2 Pack Kombucha Heating Pad with 2 in 1 Plug, Kombucha Heating Wrap with Digital Temperature Control & Timing Function Fermentation Heating Pad for Home Brewing 1-3 Gallons Fermenter Vessels

Below I'll go over some tips not mentioned or clear in the manual. I verified operation with a cheap stick-on color-change thermometer (on my jars) and a KillAWatt meter. I also had a room thermometer (useful for finding warmer spots in your building), but the sticker thermometer is close enough.I already had a steady heating (low/mid/high) warmer for kombucha, but that was only good for 1 jar, and I wanted to do a 2nd jar, and was pleasantly surprised that 1) selectable minimum temperature maintainers existed, and 2) there was this listing with 2 warmers for just a little more $ than a single unit. 1 controller and two cabled warmers sticking out of it, but I was confident I could wrangle the setup without much hassle (confirmed).Ok, things the manual didn't clearly mention:This thing has 3 temperature modes, and each of those can be kept always-on or set to auto-shutoff timer (1 hour increments, up to 6 hours): 1st temp mode) keep above X Celsius (X being the minimum you set); if it dips below, it uses some power to heat up. I've seen it pulse on/off at 0.2 degrees under and over, multiple times per minute, so while it isn't that smart it will hover at the minimum temp you set. I was concerned about power spiking, but KillaWatt showed 30 watts max usage when it is on. I don't know much about electrical wiring but this seemed ok.2nd temp mode) same as Celsius, but now in Fahrenheit. I did confirm that there are separate settings for Celsius and Fahrenheit, and it seems to remember the setting when unplugged from power (not sure how long it remembers).Changing the C or F minimum temp is simple: press up/down once and the display blinks, then press up/down again to actually change the temp, then wait a few seconds to stop blinking (I forget if you can skip to "wait to stop blinking" step and just mode click out, but I also wanted to be sure my setting took so I wait). This is a warmer only, so there is only the minimum temp, if it dips below even 0.2 degrees it will pulse a little power to bring it up to like 0.2 degrees above the minimum, then stop warming. There is a red LED light that indicates when it is warming in any mode.3rd temp mode) steady heating/power use, selectable in 10% increments from some low % to 100% (I forgot where I put the manual sheet, but the sheet does spec out the increments and power use at each level). Up/down once so it blinks, up/down again to select %, wait seconds to stop blinking. I checked Killawatt, confirmed the manual sheet's listed power use matched each % setting. This setting will use constant watts and keep delivering that heat, so it does need a lot more babysitting depending on how constant you want your temperature to be.30 watts maximum heating for 2 jars isn't much (I haven't checked if it can do 30 watts to just 1 jar), so try to start your jar above the minimum temp by some other means of heating so you're not waiting an hour or more for this to, say, go from 68F to 75F like I did. (I even wrapped each jar in reflective insulation from the home improvement store).Each of those temperature settings are independent, and only one works at a time. The display will show current probe degrees C, current probe degrees F, and I think the % level depending on the mode you picked.There is a timer setting, the manual lays it out clearly: 0h for always on, 1h increments for timer (as before, click to blink, click to set, wait to stop blinking). I played with it a little, it seems as long as you do not change the increment the timer keeps counting down (I think if you press up/down it will blink first to indicate it is ready to be changed, but doesn't change yet). But if you change the setting, or power off, the timer does reset.As for physical setup, there's a probe that DOES NOT GO IN LIQUID. I was a little confused at first, because I figured it would pick up the warming pad temperature (which should be warmer than the thing being warmed), but I thought about it some more and figured I overestimated the difference, especially since in C or F mode it responds within 0.2 degrees anyway. And I did confirm w/ my jar thermometer, given enough time to reach the minimum, it will maintain it. Anyway, the sheet gives a photo of where to put the probe, for a jar w/ the warmer wrapped around, probe can stick just above the warmer, I tried to get it as close to the liquid as possible, but probably not necessary since the temperature conducts fast enough at least on glass. (But if you can, do have a thermometer in your liquid so you can figure out how much extra degrees to set the warmer to compensate for the "lag" from the probe being too far.)That's about it. Mainly I was confused by how the C/F setting worked with the %, I didn't realize they were separate modes, confusing because there's a little chart in the manual, and timer does work with one of those modes but gets set the same way.I did mention I wrap my jar with "reflective insulation". Available at home improvement stores, basically it's the same material that gets used in older folding windshield sun blockers. I disconnect the electric warmer pad from the control wire so I can put a rubber band on, put the electric warmer pad on the jar, reconnect the warmer pad, then the insulation wrap, then the rubber band to hold the wrap in place. Not sure how much it helps, but I figure it'll save a little bit on electricity and isn't much more complicated to do, especially if I only do it once every 8-10 days in colder seasons.I can't speak to this unit's reliability or safety, but it has been working okay so far and build quality seems ok, but like with any electrical device, keep it away from flammable objects and water.

I was initially excited about this warming pad unit, as it seemed ideal for constant heating of two jars, where one is nearing completion and another just starting. Unfortunately, the design falls short in a critical area: it only comes with one temperature gauge to manage both warming pads. While this setup works fine if you're running both batches simultaneously, it becomes problematic if you start them at different times.The issue arises because the temperature gauge is only capable of monitoring one batch at a time. For example, if you set the gauge to maintain 99°F for the first batch and then start a second batch later, the system doesn't account for the cooler temperature of the new jar. If you leave the temperature gauge on the first batch, the second will remain underheated. Conversely, if you move the gauge to the new batch, the first one will overheat as the system keeps heating both pads to bring the cooler batch up to temperature.In theory, this could be an excellent dual-purpose system, but the lack of a second temperature gauge significantly limits its functionality. It's a missed opportunity for what could have been a convenient two-in-one solution.

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A weekpast the return window this stopped working correctly. One side heats to the set temperature, the reside heats about 8 degrees higher. Ruined an entire gallon batch of kombucha.There is no one to contact for help.

After a few months, it simply stopped working. Thought it was the outlet. Tried several outlets, checked connections, still keep turning off. Can’t get refund because I’m passed the return window :/

I use this in my sourdough starter. It works great. The thermostat seems accurate and the pads stay warm. They're easily attached with built on velcro straps. This works great.

The thing works but there are no instructions for the controller, Looked on web and Amazon ,didn't see anything, Its supposed to have a timer but I cant figure it out.