Electrim 75 Immersion Heater

[TempTest]

Hello,

I am hoping to put a brew on sometime soon and in this cold snap I'll need a method to keep the beer warm during fermentation. I really want to go down the fermentation fridge route (see here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=67609 ) however in the meantime I've been checking out the Electrim 75 Immersion Heater. I purchased one a while back, during a brewing spending spree, but never used it.

The Electrim 75 Immersion Heater states "The unit is factory set to maintain a liquid temperature of between 22 - 24c but it can be varied by the user via a adjustement knob". I've filled my fermenter up with water and had the heater on to check what temperature it really maintains. It actually seems pretty stable at 22c.

A few questions:

1) Would you recommend 22c or another temperature? I know different styles and yeasts call for different fermentation temperature but I'd like to use a good 'one size fits all' temperature as I'll carefully calibrate that against my accurate thermometer and then never touch the adjust knob again. Given this, what temperature would you recommend? Leave it 22c or change it?

2) Assuming I need to change the temperature can anybody tell me if I adjust the knob directly or first loosen the screw that appears to be holding the knob on? I've tried turning it by hand but it was very stiff and I was worried I'd snap it off but I did read on BrewUK review that states 'the adjuster knob is slender and tends to be stiff so need to use pliers which could cause damage'... However whether that's true if they've just not noticed the screw I don't know.

3) How safe are these to use from a sanitary perspective? Mine appears to have lots of little flecks of rubber on the actual heater that I presume have come from the bung either during manufacture or transit and it's really hard to get rid of all of them. If they have not fallen off when (a) cleaned or (b) temperature tested I assume they won't fall off during fermentation and with a liberal spray of StarSan before use the sensible side of me says it'll be fine... But the other part of me worries about the nooks and crannies and they'd be prime for infection. Note that I do not intend to fully submerge (despite the instructions saying the device can be used like this) but instead I'll submerge just to the minimum line (where the neon indictor is).

Any help/advice appreciated. Fingers crossed I get a suitable fridge setup before I actually brew but in the meantime I may as well answer these questions (and calibrate if necessary) while I have everything out and set up, rather than rushing the night before a brew day!

Thank you

[jceg316]

I have one of these, but in a 5 gal batch of beer I'm not sure what it actually does, it doesn't seem powerful enough to keep the whole brew at a constant temperature. I've sent it back for being faulty and the replacement is the same.

In answer to Q1, it depends what characteristics you want from the yeast. Fermenting at warmer temperatures will give your beer banana and bubblegum flavours, and colder temps will take longer to ferment. I'm sorry this isn't exactly the answer you were looking for, but I recommend researching the effect of temp on yeast as it will change your whole beer.

Q2) yes that sounds about right. You should be able to use a flathead screwdriver to change it, but be careful as changing it too much can break the device and void the warranty.

Q3) I spray mine with starsan and it's good to go. Never had a problem. But then again I don't have specs of rubber attached to it. Once o dropped an unsanitised rubber bung into a bucket or wort before I pitched the yeast. I was worried but it came out fine. In fact that was a fantastic batch and perhaps I should add rubber bungs as a new adjunct. I think as long as you follow sanitary best practices you should be fine.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

[Fil]

For more precise temperature control and if your intending a brewfridge build in the future too, you could consider investing in an stc100 or similar controller now and simply use that to control your heat source, that way after calibtration you can set your ideal temp and if its below the temp minimum heater temperature it wont matter

fwiw i ferment at 18-19C in my fridge, sometimes warming upto 20-22 for clearing up the last of the sugars (so little left there will be little or no flavour impact)..

[TempTest]

Thanks for the reply gents.

jceg316,

It sounds as though yours is faulty... Mine definitely heats up the beer and surprisingly quickly too (from mains inlet cold water temp to 22c in two hours!).

Thank you for the other advice too. I think given what you've said I'm a little more confident using it if necessary. Thanks for confirming you have to loosen the screw to adjust the temperature... I don't mind keep altering it. The item has no warranty anyway as it was purchased unused from eBay. However, I might not need to adjust because...

Fil,

Thanks for the reply. Excellent idea about using an STC1000 to control the temperature. Indeed, with this idea I don't need to adjust the immersion heater at all... The fact that it's 'too hot' is great because the heater will turn it off after it reaches the STC1000 set point... The fact it's 22c means that I can set the STC1000 to 18c and as soon as it reaches this the STC1000 will turn the heater off (never reaching the 22c) but if, as in your example, I do want to raise the temperature to 20 - 22c the immersion heaters internal control will not turn off before the STC1000. A really great idea... I may have to find myself one of the v1 STC1000s that I can reprogram with my Arduino (will post in the other thread).

Having said all this the fridge idea is looking less likely (I'll update my other thread about that shortly) but no harm in getting an STC1000 'ready' for the day I have the space

Thanks again!