the freezer to keep things down to below 20'C. This was in a smallish top floor flat and it was very warm otherwise.

So it can work, but it's a pain in the bum.

[mctoon]

Just to add my experience,,, i just bought a 55w fish tank heater at the weekend, I did a trail run with it in a FV full of water,,,, temp on the heater said 34C ,,,my digi thermometer after 1 hour said 19C. So the brew was cooled and in went the heater, checked it in the morning only to find it was 27C

Turned the little knob all the way down,, now the temp has settled to a steady 20C,, i hope 24hrs off high temp aint killied the brew, i suppose time will tell

That aside,, for £11 they are ideal to keep the brew at a steady temp

[Mike8578]

At the moment we're not even using a specific FV. We're using the mash tun with its 2 layers of foil backed camping mats, with an old duvet and a couple of fleeces on top. After two days sat in the garage it's still registering 25C.

Might be cheaper to just use an insulated FV on that basis?

[Titanium Tone]

Hi Floydmedler,
I am a bit like yourself needed something out the box that works. Well i bought a ATC300 see link below.
http://www.firststopaquatics.co.uk/acat ... meter.html
This works great as i brew in the garage and its usally cold out there you just need to pop the temp probe into the FV put a brewbelt around the FV plug it into the control socket set the temp and it will switch the belt on and off to maintain the temp you want. If it gets hot you can connect a fan to the other socket i have not tried this so cant comment. TT.

[floydmeddler]

Hi Floydmedler,
I am a bit like yourself needed something out the box that works. Well i bought a ATC300 see link below.
http://www.firststopaquatics.co.uk/acat ... meter.html
This works great as i brew in the garage and its usally cold out there you just need to pop the temp probe into the FV put a brewbelt around the FV plug it into the control socket set the temp and it will switch the belt on and off to maintain the temp you want. If it gets hot you can connect a fan to the other socket i have not tried this so cant comment. TT.

I'm liking this idea. However, forking out £25 for a brewbelt on top means I'll be spending around £50. Would this electric blanket do the trick do you reckon?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... LANKET.htm

Cheers

[Scooby]

I used an immersion heater (aquarium) set at max, controlled with an atc300 for many brews and it worked well. Aquarium heaters are designed for higher temps than brewing and are nor that accurate, they can be used alone but together with an atc300 or similar are a good solution.

[StrangeBrew]

If you've got to spend £50 you might as well get yourself a second hand fridge off Freecycle, an ATC-800 and a 12" 60w tubular heater.
These items when put together are the ideal sulution for your temp control all year round.
Search the forum, there's plenty of info!

[floydmeddler]

Yes, but I have a tiny one bedroom flat with a girlfriend who has been pushed to her limits!

My flat stays at a constant 20c. If I wrapped the fermenter in fleece blankets do you think it would reach 23c. The beer does heat up during fermentation doesn't it?

Cheers

[Titanium Tone]

Hi Floyd,
Check this out and free delivery.
http://www.simplynatural.org.uk/acatalog/Brew_Belt.html

[MightyMouth]

Yes, but I have a tiny one bedroom flat with a girlfriend who has been pushed to her limits!

My flat stays at a constant 20c. If I wrapped the fermenter in fleece blankets do you think it would reach 23c. The beer does heat up during fermentation doesn't it?

Cheers

Yes beer heats up when fermenting and it would probably reach more than 23c but even if not 20c is the right temperature anyway so why would you need to heat it?

[floydmeddler]

Yes, but I have a tiny one bedroom flat with a girlfriend who has been pushed to her limits!

My flat stays at a constant 20c. If I wrapped the fermenter in fleece blankets do you think it would reach 23c. The beer does heat up during fermentation doesn't it?

Cheers

Yes beer heats up when fermenting and it would probably reach more than 23c but even if not 20c is the right temperature anyway so why would you need to heat it?

Using Whitelabs WLP500 to brew a Belgian Pale Ale and in order to get the 'fruity' and 'plumy' notes from this strain I need to stress the yeast.