Re: Anyone using a "heat pipe" to cool fermenter? How about a peltier driven heatpipe?

> When Scott pointed out that, without a pump, the amount of pipe within

> > the fermenter may not be adequate for the amount of heat to be moved, he > > may well have hit the nail on the head, but I'd like to see if I can > > locate some precise figures or a formula or something like that. That > > was one of the main questions that I'm researching -- how efficient is a > > heat pipe, and how can I build or acquire one if one should work? The > > question has never, in my mind, been about the peltier. > > > > If you're interested in peltier cooling somebody pointed out this product > a > while back and you could skip the need for a heat pipe. I even emailed the > company asking about price but it was a bit more than I was interested in > spending. If I read their info correctly it looks like one would chill a 5 > gal batch about 10 degrees below ambient. I could hit 65 degrees easy with > that mounted into the side of my fermenter. >
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> > Mark R

I bought a peltier cooling module from these people at

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`. Some day (when I get around to it), I'm gonna build an insulated box for my fermenter, and use this thing to cool it (or rather keep it at a cooler temperature).

If I recall correctly, these things only move abot 80-90 BTU/HR. That would be OK to maintain a lower temperature, but wouldn't do much to cool hot wort (that's about the same as adding 3/4 lb of ice every hour).

-Hershel

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Hershel Roberson
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Use a wort chiller to bring the hot wort down to fermentation temps. Then wrap the fermenter in a blanket and plug in the peltier. If house ambient is around 73 and one unit chills a 10 gallon aquarium 6-8 degrees (and remember there is lots of uninsulated surface area on an aquarium) it should keep 5 plus gallons in the 64 to 68 range somewhere. Now if you sprayed foam insulation on the outside of your fermenter you may get it down even lower. The problem I see is they have only two controllers, one in the 45-65 range and one from 65-85. You'll either operate one at the bottom of it's scale, or if you use the other and have problems maintaining 64 degrees, it could run all the time.

Mark R

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Mark R

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