I recently built a can heater to regulate the temperature in my fermentation chamber on cold days. The can heater uses a 60 Watt incandescent light bulb as a heat source.
As of Jan 1 60 Watt bulbs can no longer be manufactured in or imported into the USA.
Any suggestions for alternatives? Many of the new efficient bulbs produce far less waste heat.
The 60 Watt bulbs will probably be around for a while.
Maybe I can replace with a heat lamp?
Just wondering what people think.
this pi_ _ es me off in general
on topic though, i would just use a 40 watt bulb, or even two depending on your set up.
I use a 12"x8" 16 watt reptile heating pad hanging on the back wall of the chamber.
A regular heating pad from the drug store is OK as long as it doesn’t have an automatic shutoff circuit.
Stock up on 60W!
I use an aquarium heater for Belgians. It would probably work for your purposes although it might have to be placed into a water-filled container.
I really like this, it’s worked great for a couple years now.
Reptile and seed sprouting pads are cheap and work well.
I was always afraid of the paint can + light bulb method. Might be irrational.
The 40 Watt bulbs will also be gone.
This looks like a good option. Thanks!
I like the can heater. I built it in about 20 minutes and it works very well. Just don’t touch the can while it is on. It is very hot.
Incandescent bulbs aren’t going away entirely, just the inefficient ones. Unfortunately, the inefficiency is something we homebrewers rely on; we want that heat energy that in most lighting applications is wasted. With the newer incandescents, you’ll likely need to up the wattage. You don’t need much to begin with, though; I use 40-W bulbs now.
Alternate suggestion: replace all the incandescents in your parents’ house with CFLs or LEDs, save them money on their energy bill, you look like a good kid, and you get a lifetime supply of fermentation chamber heating elements. 
I’d go and buy a crapload of 60w bulbs.
And this new rule kind of made me made as well. But that commercial that says if each household replaced just one bulb, it save enough energy for 3 millions home, it made me feel better.
(I wonder if that is even true, though)
As I have added more fridges and freezers, we replaced incandescent with CFLs. With the kitchen redo, we went LCD in there along with more efficient appliances. Utility bill is about the same, but now I have 3fridges, one chest freezer and a dorm fridge kegerator.
I went with halogen. Didn’t give it a lot of thought until recently…
Next time!
I have a secret stash of 100s. Enough to light my shop for about ten years.
I use a non auto shut off heat pad. Works great. I need to get a backup though, before they are banned too.
Friend in northern climates tell me they rely on the heat from incandescent bulbs during the winter. Not sure how much of an exaggeration that is. I’ve been using cfl bulbs for years so the new laws don’t bug me much. I hear the newer halogens are nice.
My ferm chamber is in my garage in Northern Mississippi. This time of year active fermentation makes enough heat to keep the wort at the right temp with the deep freeze needing to come on occasionally to cool it off. After the krausen starts to drop less heat is being produced so I need the can heater to keep the beer in the 60’s.
Kind of off subject, kinda on: I have a new 7.2 cf chest freezer in my basement with Johnson digital controller to regulate temp. Unfortunately, at this time of year, my basement is staying in the 35-50 deg range. Can one of these reptile heaters get my chest freezer up to ale temps? Just not even sure how to find out, wondering who may have an answer… I have a second Johnson to run the heater if it works
This is what I use.
Sheryl Crow says if we all would just use only one sheet of toilet paper we could save the trees and save the planet.
Thanks! That’s an awesome idea, One-Sheet-Sheryl!
I doubt that it would make anyone feel better though. Everyone would be walking around scratching their asses all of the time.