Heat belt.

[Bluegum]

One of the blokes at work gave me a heat belt for the cooler months ahead. When I plugged it in to test it, it heated up up in places that were really hot and in some places hardly at all. having no experience with heat belts is this normal or should I chuck it aside and buy a new one?

[stephenkentucky]

Sounds like the heat belt may have seen better days Bluegum, an old trick is to start the ferment inside the house at the recommended temperature and wait until it is fermenting well, you can tell by it developing a froth, then wrap the fermentation vessel with an old doona or some other insulation material( bubble wrap works well). The conversion of sugar into alcohol by yeast results in two by products, heat and Co2 so once underway the ferment will self heat so to speak, the yeast will do its job and so long as you do not cover the Co2 bubbler the gas will escape as normal. The heat pads you see at brew shops work well if the fermentation gets sluggish at the end also if you have a small tea chest sized box a simple incandescent light globe placed inside (about 60 watt) will provide sufficient heat, especially if covered with a blanket.Always remember to allow for gas escape as Co2 is heavier than air just drill a hole near the upturned lid of the box. Having said all that sometimes it is desirable to have a slow cooler ferment which will result in a lager style beer, so also consider using a lager yeast which can handle the lower temps although slower the beer will taste great, best of luck.

[Bluegum]

Thanks for the tip there mate, very much apprecite it. Never thought of the bubble wrap to be honest.

[timelord]

One of the blokes at work gave me a heat belt for the cooler months ahead. When I plugged it in to test it, it heated up up in places that were really hot and in some places hardly at all. having no experience with heat belts is this normal or should I chuck it aside and buy a new one?
Gooday I have been brewing beer at home for 10 years and have never applied any form of heating or insulation to my fermenters--In fact the only form of temp control I use is in summer an place my fermenters in a large fridge set at 10 degrees C and ferment in the fridgeI use Wyeast liquid yeast from the local brew shop called Bavarian Lager yeast and works at low temps.
Its a bit dearer but can be reused several times, just reculture it and add to the next brew.
Cheers.

[Horsecroft88]

Down here in Hobart, where there was snow down to the 600m level this morning :D, some sort of insulation for your fermenter over the colder months is not a bad idea. I have used an old doona for years which seems to have worked perfectly well :2tsup:.

I have never used a heat belt or immersion heater, and while I am sure they also can work well, unless I have a brew which fails, I dont think I personally would bother. I would be a little concerned about a belt though which had uneven heat, since this could possibly lead to some problems in the yeast working correctly.