Heaters for 5 gallon plastic kegs.

[batey1963]

Hello everyone.

I am a novice home brewer and have been advised to keep my fermenting beer at a constant temp by using a heater. I have a 5 gallon plastic keg. Which type of heater would you recommend me to use if any? Also can tell me how to use finnings and when in the process? One more question and then I'll leave you in peace. Is there a good home brew shop in the South wales region? Sorry to go on but I will be getting some of this kit for christmas and don't want people to waste they're money. Have one for me. Martin Batey.

[Northern Brewer]

I wouldn't sweat the small stuff over this as long as you can maintain something akin to room temperature you'll be fine. If your house gets cold overnight, then you could wrap up the fermenter in something cosy.

[floydmeddler]

Yup, I've been doing allgrain since Feb and have never controlled my temperatures.

[Ditch]

Martin; I wonder if ye mixing ye Fermentation Vessel (That's our posh jargon for a big, white plastic bucket) with a Keg. Keg's the plastic barrel we might store and serve our beer from. But, first we make it in the 'FV'. And, frankly, the FV is the only thing that should even possibly concern you, at your stage in the game.

As the guys have pointed out though; If ye living in a place where some semblance of 'room temperature' is maintained? That'll be fine for the FV. My place is, effectively, unheated. Thus I use fish tank heaters to ensure my brews don't get dreadfully cold as they do their thing in the FV's.

Carry on pretty much as ye planning. Look about the various boards here. Ask any questions that pop into ye head. We may not always all offer the exact same advice. But, none of us are out to trip ye up

[Roobarb]

Hi Martin,

My brewery under the stairs gets a bit chilly overnight - I bought a couple of brewbelts - cost about £18 each, I put these around the bucket for fermenting and all seems to go well.

[batey1963]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll take any advice I can get. I guess just like you guys at the beginning it is trial and error. Thanks again, Martin.

[cwrw gwent]

Is there a good home brew shop in the South wales region?

http://homebrewcrew.co.uk/main/page_home.html

HomeBrew Crew is a new homebrew shop just north of the city centre in Cardiff. Haven't been there yet. Cellars on Cowbridge Rd., Cardiff had loads of stock and equipment but closed recently.

The only other place I know is Beer and Winecraft in Newport but it's orders by telephone only though they will help as much as possible.

[fractureman]

I bought an imersion heater from my local HBS does brilliant as only switches on when needed & keeps the wort at fermenting temp. Found through there that aqua heaters are the same thing so bought off ebay for half the price, use this in my second FV

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HAGEN-ELITE-QUALI ... 2001r39825

[Deneeve]

Hello mate,
I use a heat belt that i got from a Home Brew Store and i use it everytime i brew, but like you i'm also a beginner, i've made 3 differant brews so far, the first a brewbuddy bitter, the second a coopers real ale and the most recent a victorian style bitter-just enjoying a pint now with the Mrs, and touch wood i havent had any problems with fermenting etc. Got lots of good advice from this site aswell as from local HBS, in the main if u use a heat belt (they cost roughly £20) you use it on the fermenting bucket then when you put your beer into your pressure barrel with your priming sugar you put the heat belt on for another couple of days and then put your barrel in the coolest place you have. I found the best place for me to cool/clear my brew is the conservatory-good now winters coming but not sure what summer will be like! Good luck mate!

[haZe]

Brew belt has done the job for me, but recently got an Electrim 75 heater off Ebay for £18 delivered. I trust it far more and can pretty much leave it well alone throughout.

[batey1963]

My thanks once again to everyone. Can't wait to get going. I will be going shopping on the weekend. Cheers, Martin.

[fractureman]

Brew belt has done the job for me, but recently got an Electrim 75 heater off Ebay for £18 delivered. I trust it far more and can pretty much leave it well alone throughout.

Electrim 75 is the one I have, just for my second FV I chose to use an aquarium heater for a lot less money which does the same thing

[Deneeve]

Happy drinking mate, let us know how you get on!!

[daveyk]

To keep my brew warm, the cheapest option I found was an aquarium heater from ebay, (new of course). This will ensure the brew is kept at the temp set.... is it true that the brew belts are just on or off with no thermostat?

[haZe]

Yep, although there is some adjustment by moving the belt position higher up or lower down accordingly (lower down for more heat I believe).