HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Hi Guys,

Interested what others have set up. My first fermenting fridge has a thermostat and a heat pad. After I bottle I crate and stack back on top of pad for conditioning in fridge.
I've scored myself a second fridge, I have a second thermostat and are wondering if there is a better heater? I've found some cheap brew belts on ebay and are wondering if they would cut it. I'm guessing it would do the job but I'm sure some of you guys have got some neat tricks.

I'm sure you'll get better ideas from others.

However, my only brewing fridge is a barfridge, used for fermentation only. I heat it in a distinctly low tech manner, and use a hot water bottle, placed on the compressor hump at the back of the fridge.
Replace it once or twice a day, as needed. The TempMate controls the cooling.

I have 2 fermenting fridges. 1 uses the standard brewing heating pad to heat, the other has a reptile heatpad bought off ebay to heat.

Both controlled with STC-1000s also sourced off ebay.

Both capable of keeping temps up to 22C in the depths of a chilly Adeliade hills winter, and lagering at 1C in the height of summer.

G'day Guy's,
For my fermenting fridge I just use a 60 watt light bulb (the banned ones) and strap a DS1820 one wire temp sensor to the fermenter then a 8 pin pic controls a relay to switch the light on and off at the desired temp.

I'm currently doing a lager brew at present and just having the fermenter in the fridge with the door closed has kept the brew within the temp spec's of the stick on temp gauge I got. That lager brew has been going 2 weeks now and a check of the SG came in at 1020 so it still has some more to go.

Cheers Bryan