Brew Belt Info please

[Gothamite]

Morning Ladies and Gents,
Having recently moved house I find myself in need of a little extra heating capability for fermenting my wine. I am using the Beaverdale type kits and fermenting in 25L bins. I have read that a lot of you guys use heater belts / pads, and I would like to know which are the best products and where to purchase them from. Any info would be gratefully received.
Cheers,
Gothamite.

[Geezah]

I used to sit my fv's in a builders trub (big bucket) 1/3 filled with water and a fishtank heater in there like a hot water bath to maintain constant temps.
I now use a tube heater and digital thermo controller (£13 for heater and $15 for Chinese controller)
Brew belts are not controlable in terms of temperature.

[Benson_JV]

Brewbelts can and will cook the beer/wine/anything so use a fish tank heater that you can set the temperature at and leave it.

[Gothamite]

Thanks for the replies. Are these immersion type heaters, and if so does it sit in the wine, or do I need to rig up a bucket for the fv to sit in? Will a vivarium heater mat do the same job?
Cheers,
Gothamite.

[Cazamodo]

Just a quick thought, If you didn't want to go the water bath route, instead of a fish tank heater, you could get a simple temp control unit. I think I got mine for like under £20, and with the simplest of wiring up could use a brewbelt/heatmat and just set the temp to what you like. Then the heating device would only come on when the fermentation dropped below a certain temp.

[afur130173]

i have bought a fish tank heater for £5.19 but as i sit my fv in front of my boiler it keeps a steady temp, plus my wife refuses to let temp in house get very low. 20 degrees is freezing to her

[Parabolic]

I use a brew belt which sits 1/3 up from the bottom of my 25 litre fermenter. I have it plugged in to a cheap timer which is programed for 1 hour on and two hours off, 1 hour on 2 off and so on every day until it's done. I monitor the temp with a stick on strip type thermometer and it sits nicely at 26 Celsius.

I use a thick towel to cover the whole lot if it gets two cold and adjust the placement of the towel to find a happy medium.

I have an immersion/fish tank style heater but It needs to be cleaned after each use and then sterilized. The belt never comes into contact with the must/wort so one less thing to clean and sanitize.

[Gothamite]

Thanks all. I have decided to do as Parabolic has suggested snd use a brew belt on a timer. I'll stick it in a box with some padding round and monitor the temp with a stick on thermometer.
Thanks again all.
Gothamite

[SimonM]

Goodmorning everyone,

I hope people still read this topic, because I have a question about it.

I'm about to purchase the brewmaker brew belt, but I'm not sure about its quality. Does this belt really keep your wort at a constant temperature? At what temperature? Can you adjust the temperature?

[racinsnake]

Hi, still reading!
I use a heat pad, on a timer and in depths of winter a towel. I find a pad more handy as I can use it to condition the barrel too. Hope this helps.

Rob.

[jimpy0]

Have just spent [couple of days ago] £9.99 on a large what i think is called a crocodile tub [ kids toy storage with flap lids ] from the local Poundstretcher -- its deep enough and wide enough to submerge my FV if i wanted. Half filled with my Fv in with a newkie kit and is snorting away like a pig on steroids, put it on some carpet offcuts to stop the tiled floor pinching the heat, it could easily take at least 4 demijohns.
Hi racinsnake see you have wilko's cervaza in FV - let us know how it goes, and tweaks if any, my next brew i think.