Winter Fermenter Heating

[zwagerman9]

Just thought Id post how I keep my fermenters warm through winter in the shed. Be it Mash or Beer.
Ive basically built a very basic wooden cage onto MDF, I can fit 4-5 fermenters ontop of my board of MDF which sits on Milk crates.

Built a VERY basic cage ontop of my MDF timber.
Id bought a couple of emergency thermal blankets off ebay, $6 dollars.
And covered the box using a staple gun.
And I sit a cheap oil heater inside, set to very low temps, on a Power point timer to work from 2200 to 0900.
All my fermenters are sitting 26'c
When it is 15'c outside.


Cheap idea.

Id love a few heat pads but when heating multiple fermenters.

[bt1]

k whats the wattage of the oil heater?

Any idea what the actual run timer % per hour would be?

Just to confirm that's 5 fermenters?


bt1

[zwagerman9]

I think its 2000watt. But running half pace at medium heat. Its an old oil heater which I had spare in the shed. Can be 5 fermenters. Currently have 4 in.
Depends on the fermenters, if they are the "new" coopers fermenters which I hate, then its 4. If its the old school slimmer taller ones, I can cram in 5. Oil heater in the middle.
No idea of % sorry.
In context of cost I can imagine its running cost is higher than 4-5 heating belts/pads,
But initial layout costs are cheap.
I keep planning on Kegking heating belts.
But oil heater aside.
Its an efficient hotbox which utilizes heat produced from fermentation.

Make some kind of sense?

Cheers

Rae

[bt1]

Bloke,

It's about right...rough calcs about <=$2.00 per day based on 50% run time in the 11 hour range your using... especially for 5 fermenters...wow almost commercial :-D

For smaller numbers I'm no fan of indirect heating i.e. pads...

See this earlier post...has the calc in it so you can do your own numbers to check...Upside is absolutely precise temp control which assists our best friends ...yeast

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=437&hilit=+heating#p18296

cheers
bt1

[zwagerman9]

Its a good system as it holds the heat really well.
Can be hit and miss depending on temps with what I am doing though.
With spirit washes there is no stress on temps as I'm happy to run up to 28'c etc. But when doing beer thats a different story, could switch to lager yeasts which I keep planning but I've spat the dummy with bottling and organising a kegging system. Also, I have maybe 300 coopers DIY longnecks with plenty of beer so there hasnt been any rush.
But jeez, triple distilled TPW with SS Jameson whiskey recipe at 50% abv kicks you in the crotch! Lol. Easy to drink, until linguistically your words combine... Hahaha.

Cheers.

Rae

[cdbrown]

I splashed out on my temp control and bought a heat belt and a STC-1000 to control it. Put the fermenter into an esky and then put a rug over it to help insulate from outside temps. Good thing about the belt is that it can be adjusted and I put it around two fermenters. Easily keeps them both at 29C even when it might be 10C or lower in the room.

[zwagerman9]

Yeah I did think about heat belts, which I might consider down the track.
But didnt want to buy 5 of them Lol.

Although, only a few more months till I wont need them and will be back to fermenters in tubs with water and ice bottles to keep them cool Hahaha.