Ok, I know this is a bit off topic, but, here's what I need. I need a fish tank heater that will go down to 52 degrees, and preferably less, but 52 is fine. I am an amateur beer brewer and i'm working on a project that will allow me to ferment lagers and pilsners during winter months. A fish tank heater is PERFECT for this except none of them list the temp range online..... SO, if anyone has one of these I will send you one of the final product! I am in desperate search. I've already torn apart one of these heaters and I couldnt really engineer it. Please help!
I need REAL help from you guys, it involves BEER
- Thread starter jackle
- Start date
Try one of these, i dont think the heater is included though.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270026703346&category=50926
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270026703346&category=50926
how large are your brewing containers? You could just buy a heater rated for a small tank volume, set it at its lowest setting, and use it in a larger volume of water/beer. The smallest heater I have is rated for a 5 gal tank and is 25 watts.
get a large tub fill it with water then place your tub of brew in the water along with the heater, this way you wont be putting to much heat directly into your brew which as you know will effect fermentation ect. also this way there wont be any problems with contamination. a small power head to circulate the water would also be great.
You might need a micro chiller to go with it, because depending on the temperature of the room, it may never get down to 52 degrees farenheit... what part of the world do you live in? I know you said its for the winter time, so I'm assuming it gets plenty cold wherever you are. I personally cant think of any heaters that can regulate themselves anywhere below 70 degrees, but that thermoswitch off of ebay sounds like a good idea. I'd at least give it some consideration, and see if there's anything else like it you could acquire locally.
www.mcmaster.com has all sorts of industrial supplys, they probably have everything you need
(Their catalog is 4000+ pages long)
(Their catalog is 4000+ pages long)
Instead of say, brewing beer and letting it ferment outside in winter with an aquarium heater, you'd be better off finding a large-ish minifridge and setting it to 55 degrees. I also brew beer and have been contemplatng ways to do lagers. I found plans online to use a chest freezer. You basically plug the freezer into a relay that s actvated by an external thermostat, so you can keep it at 50-55 degrees. Its a lot more efficient than a refrgerator, and most chest freezers can handle several fermenters at once. I want to set one up so I can fit maybe two 5gal carboys and a tapped keg, so I can brew and drink with the same setup.
Sploke is correct...that is probably your best bet. There are no brands of aquarium heater that have settings below 60ºf..