Interesting invention for keeping coffee temps.

[Recluse]

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/31/coffee-joulies-cleve.html

http://www.joulies.com/faq


I wonder if these could be specifically re-engineered for Mash/steep temperature keeping.

 

[BargainFittings]

They are using the thermal mass of the stainless steel used to make these to absorb the initial heat of the coffee and keep it from burning you.

I don't see any benefit to maintaining mash temps. You would probably have to include any extra metal in your brewing software to correct for the additional added thermal mass.

Stainless steel silverware would work if you want to experiment with this.

 

[Recluse]

They are using the thermal mass of the stainless steel used to make these to absorb the initial heat of the coffee and keep it from burning you.

I don't see any benefit to maintaining mash temps. You would probably have to include any extra metal in your brewing software to correct for the additional added thermal mass.

Stainless steel silverware would work if you want to experiment with this.

NO..read the article. It is not just the thermal mass of the stainless steel. There is a substrate inside which melts as it absorbs heat and then re-solidifies releasing the heat it absorbed to maintain temperature. It is a neat application of thermodynamics and materials science. Just thought it was an interesting concept that could have wider application than keeping coffee at constant temperature.

 

[BargainFittings]

Ok, I just reread it.

Maybe I'm being too practical.

I do wonder how big a bean you would need for a mash for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Recluse]

For sure this particular iteration of the technology isn't suitable..I was just thinking of other applications where temperatures need to be quickly reduced and held, so mashing and brewing came to mind

It reminded me of the method of cooling down wort by dumping in sanitized frozen water bottles, which, work only as you said by thermal mass. The ability to HOLD a temperature rather than just cool down seemed like a nice idea.

I agree that you would need BIG BEANS!

 

[StMarcos]

If you had a paraffin that melted at mash temps, the temp would be maintained until all of it had solidified. You get the even temps and the energy of the phase change to help you out.

 

[audger]

NO..read the article. It is not just the thermal mass of the stainless steel. There is a substrate inside which melts as it absorbs heat and then re-solidifies releasing the heat it absorbed to maintain temperature. It is a neat application of thermodynamics and materials science. Just thought it was an interesting concept that could have wider application than keeping coffee at constant temperature.

ah- clever marketing speak strikes yet another victem.


"and absorbs a lot of energy as it melts." is a flat out lie- its not absorbing any extra energy in the melting process, its just melting because of the amount of heat present.

transitioning ANY material from liquid to solid does not absorb or release any additional energy from the amount put into it by the hot coffee. its simply a phase change. if the 'special substrate' were solid all the time, nothing different would happen, and the end result would be the exact same. it would be able to absorb the same amount of heat, and hold the same amount of energy.

this is nothing more fancy then any other solid material with a large thermal mass. you can get the exact same effect if you used granite stones or steel nuts or bearings or any number of things.

 

[Recluse]

ah- clever marketing speak strikes yet another victem.


"and absorbs a lot of energy as it melts." is a flat out lie- its not absorbing any extra energy in the melting process, its just melting because of the amount of heat present.

"Just melting because of the amount of heat present" Yes.. It must absorb that heat to melt and heat must be REMOVED for it to resolidify.

The specific heat of a material is the amount of heat required to change a unit mass of a substance by one unit of temperature.


Q = mcΔT

Otherwise ice cubes/ice packs wouldn't cool anything..

Phase transitions are further complicated by the latent heat or enthalpy of fusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion

The latent heat or enthalpy of fusion is the extra energy needed to effect a phase transition.

 

[audger]

i understand that. my point is that fancy phase shifts contribute zero to the fuction of the product. it would function the exact same way if it were made of any other material with the same thermal mass and volume. there is no fancy science behind it. its a pure marketing gimic.


if you did the math for the latent heat in one of those shiney coffee beans, the number would be so insignificantly small it wouldnt matter a single degree to your cup of coffee.