Ferm wrap or other cheap ferm temp control

[sharkguy05]

Anyone have any thoughts on a ferm wrap? I dont have room or $$ for another fridge/freezer, n i want to control my ferm temp a little better. Does it need a controller or just plug in n keep it warm? Any other ideas would b good too.

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

I use one and it works great....mine is plugged in to a dual temp controller. Not sure it would work just plugged in tho, it would always be heating, and your fridge/freezer would always be cooling....fighting against each other.

[maxwell]

You absolutely need a controller with any kind of heater. Without a control, you are performing fermentation temperature adjustment and your results are likely to be random depending on ambient temperature and heat production by the fermenting beer.

[sharkguy05]

thanx I guess I got to trade my fridge controller in for a dual controller. ANy suggestions on a cheaper one

[maxwell]

Actually, you might be able to get by with just the fridge temperature controller and a rheostat. The idea would be to not attach the ferm wrap directly to the carboy but to just put it somewhere in the fridge. You would want to find the lowest rheostat setting possible to maintain temperature. Dual stage control is the better option. Check ebay - sometimes there are good deals to be had.

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

This is what you are looking for.....you can also get them pre-wired for a few more duckets: Controller

Check E-bay as well....might find someone trying to dump one.

[Hoont]

I recently bought two ferm wraps. They have been great at keeping a consistent fermentation temperature. I use them on large plastic buckets so they only wrap half way around but they still do the job.

I went a cheap route on the temperature controller. I bought a Zilla temperature controller for 30 bucks on the internet. They are for keeping reptiles aquarium at a consistent temperature. I just taped the probe on the fermenter and BLAMO!!, consistent temperature.

[grainman]

If ambient temps are already cool , you could go with the water bath method with an aquarium heater...the water bath helps with stability and as long as you don't need to cool things down , it should work pretty well at a bare minimum of expense.I'm going to do this even though I have a ranco 2 stage, because my chest freezer only holds 1 fermenter at a time , and I want to brew more.