Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
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WalesAles
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Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by WalesAles » Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:45 pm

Hello Everyone,
I Don`t know if all New Brewers know about temperature control by using a fish tank heater and a builders/garden trug, so I thought I`d chip in with this......
I was only thinking of this as I put my FV into the trug of water today. 2nd nature really and working on autopilot, but I thought lots of people might want to do
this but are a bit wary.
Your Brew is in the FV at 22deg.
Put 100mm approx water in the trug at 22deg. If your trug is like mine, diamond patterns on outside, 10mm below bottom of diamond is ok, if lighting is bad, use a torch
outside the trug to see the diamond. Any higher then the FV handle will be in the water. I know the handle is treated, but it will rust. You don`t want a rusty handle
picking up 20Lts of Beer. Don`t just plonk your FV in cold water in the trug because the heater will have to work harder to get to temp and you will be cooling your beer!
Obviously if you want the water in the trug higher, tie the handle up out of the water. #-o
So, your trug water is 22deg, your FV is 22deg, set your heater to 22deg, immerse the heater in the water, switch on heater, check that the power light is on (heater)
Clothes peg on the cable on side of trug to keep the heater below the water. Check trug water temp 3 Hrs later, You might have to reset the dial, my heater is 100W
and set at 20deg gives me 22deg in the trug. Check trug water temp again until you are happy that you have got 22deg.
Cover it all up in a nice big duvet and forget about for 2 weeks.
1 week later make another brew, in 14 days time, the first brew is ready, bottle or Keg, make another brew ad infinitum! :D
To brew this quickly, you will need 2 Trugs, 2 Heaters, 3 FV`s (3rd FV is for decanting before bottling). Christmas is coming, so tell Santa what you want! :D
Hope this helps!

WA

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snowbeast
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Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by snowbeast » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:27 pm

Nice one mate. Works a charm in the cooler months.

My problem going into summer is keeping it below 25'C.
FV1:
Nothing
FV2:
Nothing

Conditioning:
Guava Wine Batch 1

Drinking:
Gin

WalesAles
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Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by WalesAles » Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:17 pm

snowbeast wrote:Nice one mate. Works a charm in the cooler months.

My problem going into summer is keeping it below 25'C.
Snow,
Now you`re talking Beer Fridge, STC Controllers, etc, etc, out of my league (yet)! :D

WA

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Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by dbg400 » Wed Nov 12, 2014 12:30 am

I have pretty much the same setup and it's been really good for keeping a consistent temperature. I've currently solved the problem of the hot summer months by making full use of the colder months and the pair of FVs so I have plenty of beer to make it through the summer - no brewing means more time for consuming :) I have started to look at what's involved building a beer fridge, as it gets a bit boring in summer with nothing harder to do than using a bottle opener!

In my case I had a spare heater & pump as we have gerbils in the aquarium now (without the water, I should point out) and I hadn't realised others were using the same technique until reading forums afterwards. I've used the heater + trug setup from my first brew in 2011, adding the second FV & trug earlier this year.

Hopping_Mad

Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by Hopping_Mad » Thu Nov 13, 2014 7:10 pm

I just use the trug, and shove occasional ice cubes in it in the summer, rather than the heater!

Simples!

cellone

Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by cellone » Sat Nov 15, 2014 4:38 pm

My advice for those using heaters and trugs is get a fridge ;)

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Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by widdersbel » Sun Nov 16, 2014 12:42 pm

Don`t just plonk your FV in cold water in the trug because the heater will have to work harder to get to temp and you will be cooling your beer!
What I do is put the FV in the (empty) trug while the wort is still warm, then add cold tap water to the trug.

As the temperature of the wort reduces, the temperature of the water in the trug rises. Once they've balanced out, the wort is the perfect temperature for pitching the yeast. Entropy, innit.

I only switch the heater on at this point.

Cellone, I have an old fridge in the garage that's ripe for conversion, when I eventually get around to it...

cellone

Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by cellone » Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:36 pm

It doesn't take much to set it up bro. It will make brewing so much easier though.

BluePanda

Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by BluePanda » Sun Nov 16, 2014 9:58 pm

cellone wrote:It doesn't take much to set it up bro. It will make brewing so much easier though.
Totally agree. It was fairly straightforward to do and takes (some of) the worry out of brewing. Keep popping out to the garage to see what temp the STC-1000 is showing though.

cellone

Re: Advice for Newbies using Heaters/Trugs.......

Post by cellone » Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:38 pm

I bet it doesn't change much :lol:

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