I am building a box that is 30"x36"x18" with

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:58 pm

I have been having to warm up some of my ferments lately as its been about 64f in my basement.The slow ferment is a good thing,as long as its healthy,but if it gets too cold,will crawl to a finish.I want to run every other week in the winter.

As-Ol-Joe · Post by **As-Ol-Joe** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:36 pm

I am building a box that is 30"x36"x18" with 2 light bulbs on a dimmer switch. Should be able to control the temperature with ease. A friend mentioned using an old water bed heater, not sure how well that will work.

Still_Crazy · Post by **Still_Crazy** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:39 pm

I'm having some issues with the time of year too and not wanting to keep my house at anyhting above 68 or 70. What I have for now that is working until I go the next step is a seedling mat wrapped around one 6 gallon carboy. It is holding fine at 82 to 84f on a DWG wash. Next to it I have a plastic 6 gallon pail with birdwatchers econo wash and a borrowed heating pad from a friend.
The pad does not wrap very far and probably won't get used again but will work for this one wash. Next I plan to make a small insulated room such as wineo is talking about. Something that will hold 2 carboys and maybe the 20 gallon trash can fermenter. I figure some stiff foam/plastic walls and a light bulb on a dimmer should do the trick. I've dried wood-turned items in old fridges by using a light and dimmer and it works well. Once you get the environment stable, everything in that space should achieve room temp or slightly higher in the case of highly active yeast.

I do have a submersible fish tank heater but I don't think they heat in the range that we want. It might be good for some, but I think the shutoff or limit is 76 or 78f.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:57 pm

Be careful with the heating pad.I know someone that left one on when they went to work,and it burned up his apartment.I have heard of a few fires from those things.It makes me leery of using them.

Still_Crazy · Post by **Still_Crazy** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:02 pm

Ah geeeez wineo, good point and now I think I better head home before going onto the night gig... check the place out even though it's on low.

I'll peek at the SG on each of them too.

Thanks for the thought!

new_moonshiner · Post by **new_moonshiner** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:55 pm

a elec blanket on low works nicely.

Still_Crazy · Post by **Still_Crazy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:23 am

punkin wrote:
new_moonshiner wrote:a elec blanket on low works nicely.
Been using an electric blanket for 15 years for my kit beers. Just can't afford to run enough of em to wrap up all my different fermenters now. So an insulated fermenting room it is for me in the new shed.
3 door nonfunctional glass door drink fridge should hold heaps of em. Some kind of heat controller and thats it.

I've got a couple of things in the garage now that should work if space inside will allow. I used to do a lot of wood turning and after roughing out a wet bowl or other, I'd place them in an old fridge that had been converted to a warm or hot box. I use a regular incandescent bulb and light dimmer. Worked great for drying wood, should work great for controlling fermentation environments.
Now, all I have to do is clean some in the garage so I can get to them, and move one into the house.
This may save me building a 3 foot or 4 foot box from insulating foam.

Post by **blanikdog** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:27 pm

As-Ol-Joe wrote:I am building a box that is 30"x36"x18" with 2 light bulbs on a dimmer switch. Should be able to control the temperature with ease. A friend mentioned using an old water bed heater, not sure how well that will work.

I have a tea chest with polystyrene insulation and a 15 watt pilot light in the side - at the bottom.

It works a treat in all weather needing extra heat.

blanik

arkansas · Post by **arkansas** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:11 am

I to use an old frig. and tried just hanging a light bulb in there but with the temp. swings out side, there were some major swings in the frig. I dropped by homedepot and picked up a line voltage thermostat and now use a regular heat lamp bulb. Everything will usually stay +/- 5 degrees f. Works well for me.

birdwatcher · Post by **birdwatcher** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:49 am

Make a box out of two inch styrofoam insulation with a lid but bottomless so you can slip it over your fermenter. The size depending on the size of your fermenter(s). Put it all together with duct tape

I dangle a bulb through the lid. I don't use a line thermostat, but I will damn well look into it. At the moment I simply vary the bulb size depending on room temperature.

G

Post by **shadylane** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 6:04 am

Cheap home furnace thermostats work good for temperature control. they are good for about 5 amps, but only rated for 24vac. You have to mount them inside your mash box, but keep them dry. I use an old refrigerator with a 100 watt bulb. The temp stays within +- 3 degrees of where I set it.

arkansas · Post by **arkansas** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:18 pm

Shadylane, how do you get the home furnace thermostat to work with line voltage? or do you have a transformer in there somewhere? I tried to make one of them work but with out success.

although the line voltage one cost me about the same.

newts · Post by **newts** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:06 pm

A cheap method is to pretend your fermenter is a park person and wrap it in old newspaper. it works for me, just leave a space to read the thermometer.

newts

pintoshine · Post by **pintoshine** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:27 pm

This is what I am using on my box
http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Digital-P ... dZViewItem" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
and this
http://cgi.ebay.com/SSR-Solid-State-Rel ... dZViewItem" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
That enough even to control a house furnace. It will work with two lights easily.

Post by **shadylane** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:25 pm

[quote="arkansas"]Shadylane, how do you get the home furnace thermostat to work with line voltage? or do you have a transformer in there somewhere? I tried to make one of them work but with out success. :cry: although the line voltage one cost me about the same.[/quote]

They are just a coiled up bimetal strip with a mercury switch, it dosn't care what voltage as long as you dont pull too much current.

arkansas · Post by **arkansas** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:51 am

Pinto, nice set up, not sure I would ever figure out how to hook those up. Shady, I must of had too much current with my set up as the thermostat I tried first melted down, glad I was there to get things unhooked.

ER70S-2 · Post by **ER70S-2** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 5:27 am

I've been using a submersable fish tank heater for my 5 gallon pails, seems to work good. I think I read it on the site.

Post by **theholymackerel** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:25 am

A few ideas that require no energy: Put yer fermenters in yer hotwater heater cabinet... put a fermenter or two on top of yer refridgerater or a high sturdy shelf ( a room at 60 deg might be near 70 deg near the celing)... If ya have no trouble gettin' healthy vigourous fermentations then simply usin' larger fermenters and insulatin' em well will do the trick (I've have fermenters maintain 70 deg F by themselves in a 49 deg cellar).

I wish ya luck.

arkansas · Post by **arkansas** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:18 pm

theholymackerel wrote: (I've have fermenters maintain 70 deg F by themselves in a 49 deg cellar). I wish ya luck.

Dang, Mack, just how big is the fermentor or maybe I should ask "how big is this cellar?"

Post by **theholymackerel** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:57 pm

It was a 20 gallon wash in a HEAVILY insulated (top, bottom, and sides) fermenter.

Mopar Redneck · Post by **Mopar Redneck** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:32 pm

Home supply stores carry a wide variety of thermostats that run on either 120v or 240v for baseboard heating units. They generally run around $15 up north here. All you have to do is hook them in line on the lamp cord.

Still_Crazy · Post by **Still_Crazy** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:16 am

I see lots of great ideas here. I checked the garage and without moving a couple of motorcylces out and some other stuff, there's no way to get one of the old fridges into the house right now. We are into a deep freeze here with the latest ice storms etc. so I don't care to drag stuff out of the garage.

So

This past weekend I made a nice foam box. It's 36 x 36 x 30 tall, using 1" thick stiff foam. The two end pieces have a 1" x 1/2" deep slot so the sides interlock more or less. I use no tape. For now I'm just testing it and monitoring the temperature with a 60W bulb near the floor. I do have the light on a green air products cyclic timer so it's not on all the time. Temp so far has been fairly steady at 84F so I'll probably lower it just a bit. I'll use it for the next ferments.

A very small fan to recirculate and even out the air may be a good idea if your box or 'area' is very large. Temps near the floor vs the top will be different.

birdwatcher · Post by **birdwatcher** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:00 am

Still_Crazy wrote:I see lots of great ideas here. I checked the garage and without moving a couple of motorcylces out and some other stuff, there's no way to get one of the old fridges into the house right now. We are into a deep freeze here with the latest ice storms etc. so I don't care to drag stuff out of the garage.

So

This past weekend I made a nice foam box. It's 36 x 36 x 30 tall, using 1" thick stiff foam. The two end pieces have a 1" x 1/2" deep slot so the sides interlock more or less. I use no tape. For now I'm just testing it and monitoring the temperature with a 60W bulb near the floor. I do have the light on a green air products cyclic timer so it's not on all the time. Temp so far has been fairly steady at 84F so I'll probably lower it just a bit. I'll use it for the next ferments.

A very small fan to recirculate and even out the air may be a good idea if your box or 'area' is very large. Temps near the floor vs the top will be different.

You might want to place your box over your fermenter filled with water for testing. The temperature of the air around the fermenter will be higher than your wash.

G

Still_Crazy · Post by **Still_Crazy** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:42 am

birdwatcher wrote: You might want to place your box over your fermenter filled with water for testing. The temperature of the air around the fermenter will be higher than your wash.

G

Good point, thanks

that will be the next test. I'll have to figure for a little added heat from the ferment itself too. I'm excited about having it all in a controlled environment.

On another note... there won't be any heat or lights at all today in my house of any kind. We are right in the middle of a ice storm (middle of the country, USA). I stayed the night with a lady friend last night, I arrived home this am to find no power. Two ferments are going to slow or stop

and the female cats will just have to buddy up for a while.

I did bring my latest gallon of oak in and started filtering it here in the office.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:26 am

Missus ordered this for me the other day for xmas...

http://mashmaster.com.au/p/365439/fridg ... r-kit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Thanks Hookline for the suggestion and the link

Post by **HookLine** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:15 pm

No probs. Let us know how it works out. (I don't have one.)

Pikluk · Post by **Pikluk** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:50 am

thought about building a box then i thought about some aquarium heater i had, cuted the wire passed it trough a drilled hole in the airlock rubber, those have thermostat.
you can get aquarium submersible heater cheap on ebay.
cheap ones are a pain to adjust but once there set it keeps you mash at a minimum temperature.
just dont forget to unplug before taking it out.
its a bit more messy then using a belt but they work great and have adjustable thermostat.

As-Ol-Joe · Post by **As-Ol-Joe** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:00 am

Pikluk, I had the same thought. I tossed it out here for the forums thought and here are the results.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 52&start=0

Pikluk · Post by **Pikluk** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 8:08 am

well i have 3 heater going on for 1month and a half now "still new to the game" no problem yet, knock on wood.
only doing 10-12% wash.

those heater most of the time are like test tube with a heater inside with a cork on top.
maybe that africaunite guy just had bad luck and the glue from the "cork" got dissolve in the 15%+ wash

and there ricky that used one for over a year...

about a aquarium heater starting a fire i really doubt it, even 20% wash dont burn.at least not easily.

and a personal thought if its rated form salted water, salt is a really vicious, will make stainless steel rust, i know corrosive is not the same as a solvent...

keep you posted if i get any problem.

grainhopper · Post by **grainhopper** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:14 pm

If the heater doesnt have to be completely submerged how about making it float somehow . Just an idea

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