Keeping the brew at the correct temperature

[Redimpz]

Guys, This fella is either failing to be convinced of anything even after all of your helpful replies or he is simply trolling you all. I am not sure which.
Many useful suggestions have been made but he does not appear to be happy with any of them. It is now up to him as to what he wishes to do.

[Sadfield]

This had crossed my mind.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[orlando]

The path to enlightenment can suffer many deviations, most at your own expense. Sometimes the journey is more "interesting" than the destination.

[drunkenscunk]

Drunkenskunk, re-reading your original post about how your brew failed due to the low temperature of fermenting outside, i think you are now over thinking things. There has been some great advice in this thread, from a collection of experienced brewers, which would lead to resolving your problem.

Im going through the proccess with a fine touth comb, making sure I am going in the right direction

Actually an ideal temperature for yeast is in the 30s, but that's for yeast, we don't like what that produces (fusel alcohol for one). The real key is control or stability, not wild swings, remember my point about 2 degrees. To answer your specific question, 22 is as high as I would go but there are Ale yeasts that can go higher,

So you are saying the set point is the key right?
When I say set point I referee to a refrigerated trailer that if you set it to +2c, the set point is usually set to 2c, so when the fridge reaches 3c it will switch on and when it reaches 1c it will switch off

Guys, This fella is either failing to be convinced of anything even after all of your helpful replies or he is simply trolling you all. I am not sure which.
Many useful suggestions have been made but he does not appear to be happy with any of them. It is now up to him as to what he wishes to do.

I dont think I should be playing this game!
Really if you wanted a go then your best form of attach would of been intelligence via information, and I doubt you have read the entire thread

[orlando]

So you are saying the set point is the key right?
When I say set point I referee to a refrigerated trailer that if you set it to +2c, the set point is usually set to 2c, so when the fridge reaches 3c it will switch on and when it reaches 1c it will switch off

I think I can see what you are getting at. Some thermostatically controlled devices have a floating point that can be adjusted to perform exactly as you describe (called hysteresis I believe) to overcome/compensate the "lag". Devices like an STC 1000 can be set at quite a fine adjustment to compensate, however some understanding of the device being used needs to be taken into account. For example if a fridge is being used as a fermentation chamber you may decide to allow the "floating point" to have a slightly wider range to protect the compressor. So yes is the answer to the question.

[drunkenscunk]

So having emailed some sellers on ebay, only one got back to me
It is this item the Hinda make http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251202775297? ... =ext,bu=bu

I asked about the temprature and they are unsure of the set point but this is there reply
Hi there the whole thing can be submerged but as long as the heating coils are in water it is fine, heat ranges from 16 to 32 degrees celcius.
hope this helps

[drunkenscunk]

A water bath setup with a 50-75 watt Hidom fishtank heater set to 19-20c will provide a suitable and stable environment for your yeast to ferment correctly. All achievable for between £15 and £20. Money that will be saved by never having a kit fail again.

OK so the plan now is to find a bucket slightly larger then my beer brewing bucket and put the brew bucket some water and drop the heater inside it
Then find an old broken fridge and put the bucket inside it and run an extention cable outside to it
So I will leave this out side to brew insulated by the fridge
At this time of year should I be looking at the 50w or the 75w?

[OldConkerwood]

But the big thing why I do not see this working is because (somehow) he has his heater eliment mounted at the top of the bucket and as heat rises only to top part of the bucket will be heated up

No, it will equalize the Volume temperature. Re: "Thermodynamic equilibrium".
Barnie.

[WalesAles]

A water bath setup with a 50-75 watt Hidom fishtank heater set to 19-20c will provide a suitable and stable environment for your yeast to ferment correctly. All achievable for between £15 and £20. Money that will be saved by never having a kit fail again.

OK so the plan now is to find a bucket slightly larger then my beer brewing bucket and put the brew bucket some water and drop the heater inside it
Then find an old broken fridge and put the bucket inside it and run an extention cable outside to it
So I will leave this out side to brew insulated by the fridge
At this time of year should I be looking at the 50w or the 75w?

D,
This type of bucket, there are cheaper ones elsewhere.......
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tubtrug-sp4 ... d=612-7505
When you say `leave it outside`, do you mean in the garden or in the shed?
If in the shed, you can wrap it all up in an old duvet. You won`t need a fridge.
Keep the FV handle out of the Trug water (if it is a metal handle). Put the trug water in @ 22deg , set your heater to 22deg, fully submerse the heater,
hold the heater cable in position to the side of the trug with a clothes peg.
Check the trug water temp the next day, you may have to adjust the heater slightly. Mine is set for 29deg to give me 22deg in the trug.
Put the Trug on some insulating material ( or a big old towel folded up) to stop heat loss through the Trug base.

WA

[drunkenscunk]

A water bath setup with a 50-75 watt Hidom fishtank heater set to 19-20c will provide a suitable and stable environment for your yeast to ferment correctly. All achievable for between £15 and £20. Money that will be saved by never having a kit fail again.

OK so the plan now is to find a bucket slightly larger then my beer brewing bucket and put the brew bucket some water and drop the heater inside it
Then find an old broken fridge and put the bucket inside it and run an extention cable outside to it
So I will leave this out side to brew insulated by the fridge
At this time of year should I be looking at the 50w or the 75w?

D,
This type of bucket, there are cheaper ones elsewhere.......
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tubtrug-sp4 ... d=612-7505
When you say `leave it outside`, do you mean in the garden or in the shed?
If in the shed, you can wrap it all up in an old duvet. You won`t need a fridge.
Keep the FV handle out of the Trug water (if it is a metal handle). Put the trug water in @ 22deg , set your heater to 22deg, fully submerse the heater,
hold the heater cable in position to the side of the trug with a clothes peg.
Check the trug water temp the next day, you may have to adjust the heater slightly. Mine is set for 29deg to give me 22deg in the trug.
Put the Trug on some insulating material ( or a big old towel folded up) to stop heat loss through the Trug base.

WA

Good link there about the bucket
I am planning on leaving this to brew in an unheated barn
I though the fridge would be more insulating then wrapping blankets round the brew though
Do you think that bucket would fit inside a standard upright fridge freezer?

But I now see that you have pointed out another problem, that is the water inside the tub and the brew bucket will be different temperatures, when you say
mine is set for 29deg to give me 22deg in the trug
I am just not going to be there everyday to be able to monitor the temperature
And this problem that you have now pointed out puts doubts on whether or not I think this project is going to work or not

[WalesAles]

D,
The trug water will stay at 22deg, the Beer in the FV will be 20 - 21deg (mine is anyway).
Once your trug water is showing 22deg, you won`t have to keep monitoring it. The heater will switch on and and off to maintain the temp.
Mine is in an unheated brewshed, the Duvet works fine.

WA

[drunkenscunk]

OK I see your point; once the water in the brew has heated up to the tempraure of the tug then you can leave it at 22 all the time
What size wattage of heater do you use?

[WalesAles]

Guys, This fella is either failing to be convinced of anything even after all of your helpful replies or he is simply trolling you all. I am not sure which.
Many useful suggestions have been made but he does not appear to be happy with any of them. It is now up to him as to what he wishes to do.

OK I see your point; once the water in the brew has heated up to the tempraure of the tug then you can leave it at 22 all the time
What size wattage of heater do you use?

d,
Are you taking the p%ss or what?
Your Brew will already be at 22deg (Yeast pitching temp) because you just made it!
Get your TRUG (not tug) water to 22deg, put the FV (Beer in FV already at 22deg due to brewing process) in the Trug.
Put the heater (completely submersed) in the Trug water. Ensure heater is switched on, there should be a little orange light to show that it is on.
I`m telling you this because you will probably come back and ask `How do I know the Heater is on`.
I use a 50 watt heater. Someone else has already told you to use a 50 - 75 watt heater.
Temperature not tempraure.

WA

[shepp]

This has got to be a wind up