Clear bubble wrap for fermenter insulation?

[BatGuano]

I used the search function, but only got hits for the silver bubble wrap.

Has anyone ever used the regular clear bubble wrap to help insulate your fermenters? I ended up with a surplus roll at the office, and right now I am only using it to simulate WWII sounds to my colleagues . I would imagine that a 30l plastic fermenter with heat belt, wrapped in bubble wrapped vs. not would stay warmer, as it is only an air gap.

[Sporacle]

Not to sure on the belt heater and bubble wrap combo sounds like an accident waiting to happen, I go to my local thrift/charity store and get old fleece style jackets with a zip front put them on my fermentor and zip them up, I use a heat pad not belt though. The other option is to get a few stryofoam boxes and fashion them together to form a hood that sits over your fermentor and use the heat belt that would give a insulated area for the fermentor to sit. Somewhere in the tried and true someone uses a styro box and light bulbs that would work really well.


I would not combine bubble wrap and a belt heater

[BatGuano]

Not to sure on the belt heater and bubble wrap combo sounds like an accident waiting to happen, I go to my local thrift/charity store and get old fleece style jackets with a zip front put them on my fermentor and zip them up, I use a heat pad not belt though. The other option is to get a few stryofoam boxes and fashion them together to form a hood that sits over your fermentor and use the heat belt that would give a insulated area for the fermentor to sit. Somewhere in the tried and true someone uses a styro box and light bulbs that would work really well.


I would not combine bubble wrap and a belt heater

The fleece idea is really good... I actually have a few here that I was going to send to the Sally Ann's. I think I will keep them and try them out.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Sporacle]

Tried and True, have a look at the Birdwatchers recipe, that's the one with the styro box

[NZChris]

I wouldn't trust a heat belt on a slow ferment, or next to plastic insulation. Heat rises, so if the yeast isn't creating enough agitation, they might end up freezing their nuts off in a cold layer below the heat belt.

I heat from underneath, or put them in a broken down fridge with a 50-200W heating element and a controller. I've recently added a small fan to the fridge that runs when the element is on. I don't know how much better that works, but it makes me feel better

Old fridges and freezers come with none of the hassle of building a cabinet, some of them even have cooling for if you want to brew lager, or cold crash beer.

[Demy]

I have the fridge for my beer that I use for hot / cold but for the ferments that will be distilled use of wool sweaters, I cut the upper part so I can put from the top (in practice a wool cylinder), if not They are of synthetic material they are also perfect with heating belt and in addition to isolating contribute to generating heat.