temp control

[david1]

Any ideas as to controlling temp. after the initial ferment? I have a 5 gal. white zin fromjuice (suncal) on the lees for 43 days. should this be racked ? started at 1.075 and is now at 1.000. After racking 70 deg. ok? How should I keep it there? It seems that the seeding mats might work but, would that keep it to warm?
Trying to make a living on harleys when its 40 below

 

[peagen]

Hey David, alot of people have alot of different ways to keep the temp constant, I keep mine near to the wood stove in the winter. If you can find a place in your house that stays at a constant temp you should put it there. I think the best way would be to get a brew belt, it is like an electric blanket that you wrap around your carboy. As for racking that wine, you should have racked it when the SG was around 1.010.

 

[Manimal]

I'd get that wine off the lees ASAP. If you leave it on the lees for too long you can get reductive aromas that will taint your wine.

 

[david1]

manimal, thanks for the advice, I racked it Tue. pm, hopefully not to late. it didnt' smell bad, as you may know being new to this I read the lable on the juice can. Quote: ferment 5 days, rack, wait two months, rack again and if neccesary again end quote. It would seem that first rack would take place between 1.010 and 1.020 is this correct? The ferment has slowed considerably and has a color of a light red i'm thinking its still on the right track. Was it ok to top it up with fresh bottle of zin?
thanks for the help, frozen in wisconsin

 

[Wade E]

Here is what a brew belt looks like and I use them all winter long in my basement, even on glass carboys for many years with no problems at all.

 

[david1]

thanks wade e, looks a little differtent than the one i just received from northern brewer but i'll bet the idea is the same, although this one says for better results use a temp. control so i suppose i should purchase one also so as to regulate it best. also the stick on thermometers are most likely to be the way to go huh? i do have a nice power vented root cellar for chilling but,i have issues controlling ferment temps due to different heating techniques throughout the cold season so this should take care of my issues, steady temps have been difficult to maintain. thanks

 

[Vanterax]

I'm quite new to wine making and thanks to this forum, I have learned a lot and have a batch of Pinot Noir resting in the basement.

When I started, heat became a problem. Our basement is rather cool and too large to heat with for one carboy. So what I ended up doing was to use a large garbage can that can hold my carboy, fill it up with water up to 2/3 of the carboy and then use an aquarium heater to heat up the water to exactly 24C. I set a digital thermometer on the other side of the can to take temp readings and it's very consistent and precise.

The downside to this that I can think of is the elevated humidity from the warm water. Will this spoil anything during fermentation? I don't keep the lid on the garbage can.

 

[Wade E]

If its under an airlock then you are fine.

 

[Boozehag]

Wade just a query about the belt thing, what would you normally use it on if not a glass carboy? Would you use it on a plastic primary bucket?
I have a heating pad which I put under the glass carboy but have also put it for a short while under the plastic to move things along. I do worry that its gonig to melt though?????

 

[Vanterax]

I doubt the temperature is high enough to melt anything except ice and butter. If you're melting plastic, it's way too hot.

 

[docjavadude]

I have found it helpful to place my fermentation buckets on an old packing blanket that I've folded several times for thickness. Since I do the whole winemaking process in the basement, I need to have some insulation under the juice (the tile-on-concrete floor really wicks heat through contact). But I've got consistent enough temp that I usually don't need to heat the bucket -- just need to insulate it from the floor. In winter months, though, I do need to use either a belt or a room heater.

 

[smurfe]

Wade just a query about the belt thing, what would you normally use it on if not a glass carboy? Would you use it on a plastic primary bucket?
I have a heating pad which I put under the glass carboy but have also put it for a short while under the plastic to move things along. I do worry that its gonig to melt though?????

Step in for Wade here. Yes, the Brew Belt is made for plastic primary buckets. You will even read that you should not use them on carboys but many do. I have never heard of an issue with them on a glass carboy.

 

[Wade E]

Someone complained many years back that a brew bely had cracked thier carboy and that very well could have happened, I have been using them on glass carboys for over 5 years now with no issues at all. I belive what happened was that someone put a brew belt on a carboy that was probably very cold like 55* or below(most likely below) and also may have already had a defect in the carboy. Applying that kind of heat to a cold pce of glass will likely shatter a carboy and Ive had this happen to me when I received a free carboy from a recycle center and brought it home in the winter and not thinking filled it with warm water and bleach to clean it well and then went back out to do some shopping, when I came back home I found a carboy only 3/4 of the way full and a big crack all the way down now and had to carefully siphon the wine out and carefully dispose of it. Thank ggodness it did not decide to split wide open as all the bleach solution stayed on the counter and didnt make it to the floor where it would have most likely ruined my floor.

 

[arcticsid]

Yikes Wade, you very well could have found yourself sleeping in a tent with the rest of "that stuff!!!!" I'm quessing thats not a "don't" use them but instead use them as directed. Got me worried now, actually considered buying one to maintain a constant temp, don't know now