heaters

[malebo]

Can I have some advice on the best type of heater for my fermenting bucket. Thanks

[vacant]

I recently bought a 60W tube heater from Toolstation that had good reviews. It went into my fermenting fridge. In this weather it hasn't kicked in. I decided not to go for an old fashioned light bulb or reptile bulb as I wanted something that could take a few knocks.

That heater would work well in an insulated box of even a small cupboard. I have no experience of heat belts/pads/immersion heaters.

[Kev888]

Heat belts are a pretty good answer, if your bucket isn't in an enclosed space. They don't heat through the settled yeast and sediment like heating pads/trays.

But the method of adjusting temperature is pretty crude (just move them up and down the bucket). In an ideal world heaters would be used in conjunction with a thermostat (such as the STC-1000) to more accurately control temperature. An alternative is to use a fish-tank heater with built in thermostat; some people bung these in the wort itself, but they have a few nooks and crannies (and can get fairly warm locally) so it is probably better to sit the bucket in a trug of water and heat the water instead.

This time of year, you're as likely to need cooling as heating, especially as the fermentation generates its own heat. So if you have the space a used/freecycle fridge combined with a thermostat and pipe heater are probably the most commonly used complete answer to temperature control of the fermenter.

[grmski]

If you've got a brew fridge then I'd recommend a little hairdryer, I've had one in my fridge for years, it works a treat.

[Wonkydonkey]

If you've got a brew fridge then I'd recommend a little hairdryer, I've had one in my fridge for years, it works a treat.

A little hair dryer can you tell me/show what sort it is...as the only small hd I can think of is a barby-doll hd

Cheers.

[grmski]

If you've got a brew fridge then I'd recommend a little hairdryer, I've had one in my fridge for years, it works a treat.

A little hair dryer can you tell me/show what sort it is...as the only small hd I can think of is a barby-doll hd

Cheers.

The cheapy ~£10 ones you can pick up from argos/amazon and the like just suspend it in the fridge and you have an instant warm air fan. This type is what I mean http://amzn.to/2sm0G50

[Kev888]

That would work in some setups, clearly it does in yours. But it should be mentioned that 1200watts is about 20x the power typically needed, so you'd need to be confident that the controller stopped things overheating. Also that the dryer had a sufficient duty-cycle, not just designed for a few minutes use each time.

I raise this because there was a case some years back with a small fan heater melting the inside of the fridge. IIRC the probe was located in the FV/wort so had no idea how hot the air was getting, because it took ages for the wort to rise much in temperature. These type of things aren't really designed for use in small closed spaces, so if one chooses to do this then its important to account for it in the control setup.

[chris2012]

vacant - i'm going to order that 60W heater, just wondering it sounds like it doesn't come with a plug, and the flex is around 1m?

Could I replace the flex from the heater itself easily do you think?

[vacant]

You're right, no plug supplied. The flex is 80cm long.

There is one deeply recessed cross-headed screw I can see. Not sure if taking the heater apart would risk the IP44 rating. I'd rather just use a cable connector e.g.

http://www.wilko.com/electrical-accesso ... vt/5352740

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332204668011 (waterproof)

The heater came with a spare waterproof PG9 cable gland which I promptly used in the lid of a jerrycan fermenter to attach a blow off tube

[chris2012]

Cheers Vacant!

Just ordered one

I was using heater wire before, but that was kind of in my way when moving the fermenter about, and it was only duct taped on too heh, which looked ugly.

[grmski]

That would work in some setups, clearly it does in yours. But it should be mentioned that 1200watts is about 20x the power typically needed, so you'd need to be confident that the controller stopped things overheating. Also that the dryer had a sufficient duty-cycle, not just designed for a few minutes use each time.

I raise this because there was a case some years back with a small fan heater melting the inside of the fridge. IIRC the probe was located in the FV/wort so had no idea how hot the air was getting, because it took ages for the wort to rise much in temperature. These type of things aren't really designed for use in small closed spaces, so if one chooses to do this then its important to account for it in the control setup.

I'm sure we are all a lot more conscious of the fire risks associated with fridges after the tragic incident at Grenfell but when I see people using a hairdryer for 20 mins to dry a full head of hair, something I can't lay claim to anymore, then I'm not concerned about a dryer coming on for a few minutes a day in my brewfridge. The OP seems to have made a choice and many have success with these heaters and then rig up a little fan as well adding more scope for dodgy electric work, heaters and liquid in an enclosed plastic environment. I should add that most people place these at the base of their fridge below the FV and considering the leakage risk from FV's is high this seems a recipe for trouble.

[Kev888]

The point was that it need not only be on for a few minutes a day. In other circumstances, heating can be on for many hours, pumping 1200w into a confined space. Clearly your setup is arranged such that this doesn't happen. BUT others will not necessarily have the same setup as you do; this could be quite dangerous for some, so it seemed important to offer the caution.

A small, low power pipe heater with suitable IP rating is intrinsically safer WRT both excessive heat and electrocution from liquids or moisture. Even in the event of a complete failure of the temperature controller theres a fair chance that nothing too bad will happen. The small PC case fans people typically add are usually low voltage and also pose very little risk, plus they work during cooling as well as heating cycles.

So as always horses for courses and all that. Your hairdryer clearly works for you and I'm not suggesting otherwise, but others may have different methods of control and degrees of risk.

[alexlark]

You can replace the wire on that tube heater. Undo the gland and remove the cross head screw. Pull the plastic end off, it is tight as it has a rubber gasket underneath. You will then find a connector block inside. Don't forget to put the gland and end cap on the replacement cable, not like I did!! Doh!

[chris2012]

Ah interesting alexlark, I just wired it up too heh, with a choc-block in a casing thing, I might pull it apart then later and do that, I've just got it warming up the fridge to 10C to see how fast that occurs

[alexlark]

I was going to put a longer cable on mine initially but when I undone the screw I couldn't pull the end off easily and didn't want to apply to much pressure, so I soldered a longer length if cable on. Second time round I just pulled the cap a bit harder and it came off. Looks neater now, lol. They're really good little heaters for the price.