G'day from Australia!

[Ozwald]

I was looking at using a heat light for a reptile enclosure, but will that give off too much heat/ is it overkill and a standard light will do?

I've heard of several people having good results with a standard 75-100 watt incandescent wrapped in tinfoil. Never tried it personally though. When do you actually need to heat your fermentations in Australia though, isn't it like 40C+ year round there?

[ScottyB-Brewing]

Hi from Canberra! I have an old fridge (given to me by a mate) with a light globe and a heating/cooling temp controller. Cost me all of $30-40 and an hour or 2 to set up. Keep an eye on local classifieds for a cheap fridge. Apart from experience a temp controlled ferm chamber is really one of the best things you can do to improve your beer.

That's what I did too! I bought an old fridge for $30 and a hot/cold temp controller for $10 that I had to wire up in a box which cost another $5 to $10. Nice to see somebody else with the same kinda setup going on, works super huh chief?

I'm not from Australia though

[Thuys]

I've heard of several people having good results with a standard 75-100 watt incandescent wrapped in tinfoil. Never tried it personally though. When do you actually need to heat your fermentations in Australia though, isn't it like 40C+ year round there?

Thanks! Much easier, I have plenty just lying round the house. Definitely not 40C+ year round Especially in my area. We definitely have ours months that are around the 40s, but in winter its frequently bellow 10 through the day. Right now its about 14. I've been able to cope so far, but I'd like to be able to control fermentation temps to within a degree or two as many people say that the fermentation temp is very very important.

[Ozwald]

It most definitely is. Keep in mind that a steady temp is more important than the actual temp itself. Even if you're at 21, it's better to stay right at 21 than it is for it to bounce around between 17-20 for example. 18 would be nice, but not if you can't hold it there steady. Good luck & happy brewin

[Thuys]

Keep in mind that a steady temp is more important than the actual temp itself. Even if you're at 21, it's better to stay right at 21 than it is for it to bounce around between 17-20 for example. 18 would be nice, but not if you can't hold it there steady. Good luck & happy brewin

Thats a great tip! Its probably what is having the greatest impact on my beers right now (not that im making bad beer). The air temperature fluctuates at least 10C every day. However the temperature fluctuation in the fermenter will be far less.
Building a fermentation chamber has just been moved to the top of my list!
Thanks for your help and happy brewing to you too!

[Ozwald]

Assuming you're doing 20L batches, that's not a lot of thermal mass. Meaning the liquid is going to be more prone to swinging with the air & 10 degrees is huge swing. Even a well insulated plywood box would be helpful, but you can't beat finding a cheap/free fridge & putting a temp controller on it.

Another option is to increase the thermal mass, like getting a large plastic trash can (like those 100L+ ones you find on building sites & larger commercial kitchens) & adding some cold water - but not so much you float the carboy! The extra thermal mass will act as a buffer against ambient temp swing & for an added bonus you can freeze some water in plastic soda bottles to help keep it down further. Just make twice as many as you need so you have a set in the can ( ) and a set in the freezer. If you use the smaller bottles, you'll need more but they'll freeze faster & give you more surface area when they go in your can ( ) Swap em out once or twice a day & you won't believe the difference it'll make.

You could even make a 2nd vessel out of a cooler & use a cheap pump to circulate for even better efficiency. Keep the frozen bottles in the cooler, drill a hole for a outlet at the bottom of the can & return the water to the top (heat rises). There's all sorts of variations of it depending on how inventive you are & how much you want to invest into it.

[Thuys]

Assuming you're doing 20L batches, that's not a lot of thermal mass. Meaning the liquid is going to be more prone to swinging with the air & 10 degrees is huge swing. Even a well insulated plywood box would be helpful, but you can't beat finding a cheap/free fridge & putting a temp controller on it.

Your other ideas were good but given I have a spare fridge in the garage this is the option ill be going with. Just bought my thermostat online, should be all hooked up and ready for my next brew!

[Ozwald]

Assuming you're doing 20L batches, that's not a lot of thermal mass. Meaning the liquid is going to be more prone to swinging with the air & 10 degrees is huge swing. Even a well insulated plywood box would be helpful, but you can't beat finding a cheap/free fridge & putting a temp controller on it.

Your other ideas were good but given I have a spare fridge in the garage this is the option ill be going with. Just bought my thermostat online, should be all hooked up and ready for my next brew!

Keep them in mind when you have more full fermenters than fridge space

Have fun!