what can I use in the winter, inside my chest freezer. I want to hook something up to my 2-stage Ranco digital theermostat, what can I hook up as a heating element/??
thanks!
A light bulb will work.
I use one of these reptile ceramic heaters:
http://www.petco.com/product/111475/Zil ... itter.aspxPluses:
No light.
More heat.
Longer life than a bulb.
I used a bulb last winter and it solved my freezing issues. I already had the lamp…
My dad melted the lid on our freezer with a light bulb, be careful with placement
I wired a thermostat to a simple light bulb and set it to kick on at about 45F and the freezer set at 49F - works great in the winter.
If the beer was kegged no problem using a light bulb but if it’s bottled can it get light struck ?
Just thought I’d throw that out there.
Yes, light struck reactions come from blue and UV light. see link: http://beersensoryscience.wordpress.com … ghtstruck/
Regular incandescent bulbs don’t produce too much blue or UV spectrums, but can still cause the reactions to occur. I ferment in a dark basement away from the lights.
I saw a write up about this somewhere… I think they placed the light in an aluminum housing to allow the temp control and prevent the light from damaging beers.
Here is it:
http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Ferm ... Can-HeaterI concur. Incandescent bulbs seem better at producing heat than light.
If the beer is in a bucket, no worries about getting skunked. Just another reason I love buckets.
I build a pink board box to ferment a lager in the garage during the winter a couple years ago. I used the light bulb to keep the heat up.
At some point, the light bulb burnt out. The ceramic heaters have a much longer lifespan than a light bulb. Peace of mind for $20.
I use a ceramic heater or a FermWrap: http://morebeer.com/view_product/16674/ … rap_Heater
Both work very well.
+1 on ceramic heater. I got one for like $7 at Target that works a charm.
I’ve been using the heating element out of an old food dehydrator for years. It works great in my fermentation fridge.
Glad I stumbled onto this thread I’ve got a large commercial reach in cabinet in my garage that I want to ferment in this winter. Any suggestions for a very large (80+ cubic ft). Anybody ever use a hair dryer.
I just looked at the link for the ceramic heaters dont know why that hadnt crossed my mind first. they seem pretty much ideal