Heating pad for fermenter

[BourbonStreet]

I usually use a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket for my washes. They take forever to ferment this time of year, sometimes two or three weeks. The heat is on, but the floor can get pretty cold. The ferment usually drops to 68F after a day or two. I had a 16W heating pad for a terrarium lying around. I placed it under the bucket to isolate it from the cold floor. Now it’s bubbling away, but not scorching. It’s staying right around 74F.

[jonnys_spirit]

I wrap my fermentor in reflectix insulation and put a packing blanket or two on top - Additionally I'll slip a heating pad or two between the fermentor and the reflectix along with an inkbird temp probe controller that turns the heating on/off when it drops below the set-point... Keeps temp very well mostly with just the heat the yeasties produce - even in the cold cellar... It sits on a dolly though so not on the cold floor.. If the temp is running high I mostly just take the packing blankets off the top since heat rises this works very well to release most of the self produced heat.

Cheers!
-jonny

[BourbonStreet]

I live in a warm climate, and never tried heating or insulating my ferments before. I was really surprised by how well it worked. They usually clear pretty fast in the summer, but really slow down this time of year. This isn’t a slab floor, and it’s insulated, so I didn’t think it would make much of a difference.

[River Rat]

The inkbird controller Jonny mentioned sure is nice. Set it and forget it. I use one with a 100W light bulb under the fermenter (fermenter sitting on a short stand) and wrap it all in reflectix. You can get it as warm as you want.

[Dancing4dan]

Fermentation temperatures are a struggle for me. Temperature here ranges from +35C to -35C. I just built a fermentation insulated box out of styrofoam building insulation and used a aquarium heater directly in the ferment. I might try my wart chiller and a pond pump controlled by my inkbird this summer to manage heat.

[elbono]

I ferment in the basement where the floor is a concrete slab on grade. Temps were fine this summer but now the air temp is 50f-60f and ferments were really slowing down. Tried heating pads around 5 gal buckets and they didn't help very much. I was afraid putting the bucket on top would damage the pad and cause a short circuit.

I scabbed together a 3'x8' heated tile platform for less than $200.

The tile stays a constant 85f, I hung a plastic curtain (trash bags) around the legs of the workbench and the air temp in there stays about 80f!

[jonnys_spirit]

Fermentation temperatures are a struggle for me. Temperature here ranges from +35C to -35C. I just built a fermentation insulated box out of styrofoam building insulation and used a aquarium heater directly in the ferment. I might try my wart chiller and a pond pump controlled by my inkbird this summer to manage heat.

I did get a wort chiller to do just that for a cooling circuit but haven’t gotten to it yet. I think it’d work very well for heat with the aquarium heater in the water reservoir.

Cheers!
-j

[Deplorable]

I ferment in the basement where the floor is a concrete slab on grade. Temps were fine this summer but now the air temp is 50f-60f and ferments were really slowing down. Tried heating pads around 5 gal buckets and they didn't help very much. I was afraid putting the bucket on top would damage the pad and cause a short circuit.

I scabbed together a 3'x8' heated tile platform for less than $200.
platform.jpeg
The tile stays a constant 85f, I hung a plastic curtain (trash bags) around the legs of the workbench and the air temp in there stays about 80f!

I really like that. I have a couple boxes of left over tile from the house. I think I'm going to make one of these and run it off an inkbird.

[elbono]

I think I'm going to make one of these and run it off an inkbird.

The inkbird is hard to see, its over in the corner by the fridge, plugged into a gfci. I used some leftover tile and cement board from a bath remodel. Since it's sitting on a concrete slab I used 2x4's underneath 1/2" hardibacker instead of full size joists and subfloor.

The trick is finding a good price on the heat element. I got lucky and Amazon had a returned one for less than $30 instead of $65. Heatit seems to a reasonably priced brand on Amazon and I can't tell any difference from the Suntouch I put in upstairs.

[Demy]

I have these bodies bought many years ago for my beer but I also use for the fermentation of the distillates, for beer I have a small dedicated fridge (where you refrigerate in summer and crash-cooling, or use the band with fridge off in winter) While for large fermenters always use this band but wrapped with a blanket. In both cases use a small digital thermostat (in the Frizer STC1000)

[contrahead]

I usually use a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket for my washes. They take forever to ferment this time of year, sometimes two or three weeks. The heat is on, but the floor can get pretty cold. The ferment usually drops to 68F after a day or two. I had a 16W heating pad for a terrarium lying around. I placed it under the bucket to isolate it from the cold floor. Now it’s bubbling away, but not scorching. It’s staying right around 74F.

Sound's like you've got it figured out. As long as you stay below 81 F, you should be good to go.

Last month I strapped a heating pad to my fermentation bucket and everything worked out just fine.
One of those little heating pads that old people sleep on, for back pain. Variable heat output but only a 2 hour “on cycle” before it shuts off. I strapped it to the bucket with several wraps from a spool of banding plastic, rather than to use adhesive tape. A fairly consistent temperature and rate of bubbling at the airlock were maintained for 5 or 6 days before the wash was sent to the cooker.

The same bucket with the same pad but with a new ferment are back this week. But now covered with a towel. Suppose I should get all scientific and install a thermostat and controller now, or at least modify the present controller to make it stay on longer.

The small, cheap heating pad does seem to have adequate wattage and surface area to maintain an ideal temperature. Problems arise when the plastic fermentation bucket is emptied and then needs to be sanitized. (My pad was waterproofed so I did not unwrap it).

Old electric blankets that work, might be candidates for heating larger ferment containers too. There might be 50 feet or more of that flexible heating element inside, which needs to be stripped out of the blanket first though. I once made a heated climbing pole for someone's pet iguana, using that heating blanket wire; finished the pole by covering it tightly with burlap.

[BourbonStreet]

It’s still bubbling along, right around 74-75F. SG has consistently gone down, now at 1.015. It was around 1.045 when I first posted. It should be finished in a few days.

[Ben]

Rather than go through all this why not use a yeast that is happy at the lower temperatures? There are lots of options

[Deplorable]

Rather than go through all this why not use a yeast that is happy at the lower temperatures? There are lots of options

Wyeast LAbs - Optimal Temperature.JPG

This is good advice, but sometimes you might want to use a specific yeast to get desired esters that compliment or even enhance the flavors of your mash.
Like using a saison strain to bring out more pepper and spice from rye in a mash that's only 21% Rye Malt.
For sure, there are many options to choose from if you're willing to do some homework, but at some point you still may desire to control the temperature of your ferment in the chosen yeasts optimal environment.

[Ben]

Sure, but wy3711 will pull those flavors without the equipment requirement, it pulls a ton of the spice out at mid 60s ferment temp: no need to run Ardennes yeast at 85°. Yeasts can be manipulated to produce different esters, define the profile you want then search for the yeast. Or pick a yeast and build the mash bill around it, playing with yeast can be very rewarding.

Lots of ways to skin the same cat, but if you are looking for something consistent/controllable working close to your ambient temp range really helps. I use an FTSs controller and it's lovely, I would still prefer to work with my temp range;, it can be inspirational working with seasonal swings to produce different product throughout the year.

The point is this, if you are trying to make accommodations so you can get Fleishmanns to work, expand your yeast collection!

[Deplorable]

I wish I had a bigger yeast collection handy right now. With the cold snap we're in, if I had a few lager yeasts to work with, I would have a ferment going, but as it is, I'm stuck waiting for the temps to come back up over freezing so I can feel more comfortable maintaining the temp on the strain I picked for this mash. The weatherman says I can expect to mash this weekend. Thats when I'll be able to easily maintain my 30 gallon fermenter between 15C-20C.
My next place will have a fully insulated still house with indoor plumbing, and ideally, a floor drain.

[elbono]

I am sure this is where "seasonal beers" originated. I think that's been overdone by craft brewers in the last few years but this isn't a beer forum.

I'm low on Dady so I a trip to the local brew supply shop is in my near future. Now I need to research which of those winter yeasts I want. Grrr

I've been playing with angel yeast lately so that will keep me busy until I figure it out.

I'm a typical case of "to a man with a hammer every problem is a nail". Then somebody with a screwdriver comes along...

[Ben]

The seasonal beer thing originated in Germany, beer was a surefire way to preserve grain and get calories and carbs. So early in the fall when they harvested spring barley they would make bocks, heavy grain bill malt forward beer. Light slightly hoppy lagers and kolsch brewed early in the spring as the grain was beginning to run low, Wheat beers and farmhouse ales when the winter wheat was harvested, etc etc. The yeast fell out of this, they were adapted to the seasons and would dominate the ferments. As time and tech got better the strains were pulled, isolated and bred into the stocks used now. If you look at a comparison chart you will see that a lot of the yeast strains are common among multiple brands.

Yeast-Strain-Comparison.pdf

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Give this tool a shot: https://www.whitelabs.com/yeast-bank?ca ... s=1&is_c=F
Set your temp range and find a description you like.