Heater/Chiller units

[shroppie]

Hello All,

Does anyone know anything about the chiller/heater units on the MoreBeer conical fermenters? Or something similar that a Ranco or Johnson controller can run attached to the vessel?

Thanks

 

[evanvine]

MoreBeer? (yes please) Ranco?? Johnson???

You are far beyond me shroppie. :wha:
Will be interested to read what sensible replies you get.

 

[Aleman]

IIRC the Morebeer conicals are cooled and heated using Peltier coolers, Which to really do the job properly draw quite a bit of current (read expensive DC Supplies). . . . I think they are a great solution . . . but a simple heating belt and python chiller is much simpler to set up and control.

Peltier coolers can be had quite cheaply something like around 30 dollars . . . but the DC supplies are much more expensive . . . . and you have to remove the heat from the hot junction as well. . . . I've played around with Peltier cooling in PC's (Super cooling the refrigerant in the water cooling loop) and ended up with 1KW DC power supplies to drive the Peltier arrays . . . . Was totally insane but then I was over clocking a 2.4GHz processor at 5GHz and hitting CPU temps of under 50C at full load.

 

[shroppie]

I am not an engineer so some of your reply is over my head. So, in straight forward language, what would I need to build a similar unit to the Morebeer conical which is temp. controlled?
I already have a Minibrew conical.
Thanks, s

 

[richc]

I've got a peltier cooler I've been playing with making into an fan cooler type thing. I've been fighting to get a PC power supply to work to give it power with very little luck so far. If I can get it to work I was considering doing the same thing to cool my fermenter....
Peltier coolers are things you run a lot of current through, one side gets hot and the other gets cold. You stick a load of heat sinks on the hot side and put the cold side onto whatever you want to cool down.

 

[Aleman]

I am not an engineer so some of your reply is over my head. So, in straight forward language, what would I need to build a similar unit to the Morebeer conical which is temp. controlled?
I already have a Minibrew conical.
Thanks, s

In that case look at a much simpler solution . . . Larder fridge with a tube heater in, controlled with One of These . . The Johnson/Ranco units you hear about are predominantly used in the US