I'm only going to use it to heat water. It's something like £20, while
a 3G catering kettle will set me back around £100. Was just wondering if
there's any cons to using it that I haven't thought about. Money was a
bit tight until Friday, so I didn't want to waste any. The only think I
can think is that the long term costs might be higher or it might melt
the plastic must bucket.

Dar V wrote:
> If I think my must is a bit cool and I need a bit of warmth for my yeast to
> get going, I use a heating pad. I set my 2 gallon glass primary ferment
> container on top of my heating pad. Having said that, I always make sure I'm
> home when I turn it on, and I do keep tabs on it. Please, I don't want
> anyone to have a fire if they do this. Usually, it only requires a few
> hours, then the must takes off, and I remove the heating pad.
> Darlene
> Wisconsin
>
> "alien" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>I was perusing a catalogue in my local home brew shop recently and came
>>across an immersion heater that you basically plug in and drop in a bucket.
>>It was designed for beer use, but I was thinking of the possibilities of
>>using it for wine and mead. I usually only use enough hot water to
>>dissolve the sugar and, depending on the wine, cover the fruit/vegetable
>>matter for extraction. I would advise removing the heater before adding
>>sugar. My next batch of mead will probably use a raw local honey so I
>>could use it to heat water up enough to pasteurise it, should I wish to do
>>so.
>>
>>Has anyone got any experience with these? Any other thoughts? It would be
>>a lot easier than filling up a few large pans for hot water, and it was
>>less than half the price of a 2 gallon kettle I was looking at recently.
>
>