Temperature control: heat mats vs belts

[stquinto]

I didn't think I needed to mess around with temperature control as I can use the boiler room (around 22°), and in winter I have a garage at about 12 ° ish.

Some of the brews I'm getting into have some very precise temperature recommendations, gradually moving up a few degrees to as high as 29°, and a lot of you fellas (and gals) swear by temperature control. I know for PET pressure fermenting vessels I would need a belt, but I wondered what the "word on the street" was for heating mats for the classic FVs ?

I've got my eye on a Mangrove Jacks one: I assume you just rig it up with an Inkbird temperature controller.

Ayone have any experience with them ? I'll be getting a belt anyway for the pressure FVs, but the mat with a sleeping bag aound it looked like a nice setup.

[Shamus O'Sean]

10 hours ago, stquinto said:

I didn't think I needed to mess around with temperature control as I can use the boiler room (around 22°), and in winter I have a garage at about 12 ° ish.

Some of the brews I'm getting into have some very precise temperature recommendations, gradually moving up a few degrees to as high as 29°, and a lot of you fellas (and gals) swear by temperature control. I know for PET pressure fermenting vessels I would need a belt, but I wondered what the "word on the street" was for heating mats for the classic FVs ?

I've got my eye on a Mangrove Jacks one: I assume you just rig it up with an Inkbird temperature controller.

Ayone have any experience with them ? I'll be getting a belt anyway for the pressure FVs, but the mat with a sleeping bag aound it looked like a nice setup.

I do not know much about heat mats.  I have never used one.  However, I am pretty sure you cannot put a heat belt around a PET pressure fermenter like the Fermenter King Junior.  It will melt the PET.  My rule of thumb with PET and heat is; if I cannot hold onto it or leave my hand in it for a minute, then it is too hot for the PET.

I lay my heat belt on ceramic tiles in the bottom of my fermenting chamber.

And yes, just plugged into an Inkbird.

[DavidM]

11 hours ago, stquinto said:

I've got my eye on a Mangrove Jacks one: I assume you just rig it up with an Inkbird temperature controller.

 

That's the one I use, it was sitting under the Mangrove Jacks FV.

Now it stand's between the Two Fv's in the monster fridge.

Won't know how it's going to work till winter, only using cooling at the moment. But it is plugged into the Inkbird 

 

[RDT2]

11 hours ago, stquinto said:

I didn't think I needed to mess around with temperature control as I can use the boiler room (around 22°), and in winter I have a garage at about 12 ° ish.

Some of the brews I'm getting into have some very precise temperature recommendations, gradually moving up a few degrees to as high as 29°, and a lot of you fellas (and gals) swear by temperature control. I know for PET pressure fermenting vessels I would need a belt, but I wondered what the "word on the street" was for heating mats for the classic FVs ?

I've got my eye on a Mangrove Jacks one: I assume you just rig it up with an Inkbird temperature controller.

Ayone have any experience with them ? I'll be getting a belt anyway for the pressure FVs, but the mat with a sleeping bag aound it looked like a nice setup.

I use a heat pad but I have a bar fridge which I sit it inside next to the fermenter. Works well and keeps the temp at 35 no worries for Kveik. I don’t personally like heat belts I think they get too hot.

[ozdevil]

48 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

However, I am pretty sure you cannot put a heat belt around a PET pressure fermenter like the Fermenter King Junior. 

What i do with my pet pressure fermenters  is I put my heat belt around the stands of 35l snub and fermzilla  and the stand wont get that hot for the pet fermenter it will stay warm

the heat belt doest touch the FV at all

[Classic Brewing Co]

22 minutes ago, ozdevil said:

What i do with my pet pressure fermenters  is I put my heat belt around the stands of 35l snub and fermzilla  and the stand wont get that hot for the pet fermenter it will stay warm

the heat belt doest touch the FV at all

I had a heat pad but it seemed to be warming up the bottom too much, I prefer the Heat Belt when I am using the Temp Controller.

[ozdevil]

7 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

I had a heat pad but it seemed to be warming up the bottom too much, I prefer the Heat Belt when I am using the Temp Controller.

i agree with you   and like you i prefer heat belt  with temp controller

[stquinto]

Thanks for all the advice fellas

Way to go is probably one of each. I haven’t really got a fridge I can use as a fermenting chamber as such - the FV doesn’t comfortably fit too well in it. I can ram it in for a cold crash and keep the door from popping open but I hadn’t counted on needing to use it for a warmer brew.
I can sit the (non-PET) FV on a pad with a cardboard box over the top, and a duvet or something

The belt around the wire stand for the 30l Fermzilla sounds like a good idea  

Cheers!

[Classic Brewing Co]

Hey Stquinta,

Here's the Brew Shed's opinion;

Heat Pads vs Heat Belts

Besides wrapping a blanket around your beloved brew baby in the cooler months, there is the option of more reliable heating. The Brew Shed stocks both heat pads and heat belts. Both come from reputable suppliers. Both are set to run at a set temperature with no thermostat to switch it on and off. This is a good thing for two reasons. 1) Thermostats can break, so not having an extra part is better for longevity. 2) Consistency is key. Your brew will be much better if you can maintain a constant temperature instead of it going up and down.

The temperature is set at around 28 on both appliances. This is a good temperature for cold weather brewing because due to heat loss and ambient temperatures it will not heat the entire brew all the way through at 28. It will more likely be around 24 ish.

Heat pads are made to take the weight of the fermenter complete with wort in it, so around 25-30 kgs. If you do a double brew in a 60l fermenter you should think about using a heat belt.Also if you have a Stainless steel fermenter with a plastic base then a belt is best.

The heat pad gives an even distribution of warmth due to heat rising through the brew, and is more efficient because almost the entire heating surface area is in contact with the fermenter.

The brew belt on the other hand has one side always exposed to the air and only heats at the level of which it is placed on the fermenter. The brew does circulate however due to the activity of the yeast. A con of the brew belt is that the plastic sleeve which the element sits in can become brittle after time, the heat pads seem to be sturdier for use winter after winter.

So basically, if you have a 60l fermenter and do double brews, the heat belt is the way to go, otherwise the heatpad is for you

[Shamus O'Sean]

8 hours ago, stquinto said:

fermenting chamber

Two of my fermenting chambers are cardboard boxes with a blanket over the top.  I use these when the ambient temperature is on the cooler side for my yeast of choice.  I just need the heat belt to keep the inside of the carboard box relatively stable.

[Tone boy]

Hey @stquinto Sainter. I use a Mangrove Jacks heat pad. Here's my set up below. As you can see the pad doesn't actually touch the fermenter, so there's no hot spots on the FV.  I place the temp probe on the other side away from the heater. Seems to work OK and holds steady temp. Fridge and heater both plugged onto inkbird. Cheers mate

[stquinto]

3 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Hey @stquinto Sainter. I use a Mangrove Jacks heat pad. Here's my set up below. As you can see the pad doesn't actually touch the fermenter, so there's no hot spots on the FV.  I place the temp probe on the other side away from the heater. Seems to work OK and holds steady temp. Fridge and heater both plugged onto inkbird. Cheers mate

Cheers mate, looks like a good setup

My MJ heatpad was delivered yesterday so I’ll be doing a brew this weekend. I’ve made up a starter from Wyeast but I’m not sure it’s active (another story elsewhere on the forum) so I might go with my leftover trub from my last Duvel brew) 

[RDT2]

12 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Hey @stquinto Sainter. I use a Mangrove Jacks heat pad. Here's my set up below. As you can see the pad doesn't actually touch the fermenter, so there's no hot spots on the FV.  I place the temp probe on the other side away from the heater. Seems to work OK and holds steady temp. Fridge and heater both plugged onto inkbird. Cheers mate

Exactly how mine is setup but I have a smaller fridge with the coopers fermenter without the airlock works great for all types of yeast Kveik etc and no contact with the wort and a larger not lager , surface area which produces sufficient heat without getting as hot as the heatbelt. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by RDT2

[Hairy]

On 2/12/2022 at 3:16 PM, Tone boy said:

Hey @stquinto Sainter. I use a Mangrove Jacks heat pad. Here's my set up below. As you can see the pad doesn't actually touch the fermenter, so there's no hot spots on the FV.  I place the temp probe on the other side away from the heater. Seems to work OK and holds steady temp. Fridge and heater both plugged onto inkbird. Cheers mate

This is similar to my setup except my heat pad sits on a shelf about 20cm below the FV.

It just heats up the ambient temperature of the fridge rather than the wort directly.