Heaters for sheds

[mrjonnyp]

I wasn't sure which sub-catagory to put this in.

I'm thinking of doing all my fermenting in my garage outside, not a problem this time of year but autumn and winter I'm going to need to keep it warm.

Does anyone else brew outside, if so what heaters do you use and how much in elecric do they cost to run 24/7.

[Haydnexport]

I think most people convert fridges and put a small tube heater in the bottom of them.

[guypettigrew]

What do you have in the way of brewing gear?

Guy

[vacant]

I've seen tube heaters advertised for helping heat greenhouses and dog kennels. I bought one for my fermenting fridge in an unheated room and it did the job fine. 60W - If it was continuously heating that would be around 20p/day but it would end up a fraction of that assuming you're not heating the entire shed, just a fridge or custom-built Kingspan/Celotex box?

[JamesF]

custom-built Kingspan/Celotex box

That's what I did. Basically a cupboard large enough to take two fermenters with a ply inner and outer skin with 50mm celotex sandwiched between the two, 4" PC fan at the top and 40W greenhouse heater at the bottom. STC-1000 mounted in the door to control the greenhouse heater. It has no problems staying at fermentation temperature in the winter (though it's not been that common to get below freezing here in the last ten years or so) and during our recent hot spell it was actually cooler inside than out. It lives in my unheated beer shack in the garden.

James

[Blackaddler]

I use a heated tray underneath a 100L s/s stockpot.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=36121&start=15#p393377

[Cobnut]

I use a tubular heater, 60W I think, in my brew fridge.

I also have an oil-filled electric radiator for heating my brew shed to comfortable warmth, but it is usually switched off when I leave the shed. So not used for long term heating, just to make it "habitable" for "sessions".

[mrjonnyp]

Cheers for the responses, I was thinking heating the whole garage, I sometimes have 4 or 5 buckets on the go at once.

I'm thinking it might not be such a brilliant idea for a heater to be on 24/7.

Maybe build some sort of wooden box that fits over say a maximum of 6 fv's and put one of those tubular heaters inside?

[vacant]

Six FVs? Two rows of three with a tube heater on the floor in the middle then drape old blankets and duvets over the lot.

Sorry, bodger here ... someone will probably recommend Brewbuilder's custom-made stainless steel fermenting vessel cabinets with triple-glazed inspection windows and app for bluetooth enabled temperature alerts.

[mrjonnyp]

Bodging is about as far as my DIY knowledge goes

Never heard of these tubular heaters before, are they fine attached to wood or Sat on wood, think this might be my best bet.

My wife's always moaning about buckets in the kitchen, the garage would be perfect for me but it's so damn cold in winter

[JamesF]

Mine is a tube with electrical connections at one end and a couple of clips that allow you to fix it wherever you need. At the bottom of the cabinet here:



(The cabinet wasn't quite finished at this point.)

James

[Galena]

Dimplex are the most popular make but there are others, 1ft (30cms) 40 watts is a popular size for fridge conversions.
I have this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

315Mjng3cuL._AC_SL1181_.jpg (8.98 KiB) Viewed 6210 times

[mrjonnyp]

Yeah looks good I think this is the way forward, I'm going to have to aquire some wood to build a large box.

Can these be left on till they die like a light bulb or is it recommended to have 2 and alternate them?

[JamesF]

I think they have a thermostat in (such a long time since I fitted mine I can't be sure), but that may not be that accurate or for the temperature range you want, which is why I use an STC-1000 to control mine.

James

[vacant]

No thermostatic adjustment externally on mine. There may be a thermal cut out internally for if you did something dumb like bind it in insulation. STC-1000 controls my fridge and the tube heater on the few occasions it has been needed.