carls Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 hi all, can anyone help me find or make a temperature controlled box for my home brew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Hi Carls - I use a TempMate to control the temps in my brewing fridge. A fridge is best but you could make a box to fit your fermentor in and line it with foam to help insulate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelD16 Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 an electronic thermostat controlling your heat pad/belt are great they allow you to just set and forget can found on e bay for bout 30-40 bucks you may need some one with basic electrical knowledge to wire it up i use one controlling a heat belt inside a fridge but no reason why you can't make a basic box try a refrigeration company for some off cuts of coolroom panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenw5 Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I have a old fridge/freezer that harvey norman were throwing out so i got it for free!! I took compressor and running gear out of it then turned it upside down to use the fridge as the fermenter storage and the freezer is on the bottom and can use that for storage. I bought a digital thermostat and wired it up to 3 lights. 2 lights in the fridge/ fermenter section and 1 light in the freezer section which i have put a switch on the light just the freezer so i can use that light only when i need it. I can change temperature to whatever i want and it works great!! There is enough room in the whole thing to have a brew in the fermenter and have 2 bottled brews in secondary fermentation set at the perfect temperature[biggrin] I will take a couple of pictures and will post on here tomorrow if you are interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I am definately interested. I have been thinking about temparature control but havent had the need to as yet (only new to brewing). Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenw5 Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Sorry about the slow reply to the pictures of my brewing fridge, have been working 12 hour days but will post as soon as i get time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodenameJames Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Today my new BrewMate temp controller arrived I got it from mashmaster - have a look at MashMaster - brewMate Temp controller It was $65 incl shipping and GST and does both heating and cooling. Great little unit! I will box it up and sort of the wiring from my past life as an electrical engineer and get a few pics up. I've got an old fridge, and a heat pad to connect up to the brewmate. I'll put the heat pad inside the fridge, wire both up, and sit the Fermenter on top of the heat pad in the fridge. The unit has a user settable hysteresis - so they hopefully wont be fighting one another to keep my wort just right! The unit comes with a pretty decent thermocouple, although there is a really flash stainless one on the mashmaster site for only $33! How cheap is that! I'm hoping a mate who works in the process industry can make one disappear for me this christmas. Will let you know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephenw5 Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 i saw that thermostat on ebay when i bought mine and it was only $33.90 delivered!!! Exactly the same as yours. i might buy one as a spare its so cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw Parrot Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Hey all, I got a suggestion, for a temp control in winter or colder climates. Use a tropical fish tank heater, i bought a German made one today, a 50W Ehiem,it cost me $45au, good to heat up to 60ltrs,temp range 18 degree celcius to 34 degree celcius,i set mine on 18, cause at night here it's dam freezing. Cheers, Parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Do you put the heating element into the wort (ie. in the FV) or do you put the FV in a tub of water and heat the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw Parrot Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Do you put the heating element into the wort (ie. in the FV) or do you put the FV in a tub of water and heat the water? Hey Hairy, I'm a noob in this area, so i put the heater in the FV, after cleaning of corse. If it is better to heat a container of water around my FV, i will take advice [cool] Which is better please ? Cheers, Parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 No idea mate [unsure] I don't know much about them. I just avoid sticking things in the wort. How much heat does it pump out? To heat 23 litres of wort you would think there would be a bit of heat radiating from the element. I would be concerned about killing yeast in the general vicinity of the element. But I have heard about people using them so perhaps someone else may be able to clarify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I know some people are successful with one in their wort.... [pinched] Personally I would have opt for a better solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenrikF Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I would be a little worried.. Aquarium heaters get quite hot! Putting them in a tub of water with a little pump an the placing the FV in there is propably better + you avoid putting anything in the wort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainiac Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 A friend of mine uses a band heater and likes it very much. http://www.monsterbrew.com/Prod_BrewBelt.cfm I use a string of the small Christmas I put my PF in a big box and insert the string of lights in the box. After a few hours i check temp and if too warm I just pull some of the string out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw Parrot Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Hiya all, Thanks for the tips but i have discoved that i don't need the heater after all. I got a few of those insulated bags, that the supermarkets sell for taking home your frozen goods, cut them and made a insulated blanket for my FV, now the temp is sitting stable on 21 degrees celcius, even first thing in the morning when it's around zero here at present [cool] Cheers Parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 thats all well and good mate, but you may find that as activity slows down it doesnt generate a great deal of heat, it's at this point that you actually want the control to raise the temps by a little bit. Anyway, its all good fun on the curve. [wink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlaw Parrot Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Hey, thanks Yob, Yeah i left the aquarium heater in for this run, set at 18 degree celcius. I will accumulate the quality gear as i go. My neighbour just told me his friend has a fridge set up for home brew for sale, 3 x kegs and 2 x taps on the door, they want $450 for the whole fridge thing with the kegs and all. Does this brew fridge sound like value ? I'm not sure what i should pay for something like this ? Cheers, Parrot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Some questions I would be asking are: Does the fridge have a temperature controller with it?... Probably has but what type? What sort of taps are they? How old is the fridge? Does it come with a gas bottle and if so then how big is it and is it full? Does it come with a gas regulator?... you will need one to dispense the gas. I assume there are beer and gas lines and the relative fittings to the kegs. What sort of kegs are they.... Ball lock or Pin lock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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