sorry if this is a question that’s been answered already. I’ve just completed a brew for a Belgian saison using wyeast 3724 and I’ve suffered the all to common stall that this yeast so often experiences. As the ambient temp in my home is circa 19c, I decided to try and kickstart the yeast back into action by raising the temp (this yeast is happier in the late 20s and up to 32 according to wyeast site).
So I invested in a mangrove jacks heat pad as well as their dual temp controller (which is simply and branded stc 1000).
My question is twofold (I’m not an electrician and don’t profess to know anything about how it works):
1 - as I’m looking to get the temp initially to about 25 or 26c and hold it there, I won’t need a cooling aspect (i.e. fridge) as the room will slowly bring the temp down and the hysteresis setting will see to it that it doesn’t drop far. But is it okay / safe to just leave the cooling socket empty? I.e. the controller won’t burn itself out trying to drive something that’s not there? (I accept this might be a really stupid question)
2 - with the ambient room temp at 19 and a target of 25 or 26c, the heat pad is probably going to be put through its paces and spend quite a decent amount of time switched on and heating (it’s currently been on for 6 hours straight which is what it’s taken to heat my brew from 21 to 24c). It’s a 25w pad. Anyone know if these are robust enough to just hook up to the stc 1000 and leave them to do their thing like that?
