Chill and heat a fermentor with this...?

[Yorg]

What do you think of this as a unit to pump glycol or just water through tubing either wrapped around or a coil within a fermenter.
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/prod1412.htm
Would cool or heat as necessary.
I think it is based on peltier and heating element, but not sure and can't find much by searching.
Would it cope, I wonder with significant high and low ambient temp variations?

 

[Beerthoven]

For $300 you are probably better off just buying a chest freezer.

Edit: Though...I guess that wouldn't help with heating, would it? Sorry, not enough caffeine yet.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

What do you think of this as a unit to pump glycol or just water through tubing either wrapped around or a coil within a fermenter.
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/prod1412.htm
Would cool or heat as necessary.
I think it is based on peltier and heating element, but not sure and can't find much by searching.
Would it cope, I wonder with significant high and low ambient temp variations?

If you're right about it being based of the peltier then you're better off creating one yourself using peltier... 300 is ridiculous for something i can do with my freezer (with override) and a space heater...

 

[FlyGuy]

Yeah, I agree. The tried-and-true method of a freezer, a two-stage Ranco temperature controller, and a heating bulb will do all this PLUS it will give you a fermentation chamber large enough for more than one fermenter.

 

[RadicalEd]

And probably cost a bunch less, with higher capacity to boot.

 

[olllllo]

Unless he wants to cool something that won't fit in a freeezer.

Ex. See BrewPastors glycol chilled conicals.

 

[FlyGuy]

If it is that big, I am not sure that 85W of refridgeration power is going to work. Regardless, one could also use an old fridge instead of a freezer -- small conicals will fit for sure.

 

[Yorg]

Thanks guys for your thoughts.

 

[Grimsawyer]

What about if you have a 25 gallon+ conical in the garage? No chest freezer I can think of will do that job. I am thinking about getting 4 SS barrels. one for MLT, one for HLT, one for a boil kettle and one for fermenting. (OK, I'd probly only use it once a year when I had people to go in on a batch with me, but still!!!) I don't have room in my closet for that and I'm trying to wrap my head around how I am going to heat/cool that much beer. I wonder if that would do the job if you wrapped the barrel a few times with insulation. Any thoughts?

 

[nabs478]

I wonder if that would do the job if you wrapped the barrel a few times with insulation. Any thoughts?

It's not a question of whether it would work with insulation, it's a question of how much insulation you would need. If you can only allow 85W into the barrel, then you need to look at the surface area of the barrel, the temp difference and then buy insulation that will will leak less than 85W.

 

[Shockerengr]

It's not a question of whether it would work with insulation, it's a question of how much insulation you would need. If you can only allow 85W into the barrel, then you need to look at the surface area of the barrel, the temp difference and then buy insulation that will will leak less than 85W.

It's a bit more than that though, fermentation is exothermic, so it has to handle the heat loss of the insulation plus the energy created by fermentation. there's a point in batch size where 85 watts isn't enough

 

[anthrobe]

Don't know if you have ever worked with glycol. That stuff is hard to clean up if you have a mess. I work with glycol chillers at work and if you get a leak, it is a ****** to clean up and fix. $300 is a bit pricy. My new chest freezer and controller has me down $150.

 

[RonInPHX]

If you look long enough on ebay you can get some good deals on industrial recirculating chillers. I got mine for $65 plus shipping. Another $39 for the PID and I was in business. It heats and cools and is able to keep my fermenter cool in my 110 deg arizona garage.