Plan for chest freezer

[gone_fishing]

My chest freezer will very quickly become a fermentation chamber. It is generally colder in my basement than I want to do ales so I plan on adding heat. My thought is to run a small 750 watt electric heater off of the first thermostat shown on this page (http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/searchresults.jsp?search_type=keyword&QueryString=1A65-641&catindx1=&catindx2=&xi=xi) .What do you think... will this work ok?

[Goban]

I got an 'error on page' with your link...

[gone_fishing]

hmmm, workedwhen I tested it. Anybody else try it?

[toneyc]

We're sorry.
Your session has expired.

:eek:
Toney.

[Ghost_of_Winter]

If your basement is generally too cold for fermenting ales then why don't you do this:

Take a corner of the basement (anywhere will do, but a corner is easier as you will see) Now go to a home improvement store and buy a few sheets of the thickest foam insulation board they carry. Take said board and 'build' a room from floor to ceiling using it. What you can do is just ordinary duct tape to put it all together and make the entire front a 'door' so you have easy access to the chamber. Then just buy a small electric heater that you can set to a specific temp and use this for making ales. Of course you can add shelves and such if you plan on doing several at a time.

Not trying to move you away from the freezer route, but if you need to HEAT instead of cool then why bother with the ranco and the light bulb (which you need to be careful about skunking the beer with anyway) and just do this? The added benefit is if you plan on doing say Wine which needs a warmer temp to ferment as well then you have a place for it as well. Hope this helps.

[Harvest]

I can think of a good reason to use a freezer to lager. I bought a 9 cu. ft. chest freezer and divided it with foam insulation. On one side is my kegs and CO2, and on the other is a carboy of lagering beer. I use a 60w ceramic reptile heater to keep the temp about 10-20 degrees warmer than the side with my kegs. This brilliant idea was not mine, but one I got from this very site! Here (http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/freezer/freezer.html) is where I saw it.

It serves a dual purpose and is pretty damned cool too!! I can regulate the temp even more by: movign the foam to make the space bigger, using a carboy parka (http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16586), or using a FermWrap (http://www.morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=16674&PHPSESSID=ac4393794ce035f8d7bb555f740f5a0ctape). It is perfect for here in Illinois where temps vary wildly even day to day (33 yeterday, 61 today!!)

[gone_fishing]

I'm not using a light bulb as a heat source, I'll be using a small heater with a fan. I'm too paranoid about light struck beer to want to figure out how to properly shield the beer from the light.
I don't actually have the space to build a room as you suggested, though I'd sure like to do that. If I could I'd make my whole brewery in an insulated room in my basement and do everything in there, warm and cozy! (except for the actual boiling, which I do outdoors)

[Grog]

I use two 50 watt heating pads in my freezer when I want to use it to ferment ales or do a diacytal rest. Buy the cheapest ones you can (about $10 @ Walgreen's) beacuse they have less safety features (no automatic shut-off after ten hours.) Altough the fan might be a good idea to prevent mold & mildew.

[gone_fishing]

I just planned on using a heater with a fan because a) I have one and b) I think the temp will be more unifrom

[Grog]

If you leave the temperature sensor from the controller uninsulated, wouldn't the air current cause potential for a false reading, or am I on crack?

[HogieWan]

I have a smale fridger converted for a ferment chamber, but it is outside and a few times the temp has dropped too low for my brew (even with a lager).

I've been thinking of buying this package (http://www.williamsbrewing.com/CONTROLLER_HEATER_PACKAGE_P519C100.cfm) from william's brewing and using my current external thermo for my chest freezer kegerator.