A 50 Watt, fully submersible thermostatic ceramic heater that is inserted directly into your beer or wine to maintain the correct temperature for fermentation in the brewing bin or fermentation vessel. The thermostat is easily adjusted and can be set to maintain any temperature in an 20º-32ºC range. To all intents and purposes, these are effectively aquarium heaters for tropical fish tanks.
When using with a brewing bin, it is simply placed over the rim of the bin and into the holder which is held to the inside wall of the barrel by suction cups. The lid is then snapped tight around the rim of the brewing bin, except for the 5-10 mm where the power cable overhangs the rim. Alternatively, you can use a round file to cut a small notch in the rim of the bucket to provide a snugger fit.
Another arrangement is to fit a bored rubber bung to the power cable and then drill a 25-26mm hole in the lid of the brewing bin. In this way, the lid can be tightly closed all the way round without the risk of damaging the power cable. This is how I have mine arranged on my brewing equipment, however the some models of this heater comes with a pre-moulded plug already attached, so you will have to either slit a bored bung lengthways, insert the cable and then seal the whole arrangement with some silicon sealent or remove the plug, thread the cable through a bored bung and then fit a replacement plug.
This heater comes with a plastic "protective casing". This is designed to prevent your fish being scorched if they brush against the heater if you are using it as an aquarium heater. Under normal brewing conditions, you do not need to use this and it can safely be removed prior to insertion to your wort.
When using this item with a standard 5 gallon wine fermentation vessel fitted with a 4" neck, the cap, which is predrilled with a hole to take the air lock, isn't large enough to to take a secondary hole for the heater. In this case, you would need to drill a hole in the shoulder, halfway between the handles and then use the heater again fitted with a rubber bung, or drill a small hole in the lid, remove the plug pass the cable through and then reattach the plug before sealing it permanently in place with some silicon sealant.
