Beer Forum

Stupid?

I have two beers, a northern english brown, and an american pale.... both with the same yeast strain... and have the fermwrap spread between the both of them.

Is this stupid? I have the temp gauge for my digital johnson controller wedged in between both carboys... the hope being that it will hold both 5 gallon carboys right at, or around 68 degrees. My ambient is about 66-68, so even if the controller picks up the wrong temp... its not going to go nuts and heat the carboys to 78 degrees... but still, anyone have any experience using one fermwrap to heat two carboys?

I would say that your success with this method would be greatly influenced by the insulation around the carboys. My fermentation chamber is well insulated and I use a small (10 X 14) 15 watt reptile heater. I can hold four 6.5s in there. I normally have the probe taped and bubble wrap insulated on one of the carboys, and I have the reptile pad loosely placed between all the carboys. My feeling is that the temp inside the chamber will eventually equalize.

I suggest that you wrap both in a sleeping bag or something else to minimize the impact of the ambient, and increase the ability of each carboy to heat (or equalize with) the other.


Mylo

Ambient is right around 65-66, and is usually pretty steady (closet in the center of the house). I think the heat from fermentation will get it to 68-69, and that the fermwrap spread over both carboys will help keep it close enough. I'll do a little insulating too, and that should do the trick, thanks for the tip.