Does anyone stir/agitate water in their HLT to get better heat transfer?

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bizzle

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Title really says it all, does anyone do this? How did you accomplish? Thanks.
 
Pics would be great! Where did you buy and if you don't mind my asking how much?
 
Really, unless you are using your HLT as the heat source in a HERMS setup, do you need to stir it?

:confused:
 
Pics would be great! Where did you buy and if you don't mind my asking how much?

It was built, with a plastic spoon and a little motor and fan. It worked great in my cooler HLT. But when I went bigger, with a keg for my HLT, my friend (lschiavo here on HBT) added the copper portion. The motor would overheat without the fan blowing down on it.
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That is how I would be using it...I thought that agitating the water around my coil would help with the heat transfer, I was thinking a large stir bar??
 
I built a stirrer just for the fun of it.

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It works very well. However, recirculating the HLT water works just as well and is a lot easier to accomplish.
 
I just recirc through the top of the lid with a pump, works well.

_

I've thought of something similar for use with my pre-chiller.

Since I'm just using the hose now, I have a small submersible pump that is not used. I'm going to try adding it to my cooler of ice water the pre-chiller sits in, and just letting it recirc. That should keep warm spots from forming next to the pre-chiller coil.
 
Any thoughts on using a large stir bar, I will be using 8 gal aluminum pots as I will only plan to be making 5 gal batches.
 
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