Yesterday was the inaugural run for my new conical and the upright freezer it sits in. It was obvious that the Fermwrap I had been using with my other setup was just not up to the task. It took hours to raise the temperature a couple of degrees. So I went shopping for a better way to heat the inside of the freezer.
What I decided on was a $15 hair dryer. It works great. Plenty of heat, and it circulates the air very well. I mounted it so it sits below the center of the conical pointing up.
Be very careful with hair dryers. Growing up with a sister in the 80’s, I am well aware of the dangers. If they don’t short out, they will burn out.
Interesting fix. If that doesn’t work out, I’ve been using a Sunbeam 732-500 heating pad. Three levels of adjustment and no automatic shut off like the new ones. Heats my 15cf freezer just fine without over shooting. I just inherited the old house chest freezer to use for lagering, so I bought a couple new sunbeam pads on eBay. One for a spare (or third freezer someday) I think they were under $20 each.
Let us know how the hair dryer works out.
The heat wrap will work great but you have to insulate it. I used the reflective water heater insulation around my fermenters. Was able to keep 85 gallons of beer at 77 degrees (if need be) in a 35 degree walk in cooler.
Also, I used to buy mine at www.reptilebasics.com - you could order it by the foot. Maybe you still can. Way cheaper than homebrew shops.
New hair driers have a thermal shutoff switch which will trip if air flow is impeded. It won’t burn out, but it might shut off without warning.
+1 regarding the heating pad that Jim mentions. My fermentation chamber won’t warm up above about 70F and I just through in the pad and it provides enough heat to keep the chamber temp up. The regular thermostat-controlled cooling circuit keeps the temp from getting too high. If the cooling circuit is activating too much, then the heating pad power is turned down as needed.
Getting a pad with no auto-shutoff is important!
I’ve had great results with a reptile warming ceramic bulb. I have one in a 14cf freezer and it easily does the job.
Did you just put the heat pad in the freezer, or did you actually attach it to your fermenter. I think you would have much better luck wrapping it around the fermenter and insulating it - even a blanket or sleeping bag would help.
Sigh I might have to do something like this. Even though I have two freezers for fermenting the bottleneck is always due to lagers. Would like to split a batch and ferment in the same freezer.
I have thermowrap, and hang a trouble light with 60w incandescent of of the dump valve. The shipping box holds the heat close. The bulb is not near the cardboard, not a hazard.
Utility lamps throw off the heat as well… and they have a built in hanger! I used to hang them on the water pipes in the old house to keep them from freezing.