Heat Belt

[Brew Bro]

I’m new to brewing, I’ve just bought a heat belt to use at night with my Coopers DIY home brewing kit. My question is where do I position the heat belt around the Coopers plastic FV to heat the wort evenly? I’m a bit nervous about the heat belt which gets quite hot whether it might affect  the yeast or cause a local hot spot.

Would like to hear from brewers who use heat belts around the Coopers FV

[Aussiekraut]

Ok, I'm not the best person to ask about heat belts as I don't use one but I'd suggest somewhere above the tap. Warm wort should rise, so you may want to start heating from below. I'm not sure how hot those things get but you don't want the temperature to fluctuate too much. Maybe a timer to run it every couple of hours for a bit might be an idea. What is the lowest temperature you see on the stick on thermometer? If it doesn't go below 16, you should be ok. Try to keep the temp between let's say 18 and 24 and you should be fine. The less fluctuation you get, the better. The sweet spot for most ales is 18-20. As a new brewer, you won't have a temperature controlled environment, so you'll have to get inventive to keep the temps where you need them. If you decide you want to keep brewing, do yourself a favour and get yourself an old fridge and a temperature controller. It'll power the fridge or the heat belt as it is needed.

Happy brewing

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

Where are you located mate? Depending on where you live you might not need one at this time of year. Just because the temp overnight gets down to 10c or so the brew won't as it makes its own heat through fermentation. Often a blanket at night to keep the warmth in will be good enough.

Anyway I use heartbelts in winter. If I am fermenting out in the ambient I will put it about 1/3rd up from the bottom which from what I have read will give you the closest to uniform heat in the brew. 

[Pickles Jones]

42 minutes ago, Brew Bro said:

I’m new to brewing, I’ve just bought a heat belt to use at night with my Coopers DIY home brewing kit. My question is where do I position the heat belt around the Coopers plastic FV to heat the wort evenly? I’m a bit nervous about the heat belt which gets quite hot whether it might affect  the yeast or cause a local hot spot.

Would like to hear from brewers who use heat belts around the Coopers FV

About 1/3 of the way up.

It will create a hotter band around the FV and then this heated wort spreads throughout the FV by convection.

I cover the FV with the box the FV came in, it keeps the warmth in.

To get the best out of the heat belt, I couple it to an Inkbird temperature controller set within temperature range detailed on the yeast packet, or in the case of Coopers can yeast what's in the instructions.

If you want to get the best out of your brewing an Inkbird temperature controller is a very good buy. There about $50 now including postage.

[Journeyman]

It might not be obvious from the above - the one thing you do NOT want is the belt around the FV  where there is no liquid behind it. that's a good way to shorten your FV and have plastic-flavoured beer.

I used a timer for my fridge until I could get a proper controller - it kicked in for 15 mins about every 4 hours  over the summer and that kept things around the right mark. The fridge was in one side of the garage with no aircon or other temp control so without it kicking in every so often it would reach ambient (i.e. too hot)

The lower temps are less critical than higher temps. All that happens if the temp drops too low for the yeast it the yeast goes to sleep - it wakes up as soon as the temp gets above minimum. But if your temp goes too high you can get strange flavours in your beer.