Keeping bottles warm for secondary fermentation

dc.grace

Does anyone have any ideas for keeping bottles at the right temperature during secondary fermentation in the winter? I do all my brewing in the cellar and maintain temperature for primary fermentation by using a heating belt, but I don't know how store my bottles at a good temperature in the cellar for secondary fermentation. I have to stop brewing altogether waiting for warmer times.

BUDFORCE

Room temperature is perfectly fine, anywhere else in your house you can keep them?

dc.grace

Thanks for the comment. Room temperature is around 18% but much colder during the night in winter. In any case, I don't really have anywhere else in the house to store them.

BUDFORCE

Ok in that case, old fridge maybe, sure you could pick one up at a local recycling centre clean it up and modify it by putting a heater in it. You can buy pre made electric greenhouse heaters which are low energy and designed just to keep frost out, but something like that put inside an old fridge would work. There is a post on these forums where someone has made a similar thing. You can buy thermostats and all sorts but would be a bit of a DIY project.

I'm not sure what ready made commercially available solutions are out there, HBO staff may be able to help there.

The other thing is if you can just keep them somewhere in the house, even if your house isn't a constant 18c it'll still be ok. I keep mine in secondary (warm stage) for two weeks in the corner of the dining room hidden behind the table, keeping a keg or 40 bottles stored (I keep them in old plastic milk bottle containers) doesn't take up that much space.

We don't have the heating up that much either.

HBO_Staff

One thing you might consider, use a heating device for the secondary stage as well as your primary fermentation. This is a little tricky with a belt but you can use a heat pad/tray to stand the bottles on - it will help to keep them warm and allows the secondary fermentation in the bottles to get going more quickly. When it is very cold we sometimes stand bottles on a heater pad to help them, you can only get so many on at a time though so may need to alternate them:

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/electrim-heating-tray-25ltr-model-te25-p720

Ady

I do all my brewing in a cold cellar too, I place a large cardboard box on two heater pads and fill the box with 40 bottles for secondary fermentation, then cover the box to keep the heat in. I place a thermometer in the box with the bottles to keep an eye on the temperature (even when it's very cold outside it stays at 20 - 22 degrees). The results have been spot on when I've needed to use this method.

dc.grace

Thanks for all the suggestions in these posts. I have considered each one and as a result of all the ideas have now come up with something that will serve well in my situation. So winter brewing here I come!