fermenting in a shed

[easty]

hi guys
gettin well into this brewin lark, well & truly hooked, but bread knife has put her foot down about havin more than 1 fv in her kitchen was thinkin of tryin to brew in the shed, has anyone got any advice on heaters available, seen belts, mats,& emersion heaters, which would be best, most economical. or is brewin outside a bad idea ?

[jrugman]

Hi easty

No problem at all if you've got electricity in the shed. Get yourself a 50w aquarium heater with thermostat (£15 -20) and set it to your desired temperature - usually around 20 - 25C. Try it out with ordinary water first and check the temperature every 2 or 3 hours for 24 hours or so. If it's consistently within the range you need just go ahead with your brew.

On frosty nights I just throw an old towel over the FV. This is a simple way to do it and has never let me down so far.

Cheers,

John

[Denis of Stoke]

Hi Easty

I do my brewing in the garage - I made a hot box out of 6mm ply, two layers with 25mm rigid insulation sandwiched between them. It's about a 3 feet cube and has a heating element in there coupled to a stat. Temp remains very constant and I can also put all my bottles in there whilst priming.

Main advantage is I get absolutely no grief off the other half.

Denis

[Scotty]

first question is.... did you fit the kitchen yourself?!

No problems with brewing in your shed as long as keep the temperature of your FV constant by way of a heater pad or immersion heater

[StrangeBrew]

I've been brewing in my shed for quite a while now and to be honest a heat pad or immersion heater is not the best way to go. They are ok all the time that the ambient tempreture allows them to work efficiently but they will struggle in the depth of winter.
The other problem you'll have when brewing in the shed is the high tempretures during summer, if your shed is anything like mine it will reach temps of high 20's to low 30's which is too hot for fermentation. The best overall solution is a tempreture controlled fermentation chamber, these can be made out of anything from an insulated box, cupboard or fridge etc. A Fridge being the obvious choice as it already cools and is insulated, all that's needed is a heat source and a control unit.

[Titanium Tone]

Nice setup StrangeBrew. I too brew in the garage and tried the fish tank heater and also found it could not cope in the very cold weather. I now use a ATC300 with brewbelt and poly cover very happy with results.

[easty]

cheers guys
thats all very helpful stuff never thought of using aquarium heater & the insulated box sounds cool (or warm should i say ) or would it be better to take over the kitchen & stick her in the shed

[Titanium Tone]

You got it problem solved.

[musashi]

I'm glad someone brought this up as I was going to ask the same thing.
I'm either going to buy the aquarium heater or the brew belt but I have a few questions:-
How does the brew belt work? Does it have a setting for a temperature?
How do I fit the aquarium heater? Do I cut a hole in the top and lower the heater into the fermenter that way with a rubber bung or something on the cable to hold it in place?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Carl

[Titanium Tone]

Hi. I use the brewbelt method which is controlled by the ATC 300 it has a temp probe which hangs inside the FV and turns on and off as required to the set temp. It is then covered in a poly box which i made redily available from most builders yards and are the exact size.
See. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20021
Hope this helps.

[pauljmuk]

I have a friend brewing in a small shed (how big is the shed?), and he has the FV next to one of those oil filled radiators with a thermostatic control. He's had not bother, even in winter(though I think he does then surround brew with sleeping bags or similar)