Keeping FV at tempreture

[oldtimer]

Thanks Steve

But the one I got is the same as Greenxpaddy picture, shown ealier in this post.

It's the chinese thing called a 'WILLHI '. I assume you are looking at the more expensive because it does not look the same.

But thanks anyway.

Hope someone can help

Cheers, Dave (oldtimer)

[carpet19]

Think I'll put the cat amongst the pigeons here. Regarding keeping FV at temperature. Whilst fermenting, I have, for years, tried to keep the temp to around 20 degrees c, by using aquarium heaters, blankets, etc among other things, as i believed it was not only important but essential for a healthy fermentation. Now, a couple of weeks ago I visited a local micro to do a full days brewday and I asked the head brewer the question: How do you keep the fermentation at 20 during the winter months? Do your fermenters have heating? I was astounded when the reply was: No heaters, we brew all around the winter months. The yeast itself produces enough heat to safely keep the fermentation going.

Now, obviously keeping the fermentation cool during hot days is essential, and I understand the need for cooling coils etc. But as far as he was concerned there is absolutely no need for fermentation heaters. the natural heat produced by the act of fermentation itself is enough to complete fermentation, even in the middle of winter.

Now, my thinking is that it may be that the volumes produced by the micros will produce enough heat from the yeast itself with no need for extra fermentation heaters. However, on a home brew scale of 25 litres, will the same apply?

Or basically, do we need to keep the FV temp up using heaters, blankets, etc, or should we, as the micros, at least this one, do, rely on the fermentation process itself to create the necessary heat needed for healthy fermentation?

Certainly made me think. What do you guys think?

[Befuddler]

Think I'll put the cat amongst the pigeons here. Regarding keeping FV at temperature. Whilst fermenting, I have, for years, tried to keep the temp to around 20 degrees c, by using aquarium heaters, blankets, etc among other things, as i believed it was not only important but essential for a healthy fermentation. Now, a couple of weeks ago I visited a local micro to do a full days brewday and I asked the head brewer the question: How do you keep the fermentation at 20 during the winter months? Do your fermenters have heating? I was astounded when the reply was: No heaters, we brew all around the winter months. The yeast itself produces enough heat to safely keep the fermentation going.

Now, obviously keeping the fermentation cool during hot days is essential, and I understand the need for cooling coils etc. But as far as he was concerned there is absolutely no need for fermentation heaters. the natural heat produced by the act of fermentation itself is enough to complete fermentation, even in the middle of winter.

Now, my thinking is that it may be that the volumes produced by the micros will produce enough heat from the yeast itself with no need for extra fermentation heaters. However, on a home brew scale of 25 litres, will the same apply?

Or basically, do we need to keep the FV temp up using heaters, blankets, etc, or should we, as the micros, at least this one, do, rely on the fermentation process itself to create the necessary heat needed for healthy fermentation?

Certainly made me think. What do you guys think?

That works in the large insulated tanks on a microbrewery scale, but our little plastic buckets just don't produce or retain enough heat. Maybe if you were using a thermopot as an FV, you might stand a chance..?

Either way, I prefer to have total control of the temperature for creative reasons. I can do more interesting stuff with my yeast if I can pick and hold the temperature to within a degree.

[greenxpaddy]

Thats the right diagram. Don't worry it foxed me initially cos the instructions they sent with mine were...ahem .... wrong!

Old timer if you can send a pic of your controller it might help

[oldtimer]

Greenxpaddy

The tempreture controller is the one you sent me a picture of on Sept 26th Sept, when you were telling me about your ' Tea cosy '.
I will try and send you a picture, but I don't know how to do it.
When you get to my age, new fangled things like this computor is a bit of challenge to say the least. It takes me all my time just to learn how to switch the thing on, let alone post pictures. As for mobile phones, well forget it.
I will have to get my young Grandchild to show me how to do it. These kids know, but sadly for us old un's it's a bit different.

If you scroll back through this post, you will see where you sent me the picture and the link site to buy it.

[greenxpaddy]

This might help



The power goes in to the end two. The second pair is the thermometer sensor. The third pair is the heating module and the fourth set is for cooling.

you need all live wires together in block going into heating and cooling - well I intend to use cooling later - the black lead shown powers the light bulbs. 'Brown live' into second terminal of third pair. 'blue neutral' into neutral block. I don't have an earth, but that's me.

Simples. That is exactly the way the diagram is drawn.

[oldtimer]

Thanks Paddy

Sorry if I have a bit of a pain but I was sure you would not let me down.

Much appreciated my friend. I will pass the diagram onto my son-in-law and get him to fix it up.

Thanks again

[greenxpaddy]

Glad you are on your way to temp control

[Dennis King]

I've always controlled temperature by choosing different places in the house at different times of the year but have decided as I'm going to rearrange the garage I will now have room for a FV fridge. All I need to know is their anything I need to look for when buying a second hand fridge i.e are there any out there not suitable.

[Befuddler]

I've always controlled temperature by choosing different places in the house at different times of the year but have decided as I'm going to rearrange the garage I will now have room for a FV fridge. All I need to know is their anything I need to look for when buying a second hand fridge i.e are there any out there not suitable.

Avoid anything with a freezer compartment..

[Dennis King]

Makes sense.

[Kev888]

just reading through some of the posts, I believe it does depend on brewlength. Mine are around 80L-90L and whilst thats not enough to warm much by self-heating (like the big breweries) its also big enough to be difficult/slow to crash cool with a simple fridge cooling the air around the FV. Though that said, the fridge is very good at maintaining a stable temperature and makes a big difference to the consistency of my beer, so it certainly does the main thing required of it.

For my next upgrade I'm intending to wrap the FV in a heating belt/mat/cable and either also wrap it in a tubular coil or use a stainless immersion coil through which I'll pump cooled water in summer - by removing air as the method of transferring the heat to/from the FV I hope it'll be more responsive for this largish brew length. Also, at the mo I use an ATC 800 which is great, but the wort changes much more slowly than the air so I feel I'll need finer resolution when i measure/control the wort rather than the air, so I'll be moving to something like a TC-10 which has 0,1 rather than 1 degree resolution.

EDIT: I'm going to use a beer cooler for chilling the cool water, but I also found this - there are some fairly interesting, if hardcore, DIY aircon and conical cooling things going on there! makes my attempts look quite reasonable really

Cheers
kev