Gitmoe
Well-Known Member
I'm about 99% sure this method has popped up on here once or twice before but I thought I'd post some pics of how my setup works. I will say right from the start, this method only works if your ambient temp is LOWER than what you want your ferm temp to be. So you might only find this useful during colder months in seasonal climates...
What you'll need:
Large Plastic Tote - mine is 40" x 20" x 10" roughly ($10)
100W Aquarium Heater ($20)
Water (FREE... sort of)
The basement in my house where I ferment stays in the low to mid 50's during this time of year. A little warm to lager and way too cold for ales. Bummer. My simple solution is to use an aquarium heater with water inside a large plastic tote. This will work with any container that's a little bigger than your fermentor. The tote I use works with 2 6.5g buckets great. Just make sure the water will cover at least the bottom half of the fermenting vessel. It may work with a shallower tote but I've never tried. Basically set the aquarium heater to whatever temp you want. I lose about 3 degrees from what the "water jacket" temp is and what the ferm liquid ends up. Here are some pics to explain all this madness...
Get one of these if you ferment a lot of stuff. It's a huge time saver. This is a Ryobi rechargeable infrared thermometer ($80). They can be had for much cheaper...
Full setup functioning...
Close up of heater stuck to one of the buckets. Don't mind the muck on the outside of my buckets. The insides are clean. I don't care about the outside...
Ambient floor temp...
Water Jacket temp...
I can get this 100w heater to get the jacket up to 86 at the high end and 60 at the low end. Now you can make saisons and Belgians in the dead of winter! The water jacket requires some topping off every 3-5 days depending what the humidity is where you're fermenting. You can also use the heater INSIDE a fermentor. That black garbage can pictured has 20 gallons of Malbec that just finished fermenting. I put the heater directly into the must during fermentation to hold the volume at 74 degrees. Obviously follow proper sanitation...
What you'll need:
Large Plastic Tote - mine is 40" x 20" x 10" roughly ($10)
100W Aquarium Heater ($20)
Water (FREE... sort of)
The basement in my house where I ferment stays in the low to mid 50's during this time of year. A little warm to lager and way too cold for ales. Bummer. My simple solution is to use an aquarium heater with water inside a large plastic tote. This will work with any container that's a little bigger than your fermentor. The tote I use works with 2 6.5g buckets great. Just make sure the water will cover at least the bottom half of the fermenting vessel. It may work with a shallower tote but I've never tried. Basically set the aquarium heater to whatever temp you want. I lose about 3 degrees from what the "water jacket" temp is and what the ferm liquid ends up. Here are some pics to explain all this madness...
Get one of these if you ferment a lot of stuff. It's a huge time saver. This is a Ryobi rechargeable infrared thermometer ($80). They can be had for much cheaper...
Full setup functioning...
Close up of heater stuck to one of the buckets. Don't mind the muck on the outside of my buckets. The insides are clean. I don't care about the outside...
Ambient floor temp...
Water Jacket temp...
I can get this 100w heater to get the jacket up to 86 at the high end and 60 at the low end. Now you can make saisons and Belgians in the dead of winter! The water jacket requires some topping off every 3-5 days depending what the humidity is where you're fermenting. You can also use the heater INSIDE a fermentor. That black garbage can pictured has 20 gallons of Malbec that just finished fermenting. I put the heater directly into the must during fermentation to hold the volume at 74 degrees. Obviously follow proper sanitation...
