Fermentation chamber heater

Beer Gear
1

Hi all,

Looking for advice. Have a small chest freezer I use as a fermentation chamber. It is controlled by a dual temperature ink bird controller. I place a fermenting glass carboy into a waterbath within the chest freezer and the ink bird temperature probe goes into the waterbath. This allows me to have good temperature control without having to place anything into the carboy.

I have currently used the dual temperature controller only to turn the freezer on and off. The heating circuit is unused.

I want to use the heating circuit in the future for some beers that require a higher fermentation temperature than my current system allows.

I’m looking for advice regarding how to best heat up my fermentation chamber. I could use heating lamp, a water heating element in my water bath, a personal heater to heat the air inside the chamber, etc. Many options. The only one i have ruled out is using a heating blanket on my carboy because of the water bath. Don’t need a lot of power. Probably only want to increase the temperature of the chamber by 5 degrees Fahrenheit

any thoughts appreciated

Kent

2

I would go with the water heating element since it’s already set up that way. Also, that will help with any thermal swings.

3

Heating the water bath with an aquarium heater will definitely not exceed the amperage rating of the controller relays.

4

I just use one of those small ceramic " cube" heaters. Works great, cost me about 15.00 I think.

5

Thanks Loopie, Flars, Tom

Went with the water heating element as recommended. Great idea.

appreciated
Kent