Its Brew Belt time again.

[Wade E]

For those of you who live in colder temps especially fermenting in basements like me then it may be time to get a brew belt or 2. I have used these for 3 years now and they do the job great. They keep your primary or carboy at a good fermenting temp.

 

[moose]

 

[Wade E]

There are other ideas out there such as a heating pad designed for reptiles or heating blankets but the blanket is designed to shut off every hour and the pad is usually pretty expensive and both use more electricity.

 

[Mike1973]

Are these ok to use on plastic primary fermenters?

 

[Wade E]

They are made for plastic fermenters. I think Jim Cook made 1 heating pad out of a Reptile heating pad that actually used less electricity so anyone interested in that can check this out. I was not aware that this is the only heater that would probably use less wattage then the Brew Belt.
http://www.finevinewines.com/wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3365


Edited by: wade

 

[GrantLee63]

They keep your primary or carboy at a good fermenting temp.

Have you ever taken a temp of the must / wine when you are using one wade? My basement temps are in the upper 50's tolow 60's during the winter months here in SE MI. Will a brew-belt keep it at 70 or so?


Just curious .....


- GL63

 

[Wade E]

I have and when its fermenting good you will need to shut it off as a good fermentation will keep a decent temp but when first starting and when it slows down the belt will keep it around 68-73 at those temps as thats what my basement used to be. Now I am in a room where my furnace resides which helps keep the temp around 66-68 most of the time except and days when its not too cold outside so my furnace doesnt go on tat much and the room gets a little cold so i plug it in for awhile just so that the wine isnt going through steep temp changes.

 

[Mark]

Here's another option. This is called a FermWrap, and is meant for both buckets and carboys. I use it asa space heater to warm the inside of an old refrigerator. Don't know if it works any better than a belt if applied directly, but the added surface area just seemed like it would make a better space heater. Pulls 40W max, but never gets hotter than warm to the touch. Never had a problem maintaining 70F inside the fridge on our coldest SoCal nights (the fridge is in an uninsulated garage, and a few nights each winter get down to the mid-30s).

 

[Wade E]

never seen that before, where did you get it?

 

[scotty]

I just bought a thermo well and a controll to get us through this winters wine making

 

[HD93]

I have heard of someone on another forum using a heating control and mat for a water bed????

 

[Mark]

Wade, got it at my LHBS(mainly a beer place - other than this everything I use comes from George!). Do a Google on Fermwrap and you should get plenty of references. I've been using it for 2 years now taped to the back of the fridge and it's been very reliable.

 

[Wade E]

Cool!

 

[Rocky_Top]

A water bed thermostat could work. The water bed heater will NOT work. The heater will burn up without the water bet to cool it. The water bed thermostat is nothing more than a 120volt AC thermostat switch with a probe and relaythat controlls a 120 volt AC heater. The probe could be a pain and you will have to change the plug on the out going power.






I have done something very simular because that is what I do. The fact is it would be easier to just buy a belt.

 

[Appfan]

Just be careful with the reptile pads. My son had one for his reptile - that ended up crispy by it.


No worries though, he switched over to a gerbil. The wine in the carboy wouldn't have that option.

 

[Wade E]

Sorry to hear about the reptile.

 

[smikes]

Sorry to hear he got a gerbil.


Those damn noisy exersise wheels..........