Temp controlled brewing cabinet.

That only works exactly for water. Alcohol is less dense, so the amount of heat required is a little bit less. Do the calculation in grams instead of cubic centimeters and you'll be OK. IOW, 1 calorie to raise 1 gram by 1ºC 1 Kilocalorie per Kilogram.

Tom S

Thanks for that. Did I mention that the temp cabinet was going to have a motherboard, power supply and harddrive in it? Have yet to compile a compact copy of Linux to run on a 486 and 20Mb RAM but it is 'on zee list'.

I'll be sure to post piccies of my madness somewhere once it takes form.

Have a beer brew started today. I'm taking a 'keen interest' in how the 400w (brute force!) aquarium heater fairs with keeping the water reservoir up to temp. The kit recipe says to maintain 20 - 25C which I imagine to be to compensate for sprinkling the yeast (as instructed) as opposed to using a starter bottle. Room temp is currently 16.5C, outside it is around 4C. Brew and reservoir are 24+C.

Mike

So basically you're building a wine _heating_ cabinet - right? No way is a Peltier going to keep up with the heat load from a built in computer.

Tom S

Now wait a minute. You're using a peltier device for budgetary reasons. There's a control card of some sort. A 486 with 20 MRam, power supplies, etc. Linux! Are you sure the old freezer with a modified thermostat isn't the cheapest way to go? Engineer types like simple too. Less to go wrong and lose jobs over. Thermostats are pretty reliable as is the mature technology of a chest freezer.

Chris

The PC internals are going to be outside the insulated section of the cabinet. Will just a screen on top instead of the whole shabang. PC will be standard fan cooled.

K.I.S.S. is good and I agree but my chosen route has been influenced by (amongst other things):

Not to mention the fact that once SWMBO scarfs an eyefull of your homemade contraption she'll quickly relent and let you buy an old freezer to replace it. ;^D

Tom S

Problem is that she'll spot a deliberate botchup a mile off...

As I've finished my chores (building her a couple of deck chairs), I can now start construction of the cabinet with a clear conscience. :-)