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Temperature control... Revisited.


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#1 johnpreuss

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 04:20 PM

I've been brewing for over 5 years now and in the past I lived in Apartments and townhomes and temperature control was a big deal... it was always warm where I lived and brewed.... Fast forward to now... I live in a home without a basement.  I have an insulated garage but I live in northern MN where it gets COLD!  I fermenters must live in the Garage, so what kind of things do you guys use to keep the fermenters warm where you are?  Belgian brewers you can help here too... I know the importance of higher fermentation temps for that type of beer to come out right. 

 

My garage is keeping around 50 right now with a base board heater going.. My last ale stalled out at 1015... I brought it inside with SWMBO permission to see if I could get a little more out of the yeast.  For now I'm going to brew a lager or two... but I will need me some IPA before the spring thaw.  Give me some ideas guys.



#2 Humperdink

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 04:24 PM

Brew belt heater or a personal space heater hooked up to some kind of controller in a chamber. Options abound. 



#3 Steve Urquell

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 04:40 PM

Stc 1000 with fridge plugged in cold side, light bulb in the hot side.

#4 johnpreuss

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 05:06 PM

Stc 1000 with fridge plugged in cold side, light bulb in the hot side.

 

What size light bulb?



#5 Steve Urquell

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 05:12 PM

What size light bulb?

Depends on how cold it's getting. Sometimes I use a night light, sometimes a 20W decorative bulb.

#6 SchwanzBrewer

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 05:42 PM

We had some cold weeks for a while and I bought a $20 space heater. Worked great with a controller.



#7 neddles

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 06:17 PM

Your garage is going to give you all the cold you need. You can control how cold it gets or warm for that matter. Use an STC-1000 with an aquarium heater plugged in the hot side and the whole shootin' mess in a large bucket of water.  Aquarium heaters are pretty cheap on amazon. I forget, do you do 10 gallon batches John? If so getting a 200-300w aquarium heater or 2  smaller ones might be better with that volume of water bath. I do 99% of my beers this way on my basement floor. So easy to dial it up a degree or two here or there during fermentation to help attenuation.

 

I am going to make lagers this way in my garage this winter. Another week or two and my garage will consistently be 45F or colder.



#8 davelew

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 07:05 PM

I put the fermenter in a tub of water, and put a tropical fish tank heater with a thermostat in the water.



#9 bigdaddyale

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Posted 30 October 2014 - 11:47 PM

Flashed STC1000 controlling a fridge

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Edited by bigdaddyale, 30 October 2014 - 11:48 PM.


#10 ChicagoWaterGuy

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Posted 31 October 2014 - 05:42 AM

I too have used the aquarium heater in a tub of water. It works great. I never needed to use a controller. The dial on the heater kept the temp right where I set it.




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