keeping your mash warm

[Shovelhead89]

I ferment my sugar wash in 55 gallon blue barrels inside my home and 90% of the time its 17 C and my ferments last about 3-4 weeks at this temperature. I'm was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on the most efficient way to keep my wash warm. I bought a submersible fish tank heater meant for 8-13 gallons and it burned out in a few days.

[still_stirrin]

Some members have built an insulated hotbox for their fermenters with a thermostatic controlled heat lamp to input heat.

Do a search for "fermenter hotbox". There's many discussions available to learn from. Help yourself.
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[still_stirrin]

Here's one to get you started: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=52501

[YHB]

Hot boxes take up too much space in my small shed.

I am a fan of Soil Warming cables. They are designed to work in damp humid places with no bits of glass to break and there is no increase in the footprint of the fermenter.

For my 5 gallon fermenter I use a 20W version with loads of insulation, run through a temperature controller. It works great, the temperature never varies and it is on for very limited periods.

A pal of mine uses 75W cables with controller for 50 Gallon barrels or 20W heaters without a controller.

[Monkeyman88]

Electric blanket and a Mylar survival blanket.

[jb-texshine]

Or...just start more ferments...like one or two a week for a month. That way when the first is done you will have one or two a week to run from that point on.

[Copper Thumper]

I use titanium "fish/reef" tank heaters. They work really well and last.

[Shovelhead89]

Thanks for the info, I think I'll try a better quality submersible heater as I don't need a huge temperature correction and if that fails, go with the soil warming cables. I appreciate all of your replys.

[Monkeyman88]

Remember to put the heater as close to the bottom as you can without it being covered in grain.

[NZChris]

Double post

[NZChris]

Insulation. Lots of it. The more you have, the smaller the heater you need. Blankets, sleeping bags, I use faulty electric blankets as insulation on some. No need to build anything, maybe just sit it on some timber or bricks to raise it to put a few Watts underneath then wrap it up.

Don't put the heater too close to the bottom of a plastic fermenter coz it can melt the plastic. Keep the Watts low as this is an occasion when less can be better.

[raketemensch]

I picked up a single roll of Reflectix, which gave me enough to double-wrap the keg, then single-wrap the column, a 32-gallon Brute can, and a 5-gallon bucket.

I also use an aquarium heater, it does a great job of keeping things stable, especially since I added the reflectix.

You got a bum heater, they're not usually that unstable.

[dieselduo]

Brewhaus is having their brew belts and ferm heaters on sale black friday

[Shovelhead89]

Brewhaus is having their brew belts and ferm heaters on sale black friday

Thanks for the tip, I'll pick up a couple of their submersible heaters.

[NZChris]

I've gone off submersibles. They don't always heat below them, so you can have a cool layer at the bottom, especially if there is a grain bed, so I only use mine for heating the wash before pitching the yeast. My favorite is twin lamps wired in series to get low Watt density underneath the fermenter. With good insulation two 100W lamps in series would be enough. If it's not enough, add another pair.