My fermentation chamber is a freezer in the garage hooked to a temp controller.
Since the garage is not insulated, the freezer won’t be able to hold temp in the low 60s for fermentation if the ambient temp outside is colder than that.
I was thinking about buying a simple lightbulb assembly and hanging it on the side and hooking that to the temp controller instead to create a heating element of sorts during the colder months.
Does anyone have experience with something like this?
I use a 50 Watt heating cable designed for heating reptile cages. Does the job well; a don’t see why a light bulb wouldn’t work- just cover up your glass carboys if there are any in there. Don’t forget to switch your temp controller to heating mode.
I added a light y bulb socket to my lamp holder, so if one bulb does go out , I have the insurance of the second bulb. [attachment=0]31C7WazpftL.jpg[/attachment]
I will be pulling my small chest freezer up from the basement to add to my existing upright beer frig on the first floor.
I will use it for 5 gallon lager fermenting and applying CO2 to my backup 2 kegs under temp.
My beer frig is a 3 tap beer frig.
If anyone has good experience with a heater element, please let me know.
The fact that this will be in my house may mean that I don’t need one…
I just purchased an Inkbird Dual Stage Digital Temperature Controller.
I may not need the 2nd relay…
Background:
My wife kept putting food into my beer frig and freezer so I purchased her a new frig.
Existing frig goes into the garage (she can use that as well), will hold beer for me as I brew.
My basement is mid 50s in winter. I have a CVS heating pad with a proper on switch. It still has a 2-hour shutoff though. I’d rather have a reptile mat or seedling mat if they’re available without the auto-off, although my controller rarely calls for heat for more than 15 minutes at a go, so the auto-off is more of a hypothetical concern than an actual issue. I programmed around it too in the controller.
I also tried a ceramic heater initially; it was too strong. The 7.1 cu ft freezer gained 10 degrees in under a minute.
You know, I don’t worry too much about any of that stuff… I have an “almost” beautiful down stairs that doesn’t get too cold nor too warm… Is that called geothermally protected? Sneezles61