Best way to heat a stainless steel conical

1

Recently I bought a ssbrewtech conical half bbl. I bought the brewmeister edition so witch coil for cooling and a insulation jacket. I didn’t buy the heating kit because it is really pricy. Instead I bought two heatbelts of each 30 watts. I looked up that the heating pad from ssbrewtech is about 60 watts, so with my two belts I should be fine I thought.

Now I do a testrun with water in the conical. With the heating at 100% I dont see anything happening with the temperature. The heating belt is mounted as low as possible but the legs of the conical are pretty high so the belt is as well. The belts are working, I checked.

Now is my questen: For sure I am not the only one with a conical with heating, how did u guys do this? How many watts, what kind of heater?

2

Nobody a conical with heater that can help me? :slight_smile:

3

I have mine in a converted fridge with a small tubular heater. Works well.

I would expect the brewbelts to work but be inefficient. As you’ve pointed out, contact will be poor and some of the heat will just go into the room rather than the conical itself. You could try wrapping everything in a blanket to insulate it?

4

The heating belt is already under an insulation jacket.

I just did a temperature measurement in the top op the fermenter and there the temperature rises. It looks like the heating belt is mounted to high and only heats up the top half of the fermenter. Mabye I just have to buy the heating pad that comes with the fermenter…:frowning_face:

5

100W should be fine for a conical of that size.
The SS brewtech heating pad is only 70W I think.

Did you measure the current to confirm the power that is used?

I think mounting it low, just above the cone should be fine. But heat rises, so having it near the top is a bad idea.

6

I checked the current indeed. Was a bit less than the specs but it is from aliexpress so… :slight_smile:

As you see in the picture the legs are quite high so mounting a heating belt blow the red line is difficult.

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7

I have 2 14g SS Brewtech conical. The heating pads they have are specially designed to fit the conical. I didn’t like the cost either, but once you get rolling and years later usage, you forget what you paid for it. Being the pad fits the cone, thermal dynamics takes care of the rest. I can say the FTSs2 system has been an outstanding investment! I can brew any style, any time of the year!!

8

Hi, I got a ss brewtech heating pad as supplied with the fts2 - themaltmiller had some as spares. Note I also bought my unitank from there - so do not know if they would sell individually - but it never hurts asking.
The pad is attached to the brewpi DC CURRENT SWITCH EXPANSION BOARD, and directly to my spark.
Cheer