Wrap Around Kombucha Heater Belt | Propagate Pro Brewing and Fermentation Heat Mat Warmer | Keeps Your SCOBY Happy and Productive with Stickon Thermometer

So far the wrap is able to keep my 1 gallon glass jars and the kombucha warm about 75 to 80° and the wrap is able to wrap around in the front of 21 gallon glass jars. It is working.

This helps keep my kombucha brew at a consistent 79° since before I bought it it was only getting up to barely 67° and it was prolonging the time of my first fermentation. I tried other things to get the ambient temperature up, but nothing was working as I live in the northwest and it’s getting cooler, it wasn’t even keeping up to the temperature in my house until I got this. I’m using it around a 1 gallon jug and it’s been working perfect for me. I recommended if you’re wanting to grow consistent great kombucha.

I have two of these. One lives constantly around my 1 gallon jar of Kombucha that I brew continuously. In the winter I use it full force and in the summer I place pencils around it between the warming strip and the jar to keep it around 84 degrees. The other I use for the second fermentation. It is stretched flat, in a drawer, and I place the bottles of Kombucha on top of it to ferment for three days. I also place my 2 qt jar of kimchi on it for 24 hours after I make it for its fermentation. This really kick-starts the process and it bubbles happily when I burp it after the 24 hours. And I just realized that I can use it to warm up ingredients that are supposed to be room temperature for baking. I had put all the ingredients in my bread machine, which has a metal pan (of course), and realized the liquids were all ice cold. I should have just placed the eggs and the measured out buttermilk on top of the warming strip and warmed it before I put them in the pan. But I ended up getting one of the rubber bands that came with the strip and wrapping it around the pan until everything warmed up (about an hour to get it good and warm). The bread was better and rose higher this time and I think it was because the ingredients were warmed.

I recommend this heat strip for Kombucha or Kim Chi fermenters, it does exactly what it says, it seems very safe to use for days at a time, and it's not a bad price. It keeps my 1/2 G kombucha jars an even 74 degrees in my cool kitchen cabinet. I wrap the strip loosely around 2 half-gallon jars on the backside of the cabinet and it delivers a consistent low heat to both containers. I bought another more expensive heating strip that gave off a stronger heat, and it was difficult to regulate the temperature of my liquids or keep them from overheating (a lot) without the perfect physical arrangement of towels and clothespins for insulation. This heating strip is insulated so it doesn't overheat around the container or when coiled on itself. The other product melted after a few days of being coiled on itself and I threw it out. I don't think I'll have that problem this time.

Just after recieving the product, the owner of the company sent me a nice email explaining the use of the wrap around heater as well as some background about it's development specificly for Kombucha home brew. It was nice to see artisans making a product to help others in this craft. The area where I have the Kombucha is very cold, about 50 degrees F. So I was very concerned about keeping the Kombucha warm enough to activate and maintain the fermentation process. It's been in use for about a week and a constant 81 degrees with only an occasional dip to 79 degrees one time when it got to the mid 40s. However, I wrapped a blanket around the heater and underneath the jar, and the temp has maintained around 81 degrees each time I have checked it. The system is simple, and comes with a stick on thermometer so you can constantly monitor the temp. Two thick rubber bands to keep the heater in contact with the surface of the glass jar are also included. So far no it has worked perfectly and the dedication and attention by the owners of the company and their dedication to the Kombucha brewing craft is appreciated and shows in the usefulness of the product. As soon as I get the hang of the fermintation process and make multiple batches at the same time, I will be getting some more of these "Easy Heezy" heaters.

This heater works great for brewing my kombucha at the proper temperature. I brew two, one gallon jars per batch and the temp stays right around 78-80 degrees at an ambient temp of around 65 degrees. It is a little too warm for a single jar batch without having to insert something between jar and heater to adjust. It is also much easier to read my jar strip thermometers with the heater wrapped around the back and sides of the two jars with the strips to the front. We keep our house cool at night and I will cover the jars with a towel during the colder months for extra insulation. Overall I love this heater and would definitely recommend it.

The wrap does not extend very far and did not fit the jug I brew in. Making it more adjustable would be easy. I used some chord wrapped around to make it functional. The thermometer strips are not very precise and the controls are really cheap and hard the gauge. You have to keep an eye on it. I ordered other thermometer strips and they register a few degrees different. Sometimes 1 sometimes 2. The strip sometimes feels a bit alarmingly warm, but it doesn't wrap all the way around, so I guess it's stronger heat in some places and less in others evening out to something sort of in the range my kombucha wants. I would prefer something I could trust a bit more, but this has got me through the winter when our house is generally between 60 and 67 degrees.

This little mat was purchased to help brew kombucha at a more uniform temperature. Even on cooler days, it appears to do the trick. When it gets warmer than I want, I just slide pencils between the jar & the mat. I use a couple strips of painting tape to secure the mat once it's wrapped around the jar. I may try something more permanent like a strip of Velcro or a generic Command strip in the future to ensure it doesn't come loose & slide down to the bottom of the jar (which you really don't want). The quality seems good as does the reliability of uniform heat across the whole mat. Seems like it will work just fine for me.