Heating my brews

[Blueshed]

pretty new to the HB game and only have the basic coopers starter kit atm.

hope to starting buying a few bits and pieces every month now and plan on starting with something to keep my brews at the same temp all the time.

was thinking of getting a brew belt or is there anything better out there and where is best to buy from.

[JimmyM]

Brew belt on its own is useful if you usually ferment in an area that is always a little bit too cold for your yeast to work as desired.
I dont have one but i think they have basic on/off operation - so they basically just lift the temp from ambient to whatever they heat to - prob round 20 degrees.

Taking that on a step further, beer generally benefits from being brewed at a constant temperature. If the temp jumps around you may get off flavours produced by the yeast. In this case you might want to switch your brewbelt off if it gets up to a certain temp. So you might use some kind of temperature controller such as an STC1000.

Now, what about a situation where your ambient temp might jump higher than your intended ferementation temp, so to control that - bung all of the above into a fridge and hook that up to the temp controller too - so when your brew gets too hot, fridge switches on. If it gets too cold, brewbelt (or other heat source) kicks in.

[Blueshed]

anybody use these http://www.homebrewwest.ie/electrim-75-immersion-heater-444-p.asp

[JimmyM]

I dont like the idea of anything being imersed in fermenting beer, more risk of infection.

[LordEoin]

you're better off with a belt. just set and forget. no ned to open the fv or have something in the brew.
they heat up to 24C but you can make it less by putting it further up the FV or have it on a timer switch or stc1000

[Ciderhead]

Or poor mans way and have corks pushing brew belt off side side of the fermentor minimising contact area and imparting less heat

[Blueshed]

brew belt ordered today.

[LordEoin]

you won't regret it. it will make so much easier 

[Greg2013]

I would like to know why everyone says that immersion heaters like the one above carry such a risk of infectio? Surely starsan would solve that? And there is also a rubber bung to seal it all up so no nasties getting in during fermentation surely? If these things did not work surely there would be no sale for them?

[JimmyM]

Not saying they dont work or can't be sanitised successfully.

Im just saying the less stuff you go poking into your beer the less chance of infection. Thats all.

Each thing you allow touch your beer increases the chances. Its just about eliminating the risks.

[Ciderhead]

I would like to know why everyone says that immersion heaters like the one above carry such a risk of infectio? Surely starsan would solve that? And there is also a rubber bung to seal it all up so no nasties getting in during fermentation surely? If these things did not work surely there would be no sale for them?

Percentage of brew belts sold vs immersion heaters , lots

Lots of places for nasties to hide even with starsan, if you have a big clump of shite starsan will sterilise the surface only

[DoWn2DiE]

what would folks recommend for 3 fermenters as I usually have a few wine kits going too? I have the stc 1000 on order, dont want to use three immersion heaters, and wouldnt have room for a fridge. possibly a cupboard to fit the three fermenetrs in and possibly insulate it.

[Will_D]

If you are wanting the same temps on all 3 fermenters then one controller, one sensor a 3 brewbelts will do the job.

If you have a chamber ( like a fridge ) then one belt or 100 watt light bulb will do the trick.

If different temps then you need extra controllers and belts.