Beer Forum

Is it safe to put a heating pad under a glass carboy? It seems like it wouldn't be enough heat to cause it to crack, but I would really be safe than have a broken carboy. I need to get my Belgian Golden Strong Ale from about 76F to 82F in about 2 or three days. The airlock is slowing down and I don't think the weather here is gonna be warm enough to do it.

I wish I had a fermentation fridge and a temp controller....sigh....

thanks in advance for any advice

I wouldn't consider that to be safe. Why not tape or bungee the pad around the carboy?

I could easily do that. Would that make a difference as far as breakage is concerned?

Put the pad on the side of the carboy. Put a t-shirt over the pad, then, fold up a blanket and roll it around the whole thing. That has worked for me in the past. Be sure to keep an eye on the temp as often as you can. Also, move the pad to the oppsite side evry once in awhile.
It's ghettofabulous!
Goodluck!

bazookazilla wrote:I could easily do that. Would that make a difference as far as breakage is concerned?

The pad is not designed to have a solid, 50-pound mass sitting on top of it for an extended time. It might damage the pad. It will certainly get extremely hot. Would it break or crack the carboy? Who knows? I wouldn't take the chance. In any case, the heating pad is really probably too much heater for this application. I'd suggest you buy a FermWrap or BrewBelt or make something similar yourself. It's pretty easy.

snowcapt wrote:Put the pad on the side of the carboy. Put a t-shirt over the pad, then, fold up a blanket and roll it around the whole thing. That has worked for me in the past. Be sure to keep an eye on the temp as often as you can. Also, move the pad to the oppsite side evry once in awhile.
It's ghettofabulous!
Goodluck!

I think I will try this. I will probably put a sweatshirt under the pad just for good measure and keep it at it's lowest setting

Could you use the old "put the carboy in a bucket of water trick". Although that is usually used for cooling, there is no reason it wouldn't work to just keep adding warm water to the bucket to heat up the beer.

EagleDude wrote:Could you use the old "put the carboy in a bucket of water trick". Although that is usually used for cooling, there is no reason it wouldn't work to just keep adding warm water to the bucket to heat up the beer.

I can't see why that wouldn't work. Definitely an option.