DIY Temperature control

[dmulligan]

Depending on your skill level this looks like a great project! Personally I am using a ceramic space heater in a small room. The electricity cost alone has me thinking about making something like this.

http://www.twopossibilities.com/2011/01/26/homebrew-temperature-controller/

 

[Flem]

I was using a ceramic heater until I changed to the Brew Belt. It only uses 20watts of power compared to possibly 1200 watts. Additionally, you can concentrate on an individual bucket or carboy and not the entire room.

 

[Wade E]

Yep, brew belt here also.

 

[RedNeckWino]

I have yet to get a brew belt. Been wanting one bad. I like the house at around 62-65* for comfort but need to degas at 75*. Would be nice to have a couple brew belts to use.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree. I have several and wouldn't be without them.

 

[JordanPond]

I'm using the brew belt to. The inner computer guy loves the idea of the temperature monitoring device. I don't have any idea how much money it takes to build the DIY temperature controller. Midwest Supply lists a Johnson Digital Temp Controller for $79 which would control a brew belt if you wanted to get to a finer level of control.

How much would it cost to build the DIY controller?

 

[dmulligan]

I think that the build cost if you have done electronics (not electric!) projects before would be quite low. ($20-$30?) I suspect that the one controller could be expanded to multiple heaters very cheaply too. Did anyone notice how cheap the wrap around heating sheet was? Something like $3 per yard if memory serves.

I have one brew belt but 5 kits on the go right now. I got the brew belt for the kits that will be bottled in the kitchen soon. The rest of the kits live in the spare bedroom with the ceramic heater.

D

 

[JordanPond]

I did see how inexpensive the heating mat was. priced at about a $1 per foot. You do need to add a temperature controller to it and it does not have a built in power supply. Looks like something that could be an interesting electronics learning project. If I did something like that I put it in the catagory of learning something that could apply to an existing hobby. With the time that it would take me and multiple trips to the store I don't think I could consider it a "money saver".

I do think it would be an interesting project and somthing you could do and say "I did that!"

Once you start temperature controlling a bucket a slipper slope will develope. You'll be buying used freezers that you can temp control for storing and aging your wine. It just works that way, this hobby becomes obsessive (in a good way, says the young obsessive compulsive wine maker)::

 

[Lurker]

I use a trouble light with a 100 W bulb placed next or between carboys. I've thought about a brew belt but I don't know how my glass carboys will like it. Has anyone had a problem with cracking or breaking the glass carboys?

 

[Brian]

I use a trouble light with a 100 W bulb placed next or between carboys. I've thought about a brew belt but I don't know how my glass carboys will like it. Has anyone had a problem with cracking or breaking the glass carboys?

Lurker I have 2 brew belts and I use them on my primary buckets and my glass carboys with no issues. My basement is about 58 deg and when I rack my wine to a glass carboy I just do it and have had no problems.. I love them and they don't run your electric bill up either!

 

[Flem]

I use a trouble light with a 100 W bulb placed next or between carboys. I've thought about a brew belt but I don't know how my glass carboys will like it. Has anyone had a problem with cracking or breaking the glass carboys?

Hey Lurker,
I had the same concern about using a Brew Belt on a glass carboy. I have a separate thread further down under this topic. All favorable responses on the use on glass. Check it out.

 

[WeLoveCab]

50w fishtank heater is what I use. I have an outer container (35g tote bin) with about 10g of water in it. The fishtank heater is set to 72. I place either my primary fermenters or carboys inside it. The bin will fit two carboys or two fermenters.. when I want to degass I turn the heater up.

Just because I had one laying around I threw in one of my old water pumps to move some water around.

Compaired to brewbelts I'm probably using less electricity since the heater only comes on as needed and I am able to heat 12g of wine at a time.

 

[JordanPond]

The tank heater concept has run thru my mind before but never when thru the effort. You should post a picture.

 

[robie]

I use brew belts almost religiously.

Problem with them is they don't really regulate, they just keep pouring on the heat all the time. I achieve some regulation by sliding the belt up and down the bucket or carboy. The lower it is on the bucket, the warmer the wine will get.

I have a Canadian friend who came up with the idea of using fish aquarium heaters. He places his fermentor bucket/carboy in a tube, which is just a few inches greater in diameter than the bucket. He fills the cavity between the tube and bucket with water. He floats two of the long-bodied aquarium heaters (longer the better) in the tube, between the walls of the tube and the fermentor. One can put a jacket of some kind around the tube and bucket to better transfer the heat from the water into the fermentor.

These aquarium heaters' temperature is adjustable and fairly well regulated.

For me, since I have a very cold basement in the winter, This would work great for fermenting a nice white wine, which needs its fermentation temperature kept in the low 60's F.

Also good for fermenting reds. When I pitch the yeast, I add the brew belt to keep the temp up. Once fermentation starts, I typically remove the belt, because the fermentation generates enough heat on its own. If I used the aquarium heaters, once fermentation starts, they would just shut off on their own. Once fermentation slows, the heaters will kick in again.

Thanks RR.

 

[BigBend]

Brew Belt alone, I can only get the temp up to about 66 deg.. I have to wrap a large beach towel over the entire bucket and brew belt to get it up over 75 deg. Basement is too darn cold (56/58 deg).

 

[Teamsterjohn]

I use a brew belt with a light timer. It works great for me. Right now I have it where it comes on 4 times a day for a half hour.

 

[robie]

Brew Belt alone, I can only get the temp up to about 66 deg.. I have to wrap a large beach towel over the entire bucket and brew belt to get it up over 75 deg. Basement is too darn cold (56/58 deg).

Hey BigBend,
In that basement you could make some mighty fine chardonnay.

 

[robie]

50w fishtank heater is what I use. I have an outer container (35g tote bin) with about 10g of water in it. The fishtank heater is set to 72. I place either my primary fermenters or carboys inside it. The bin will fit two carboys or two fermenters.. when I want to degass I turn the heater up.

Just because I had one laying around I threw in one of my old water pumps to move some water around.

Compaired to brewbelts I'm probably using less electricity since the heater only comes on as needed and I am able to heat 12g of wine at a time.

Sorry WeLoveCab, didn't mean to say the same thing.
Didn't see your post before I finished mine. That's what happens when I get interrupted and take 45 minutes to finish a single post.
I like the your water pump idea, keeps all cyrculated.

 

[Runningwolf]

50w fishtank heater is what I use. I have an outer container (35g tote bin) with about 10g of water in it. The fishtank heater is set to 72. I place either my primary fermenters or carboys inside it. The bin will fit two carboys or two fermenters.. when I want to degass I turn the heater up.

Just because I had one laying around I threw in one of my old water pumps to move some water around.

Compaired to brewbelts I'm probably using less electricity since the heater only comes on as needed and I am able to heat 12g of wine at a time.

I thought you guys were dropping the aquarium heater right on the inside of the primary. First time I have heard of someone doing it your way and with the pump no less. Years ago I had 20 aquariums going at one time and had tons of good heaters. What type of container are you using that you can hold several carboys? I'm sticking to the simple brew belts, but really like your idea.

 

[WeLoveCab]

I had a 150g salt tank going with about 250g of total water volume. But that crashed in a power outage some years ago and never got set back up.

Here is a picture of what we have going on.

The bin in the picture actually is a little small for two primaries so we switched it out with one that was slightly longer, the one pictured will fit two carboys with ease.

The heater is fixed down the center on the bottom with succsion cups and the pump blows the water from back to front over the heater.