so long story short, my plans to make a side x side fridge into a freezer and ferm chamber are looking a little more difficult. i may end up needing to add some heat to the conical for temp control. i know there are use-specific options like the cone-shaped heat wraps from spike, brewbuilt, SS, etc. but it seems pretty damn expensive. i realize they're purpose built, custom type units, but hoping to try something else first before i go drop 50-60-70 bucks.
the few times we've had a conical get too cold ( down in Baja of all places.....) the easy solution was to just take a parabola propane heater --
and point it at the cone. (this one is electric obviously) took a while, but we eventually got everything up to bottom of the temp range without having to break into the glycol lines and all that hassle.
no way i'll have enough room for that bad boy in my ferm chamber, but i have to imagine that i can do the same with a standard infrared heat bulb pointed at the cone on my little conical. 100w, 200w, 250w, etc.
like 10bucks on amazon for a 250w unit. i cant really see any downsides to trying this first. i know its old school to put an incandescent bulb in a coffee can to raise temps in a chamber, but this is obviously much more direct application of heat, i.e. infrared radiation directly onto the steel. i cant recall the physics, but the intensity of the heat decreases with distance so i wouldnt get the whole 100w, but i think like 50w should be doable.
im wondering if anyone else has done this to a conical?
the few times we've had a conical get too cold ( down in Baja of all places.....) the easy solution was to just take a parabola propane heater --
and point it at the cone. (this one is electric obviously) took a while, but we eventually got everything up to bottom of the temp range without having to break into the glycol lines and all that hassle.
no way i'll have enough room for that bad boy in my ferm chamber, but i have to imagine that i can do the same with a standard infrared heat bulb pointed at the cone on my little conical. 100w, 200w, 250w, etc.
like 10bucks on amazon for a 250w unit. i cant really see any downsides to trying this first. i know its old school to put an incandescent bulb in a coffee can to raise temps in a chamber, but this is obviously much more direct application of heat, i.e. infrared radiation directly onto the steel. i cant recall the physics, but the intensity of the heat decreases with distance so i wouldnt get the whole 100w, but i think like 50w should be doable.
im wondering if anyone else has done this to a conical?