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Mash/Wash Heating?

So what are you hobby guys using to keep a wash at a specific temp? The temps in my area are dropping and I need some sort of heating that is more efficient and controllable than my heated blanket.

My wash tank is 55 gallons and I would like to keep it at 33C or 92F. Not a problem in the summer but cooling off right now.

Comments

  • edited November 2016

    I use a belt heater (a bit like your electric blanket) with a probe taped to the outside of the tank and a bit of foam stuck over it to shield the probe from the outside then the whole thing dropped in a chest freezer.
    All plugged in to one of these.

  • My friggin electric blanket has an automatic 10 hour shutoff. AND it isn't up to the job anymore.

  • edited November 2016

    If it's turned off and on at the power point will it be on or off?
    Those boxes are like cutting into the cable. You might be able to hake around the timer or you could just get something like this instead.

  • Aquarium heater and insulation?

  • @grim said: Aquarium heater and insulation?

    I think this is the route I will take.

  • First pass, there's band heaters for drums

  • And if the temp control doesn't work well, you can max it out and get a pid to do the control

  • Being in refrigeration business ( or was ) i use the 10W / foot heater tape they use around freezers door to prevent frost which i tape on with foil tape in a spiral wrap around the drum. The other suggestion re taping on the probe with a bit of bubble wrap is OK also its just i am anal I have put a SS thermowell into the 200l tank where i run my STC1000 probe. As my ambient temp is really variable i then run the fermenter inside a coolroom which i can control again with the cool output of the STC1000 to run the coolroom down if really necessary - but mostly not. Exactly like running a domestic fridge and a STC only bigger as that is exactly the way i run my beer fermenting fridge also. You can buy the heater tape per meter from a refrigeration supplies outlet but the termination is a little trickie. Or better still if you know a fridgie ask them to keep you an old length as it normally fails by breakage and the rest is OK. That drum heater as per Unsensibel is good but expensive.

  • Aquarium heaters work well in 200l (55 gallon) drums. insulate the outside and bottom to get more bang for your buck. No complaints been using them for a good while now.

  • I'll join the others in the aquarium heater (the newer aluminum submersibles) and insulation (we use Reflectix when we need it).

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

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