. Has anyone tried this?
I'm thinking about a self heating 30 gal plastic drum for washes. Bubbler out the top, and aquarium heater to maintain optimal temp. That way I don't have to heat a whole room, or use like 4 of those heated belt things, which I don't think would work anyway, considering the wall thickness of the drums. Thanks
I use such heaters in my ferments with success . Don't go cheap . Size them to the liquid volume you anticipate and make certain that you have them calibrated to the correct temperature . Insulate the outside of your ferment barrels .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
If you are worried about broken glass like PP said you can get a stainless heater. They aren't very expensive either. I have two 250 watt ones in my 240 gallon fish tank.
Yes, I have used them for over a year ... I run a 44 gallon Brute fermenter in the garage with 2 heaters, and wrap in a sleeping bag with good results even in cold weather.
Make sure to get one with a temperature setting, and since they are made with glass, handle with care. Using a paint mixer to aerate the mash/wash with them in the fermenter is **not** recommended. Other than that, you should have not problems handling them within the fermenter
LTV - "keep in mind distilling is like masturbating. You do one wrong and you go blind."
Want to keep people from consulting idiots on youTube about distilling?? Don't be an idiot when someone asks for advice ... Help them
I used one up until the point it was accidentally dropped on the garage floor. I never did replace it. Instead I placed my 30 gallon fermenter on top of a 2" piece of foam board insulation and wrapped the barrel in relflectix water heater insulation.
i really don't notice any significant difference between using or not using the aquarium heater.
I use 18gal. Sterilite non-toxic children's storage container ..
My aquarium heater is a 200w Aquatop submersible heater w/precise setting.
I always boil my 'city' water, then aerate BEFORE pitching yeast.
I keep it covered with an old homemade quilt.
Success every single time! Good Luck.
*Spend it all, Use it up, Wear it out*
Beware of sheet-sniffers and dime-droppers!
I have used one for a long time without a problem. One thing that I have found via trial and error. Don't let the tip of the heater get submerged in to the grain. It will over heat and shutoff.
I keep mine sideways in my cooler that I ferment in and don't have any problems,
Prairiepiss wrote:A broken glass aquarium heater in a 30 gal fermenter. Could ruin a bunch of wash.
I had a glass aquarium heater in 30 gallons of ferment. It finished dry last night and smelled great. Checked it this morning to find I forgot to turn off the aquarium heater, which shouldn't have been a big deal.
So... I pull out the heater to find 2 inches of caked and burned on solids stuck to it. As a bonus my heavenly 30 gallon ferment now smells exactly like a burning tire. I wasted a huge amount of time putting that together and now its getting dumped into the green belt... Needless to say I'm done with glass aquarium heaters...
I use one with all my ferments but in an indirect manner. I have a 30 gallon fermentor with a 2 inch (30 inch long) copper tube that fits into my frementor full of water and the submersible heater is inside the pipe. The heater is set to 5f higher than my desired ferment temperature and plugged into a digital temperature controller set to my desired ferment temperature. I have a well installed into the tank with the sensor inside.
If the element blows, it is inside the pipe. I have a smaller one for my keg fermentor using 1.5 inch pipe (16 inch long).
I always use a glass aquarium heater, actually 4 of them, one for each fermenter. For birdwatchers and ujssm. Never had an issue and fermenting takes half the time to clear than without it. I ferment in my basement and it is cold down there.
I used one during my first few washes. I was fermenting in an unbeaten garage in the dead of canadian winter.
I went with a heater sized for an 80-100 gallon aquarium in my 40 gallon wash. Figured better to be oversized if I wanted to maintain ferment temps in -30c weather.
I use a submersible heater with suction cups.I find out the temp range of my yeast and go with the lower number. I place it just above the yeast bed but not touching it. When its cold it will heat up the liquid around where it sits but the other side of my tub and the yeast bed were chilly so i would stir daily during the winter and also wrap it in a moving blanket. I ferment in my finished basement so its pretty cool down here in the winter. When my hydrometer reads close to done i pull it out, let it cool and the yeast settles better. During the summer i dont use a heater. For me fast ferments created off flavors.
I have using one to pre-heat my wash before running; if I'm expecting the night and morning to be chilly I put it in before I go bed. Saving me around 25-30 degrees heating up the wash, I did two 25 gal mash's last week and used it to preheat the water for the next morning for mashing.
Needless to say I'm done with glass aquarium heaters...
