Aquarium heater fermentatioon

[wowninjas]

I've recently invested in a little aquarium heater to help control the fermentation temperature of my brews. My questions is this , is it better to submerge the heater or put the heater in a bucket of water and then fv into that? My FV is one of this ones with an exterior tap for bottling so I'm a bit worried about having the tap in the water getting nasties in it before I brew.

[BeerEagle]

I used to (before I made a fermentation fridge) just put the heater in the wort. As long as it is sterile then you should have no problem.

If you want to use the other approach then you could always make sure the water bath contain sterile water - Camden tabs or Starsan should see you right.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I use an FV with a tap and then place it in a water bath heated with an aquarium heater. I always put about 1/3 tsp of VWP in the water, so the tap is kept free of bugs. You'll soon find you need to do that whether you have a tap or not, otherwise a slime will develop and it'll smell like a dirty fish tank. Probably a dash of bleach would work just as well, but campden tablets don't seem to have enough staying power.

However, you need to flush out the tap afterwards to get the steriliser out. I generally spray into the tap with clean water and then draw off a little beer and discard it.

[Rick_UK]

I've tried both methods and prefer having the heater in the FV - just seems less hassle not having another vessel to prepare and empty etc. I enlarged the hole in the cap of my FV so the heater can just dangle inand wedge it in place with the air lock bung.

I do find the wort temp is 2 or 3 degrees lower than the temp I set it at so I would check the temp a few times so you can adjust for any discrepancies.

Rick

[Ditch]

Probably a dash of bleach would work just as well, but campden tablets don't seem to have enough staying power.

Quality! I'll nick that quote, if I may? I've just been talking about campden tablets on my " Ditch's Stout " thread, on Kits. What you're saying there fits in very nicely with my own hypothesis

Meanwhile, Wowninjas; I'd suggest you re read what BeerEagle just said. I've been dumping heaters in my wort for years. Perhaps BE did too? But, he's changed direction, look.

And, as it happens, were you to bother tracking back through my own various threads and posts here? (Don't bother) You'd see that I too have some time since decided that a " Fermentation Fridge " ~ or something very similar ~ would be a far better idea all round.

I'd invite you to take a leg up from the long experiences of others. I don't know about BE. But, personally? I got sick and tired of breaking the f**king things! Nasty, delicate sods!

I started a thread, on this same board, asking about Heat Mats. Check that out. I'm buying me an Electric Blanket, of all things!

[tourer]

Probably a dash of bleach would work just as well, but campden tablets don't seem to have enough staying power.

I started a thread, on this same board, asking about Heat Mats. Check that out. I'm buying me an Electric Blanket, of all things!

Nice one Ditch hadn't thought of an electric blanket. By the way i've got a heat mat (it appeared from somewhere) but there appears to be nothing to control the voltage, just plug, cable and a small black plastic connection to the mat. is this right?? as i dont want to plug it in and it goes bang because there should be regulator on it.

[Ditch]

Tourer; " Lord Groan " fed me the idea for the electric blanket, on my 'Heat Mats' thread, on this board. Credit where it's due

When I used to use heat mats for their closer to intended purpose (keeping living shit warm) the idea was that ye needed no regulation of temperature.

The creature did that. It'd either sit in the heat waves, or sod off to the other end of its enclosure, which ye'd leave uncovered by the mat. FV's can't do that, of course.

" Normski ", on the same (Heat Mats) thread says how he's used them and they're fine. He runs his through one of the ATC (I think it is?) jobbies.

Back in the day, I remember we used to just splice the heaters wires into the thermostats wires. I couldn't honestly say what one has to do today. I've never handled one of these modern 'stats. I was used to the ones in glass tubes!

Have a word with Normski, see how he does it Perhaps someone could get an instructional post up here. 'How To Wire X to Z' ?

[bluezephyr]

I was given a fridge,put in a cheap bar heater and run it all with an STC controller. This for me is best thing I've done for brewing.
I don't have room for another fridge so I've just bought another STC and will plug a brew belt heater to it and put it round the fermenter and just use room temperature to adjust the cooling side of things.

For cheapness, if you already have an aquarium heater, £10 for a new non tap fermenter is your best bet.

[sbond10]

To wire a heat mat/ electric blanket onto a stc1000 is a case of removing the plug from your heat source and wiring it onto a Lego brick connector then few extra wires into the stc1000. Or do what I'm planning which involves doing the above but wiring a plug socket onto it instead of hacking the plug of your heat source ( which is your heat source breaks you'll have to rewire again )
Someone posted a handy blown up pic of a stc1000 diagram

[BeerEagle]

Yes Ditch, used to dump the heaters in the FV, but since moving house ended up with a spare fridge (2 in fact) so now have a STC1000-controlled fermentation chamber. Wouldn't go back.
I really love the ability to wind down the temperature when fermentation is complete. 3 degrees for a few days really helps with clearing the beer.

[Ditch]

Wouldn't go back.
I really love the ability to wind down the temperature when fermentation is complete. 3 degrees for a few days really helps with clearing the beer.

Oooh! Talk Durrdy to me!

I can't wait! Picked up half a dozen more kits today. Put two of those on, tomorrow. Oh! Forgot to tell him; I sent Sbonders his cheque for the STC. I've paid Pat, for the Kingspan. Really just need to sort out this blanket now.

All in good time. So much going on around me, right now. Life's like a passenger jet; Fully loaded and picking up speed as it hurtles toward take off!

I can see my own box coming into its own next winter. Be warming up here, time I'm ready this year

[tourer]

Tourer; " Lord Groan " fed me the idea for the electric blanket, on my 'Heat Mats' thread, on this board. Credit where it's due

When I used to use heat mats for their closer to intended purpose (keeping living shit warm) the idea was that ye needed no regulation of temperature.

The creature did that. It'd either sit in the heat waves, or sod off to the other end of its enclosure, which ye'd leave uncovered by the mat. FV's can't do that, of course.

" Normski ", on the same (Heat Mats) thread says how he's used them and they're fine. He runs his through one of the ATC (I think it is?) jobbies.

Back in the day, I remember we used to just splice the heaters wires into the thermostats wires. I couldn't honestly say what one has to do today. I've never handled one of these modern 'stats. I was used to the ones in glass tubes!

Have a word with Normski, see how he does it Perhaps someone could get an instructional post up here. 'How To Wire X to Z' ?

Ditch, i might just wire it up and see what happens.