Belt or Pad ?

[Andy]

As the cooler weather is starting to creep in, here in AU anyway.

I started thinking about heating the wash to get it to ferment out.

I have both options of belt and pad available for purchase at the LHBS and the guy isnt pushing me either way, he just keeps saying \"its my choice\"

What way would you go, and why??

Cheers

[MrCat]

In the uk we are used to lower ferment temps !!
I went for one of these type (in fact I have two)
[url]http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Home-brew-heater-immersion-heater-/180674715707?pt=AU_Breweriana&hash=item2a110d603b#ht_876wt_1139][/url]
Great units, sit right in the wash so you don't lose any energy due to the plastic fermenter. I wrap a folding camping bed around the fermenter too which keeps the energy bill even lower. I used one in a 55 litre molasses wash (I have a pair of 60 litre fermenters) and it still worked great.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Yeah good shout MrCat. Andy, I’ve used aquarium heaters in the wash, they work very well. They are thermostatically controlled in the right region for the yeast to be happy. If you don’t fancy drilling holes in the lid for the bung, or want to use a single heater with a couple of fermenters, you could sit the fermenters in a large tub with water in it, use the heater to heat the water like a bain marie\\ double boiler. Just size the element for the volume that you want to heat, I’ve used a 200w in a 60ltr ferment when it’s been 1*C in the garage. might want to go a bit larger if using a bouble boiler set up with multble fermenters.

[wld trky]

I have just brought a heater pad (25 watts)from Brewcraft cost $62. Did a 6 kilo sugar wash and it fermented perfectly

[bluecap]

A direct answer to your question in my opinion is pad, but as other posters have said the immersion type heater is loads better than both of them.

[Andy]

Thanks guys.

I am not keen on the aquarium type as I dont want to cut a hole, we should only need a heater for a couple of months.

I went out and got a pad the other day, so we will see how good it is.

Edit to add: It only cost me $40

[hic52]

I use pads for ease, as my wife brews wine and i do spirits, its so easy just to put the containers on the pad, I get one large bucket on a pad and my wife gets 4 gallon demijohns on a pad, so pads for me.