Camping mat with foil backing.

[mdex]

How did you fix it to the bucket?

[hotmog]

How did you fix it to the bucket?

I cut out a hole for the tap, then just wrapped it round the boiler and secured the edge with a couple of bits of masking tape. I cut a slit from the bottom to the tap hole so I could unwrap it easily, when I realised half way through the boil that I couldn't see the level markings I'd taped to the side of the boiler .

Another point regarding the foam or shiny side out question: it comes tightly rolled up with the shiny side on the outside, so if you want to attach it with the foam rubber on the outside you'll be fighting against its natural inclination to spring back on itself and curl round the other way.

[sparky Paul]

Another point regarding the foam or shiny side out question: it comes tightly rolled up with the shiny side on the outside, so if you want to attach it with the foam rubber on the outside you'll be fighting against its natural inclination to spring back on itself and curl round the other way.

...and it looks much nicer!

[Waffty]

I unrolled mine & left if 'staked' out in the garage for a couple of days (held down with cans/length of wood), which helped sharp it better + got rid of most of the smell.

I then removed the taps, thermometer, element etc & wrapped the mat around my boiler. I cut round the hands, which helped keep it in place, then maked the matt from the inside via the holes in the pot. Cut the circle holes & did a final measurement on the overlap bit, then cut it to length. Used the remaining to make a base + used the off cuts to make a cover for the lid, out of two halves, which worked well, as it fits the handle nicely.

Next I plan to use aluminium tape, to run down the lengths, joints, etc, to cover the foam bit & thus make the hole thing wipe clean.

I've gone for silver side out, purely to make it wipe clean, as I'm not bright enough to know if it makes any difference thermally

[edit1now]

Just cleaned out Lidl in Wembley for camping mats with a shiny side. Wilco's are supposed to have plain ones but not today in Wembley. Wilco's are thicker - they must be 10mm not 10cm as it says on the website, but are fractionally dearer for the acreage. Lidl = £4.15/sq metre, Wilco's = £4.43/sq m. I'll report back on how many rolls it takes to do a Young's fermenter - probably get three layers on it.

The Young's fermenters have a circumference of 95.4 cm at the widest bit, so I should get two fermenters out of three Lidl mats.

I just undid one - it stinks...they must have glued the shiny stuff to the foam with cement made of uncured or gone-off rubber! I'll leave a couple unrolled like Waffty to lose the smell. I'm concerned that the smell might permeate the fermenter and affect the beer That's why people pay £9/sq m plus VAT for Armaflex...

[edit1now]

Three layers of Lidl camping mat:


The gaffer tape holding the top together has slipped in the heat of the sun - I'll patch that at some point. It all slides off the fermenter, which is sitting on a circle of hard polyprop foam within the insulation, and then on top of another circle as a spacer over the tray.

The latest Hefeweizen is getting on with it, at 22°C.