Fermentation Fridge Heater - Power Rating?

[TempTest]

Hello,

Can anybody recommend a rule of thumb for the required power rating of a fermentaton fridge tubular heater for a given capacity fridge? I'm looking at a small 50-litre fridge (not brew length!) and the smallest heaters seem to be ~45W. How does that sound? Too low? Too high? Just right?

Any particular brands I should look out for?

Thanks!

[Aleman]

I got my tube heater from Toolstation 1ft 60W . . . and it is easily good enough for the tall larder fridge I use. Your 45W one will be more than adequate for the task.

[BrannigansLove]

I use a 60W Toolstation one in my under counter brew fridge.

[Secla]

60w here to
But I'd say that's more than needed 45w shouldn't be an issue

[Jim my]

I've got a 45 watt in my under counter fridge,it works great

[Brewhound]

I'm using a 45w in my under counter fridge too. Heats nice and steadily, avoids overshooting. I'm using an elitech e-1000 to control it, works well.

[Bazz]

I have a 45 watt one in a regular under the counter style fridge at the moment, but i am finding that it struggles to get the temperature up past 22 degC, obviously this is fine fine for most ales but if you were thinking of brewing a Saison or something Belgian that may require a temperature of 24 degC+ then you may think of getting a 60 watt one, i must add that my brew fridge is in the garage and the ambient temperature has been pretty low recently so it's had an up hill struggle anyway, summer months would be another story.

[TempTest]

Thanks for all of the replies. I've double checked and the only heater I can comfortably fit is 1ft/30cm which is fine. It seems these are available in 45W and 60W and there is no price difference (eBay, Amazon, etc - Any recommended retailer or manufacturer?). Is there any disadvantage for going for the higher power one? I'd be controlling this with an Inkbird controller but is there, none the less, still a chance the higher power one could overshoot?

I'd like the ability to do the likes of saisons so the flexibility of a higher power heater would be better if the 45W would be unable to reach the required temperatures but not at the expense of overshooting and generally causing problems.

The fridge is a tiny counter top (50 litre) not a standard sized undercounter (85+ litres).

Any advice? I'm planning on ordering shortly...

[BrannigansLove]

I'd go with the 60W. You may want to upgrade at some stage.

[gobuchul]

I use heating cable.

Cheaper than the Toolstation heaters and completely flexible. You could fit as much as you want in any fridge.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Complete-Flex ... XJykfB94DA

[BenB]

Yup. So do I. Means I can fit a FV and a heater element in a small chest freezer. Wouldn't be possible otherwise.

[TempTest]

I actually placed an order for the 45W last night but after lots of research I'm pretty confident it'll be man enough given the small size of this fridge. We'll see...

[Fil]

Also use a fan to blow 24/7 in the brewfridge, the air inside is the medium of heat transfer/exchange between both a radiant heat and cold sourse inside a brewfridge. So keeping the air moving will maximise the efficiency of both heating and chilling employed.

a cheap ex pc case fan run by a redundand phone charger or similar dc powerbrick is more than adequate and easy to wire up in through the drain port too

[TempTest]

Need to see what I can fit through the drainport - I can get my temperature probe through but I imagine it'll be close getting that and the heater flex. A fan as well? Quite unlikely. I'll consider a fan but I think I'll see what the performance is like first - The fact this fridge is quite so small means I think the heat will be pretty uniform without a fan but I'll keep an eye on it!

Now if only the paracetamol would get rid of the headache everything I read reviews on the probe in air/in wort/in seperate water container debates!

[Andy]

Use a 45W tubular heater in my under counter sized fridge and it's plenty sufficient.