Anyone use one? I have a saison going and I’d like to raise the temp as it ferments.
My thought was to put it in a tub of water with an aquarium heater.
I tried this before with a small heater that did nothing, so I’m looking for recommendations on one that would work.
I’m not looking to put the fermenter in a box or fridge with a brew belt, heating pad, or light bulb.
I have one that I never use as I replaced it with a reptile heater. I used it with a tub that was about the same height as my wort level and had about 2" of space on the sides. I got it up to 90. It’s 50w stick heater. I coupled it with a temp controller and thermowell.
Something like this?
Mine is more like the one linked below, but I’m sure any would do the trick.
I imagine the ambient temp plays a very large role in the ability for these to work well. Mine was in the house where the ambient was 68-72
My basement is maybe 60 right now. Maybe. And dropping, what with the current freeze.
I might just bring the fermenters upstairs for a week.
Yeah, I did it for years before I got a freezer. IIRC, it was either a 60 or 100 W heater. I’ll check the next time I head out to the brewery. Worked really well, although it does take some monitoring. Another thing that helped me was to put the heater on a timer so it only came on at the coldest times of day. That will depend on your local weather, though.
9F and dropping.
I should have brewed a lager.
I use an Igloo cooler water bath with a heavy duty aquarium heater. Works like a charm. Last weekend, when the temps were single digits, I was fermenting at 70F in my unheated garage.
The one time I used one was when I fermented 3724 @ 90F for the first time, after realizing my fermwrap was toast. I wish I could find the heater - don’t remember the wattage, but it was a heavy duty. It was summer and I put the fermenter in a plastic tote of 90F water, in an upstairs room with the AC vents shut - so the room temp was pretty steady ~ 80F. I put a sleeping bag over the top of the tote with the bucket to insulate. And it worked really well with that setup. I checked temps a couple times a day and it stayed between 90-93F. I didn’t ramp given these temps, but the 3724 finished @ 1.002 in 12 days.
Ordered one of these last night. I did a test fit in a tub with an empty fermenter and I think it will work.
My saison is going along in the low 60s, but I want to push it higher to finish.
If it works out, I may give 3724 a try again. I gave up on that yeast a few years back.
What sort of tub are you all using to hold the warm water bath?
I’ve got my better bottle in a metal wash tub (like you would put a keg in) with warm water and my new aquarium heater.
I have a smaller plastic tub that would work, too. It’s deeper and holds less water, but I’m concerned because the heating element would be approximately 1/4 inch from the side of the BB.
I used a deep plastic Rubbermaid type tub the time I did it. Bucket on one end, the heater on the other end. Worked pretty well.
Same
I have an Igloo Ice Cube. I cut a hole in the top and a carboy fits nicely. I use it with a 50w aquarium heater to warm things up and frozen water bottles to cool things down.
This thing has my saison 14 degrees above ambient and 10 above it’s previous high. It may still be climbing, too.
Very nice. Thanks for the recommendation.