IceProbe Chiller

[nigel_c]

A few weeks ago I discovered these chillers while drooling over the brewjacket immersion chiller. Basically these allow you lager without taking up valuable fridge space. They lower the temperature of the brew to lager fermentation temps by means of a thermoelectric chiller.
The brewjacket system is a crazy price so I decided to go with the IceProbe after doing some research.
http://www.novatecproducts.com/iceprobe.htm


It is a self contained chilling system that in is easily installed with only the need to drill 1.25 inch hole.



The specs claim one can maintain a temperature differential of up to 20F (6.5c) in a 10 gallon aquarium (yes they are aquarium coolers that are also used in water coolers and are food safe). I brew 5gallon batches so should be perfect.


The power supply that comes with it is rated for 120v so I have a new one on the way so should be doing full test on it in the next few days. I plan on testing it with 23L water in a standard fermenter and then insulated.
I have an STC temp controller ready to go with it as well.
Ill report back in a few days when I have more info.

Ice probe came from Amazon. Power supply came from a place called freetv.ie

[johnrm]

Did you get sorted with a power supply Nigel?

[nigel_c]

Yeah I ordered online from so should have it in a day or 2.

[armedcor]

Really interested in how this will turn out! Likes like another diy project if it works well!

[nigel_c]

Few more pics.

The fan that disperses the heat drawn from the brew.


The bulkhead fitting.

[Vermelho]

Does it circulate the beer? Or do you have to have a pump to circulate it?

[mcgrath]

Does it circulate the beer? Or do you have to have a pump to circulate it?

Was thinking the same thing. When fermentation begins I guess movement due to yeast activity will help. I wonder if it would be better positioned higher up for when there is less activity? Theory being that warmer liquid will rise. 

[nigel_c]

No pump needed. The movement caused by fermentation should be enough.
I put it in a narrow wine fermentor to try put the cooling element as close to the middle as possible which should help the movement of things.

[Dr Horrible]

I've been playing around with similar type applications for a while now, and the biggest problem is keeping the temp where you want it before the fermentation kicks off.  Once the yeast starts moving there's no trouble, it's just those critical hours before that - keeping a batch cool is a little harder than heating because a heater at the bottom will cause the hotter liquid to naturally rise and create a bit of mixing whereas cooler liquid just sinks to the bottom.  I'd advise as much insulation as possible because your batch will naturally move towards the ambient temp and we're  just gettting beyond lager temps now, but not so much that  a device like that couldn't handle it.  Be interested to see how you get on, my messing around with Peltiers has been up and down - insulation in the critical areas is the most important thing.

[nigel_c]

New power supply arrived today so I have the first test on.

[biertourist]

Chilling / heating will create convection currents that will help move the liquid around, too.


-I'm wondering if you could use these with a home-made glycol resevior and an appropriate sized aquarium pump to make a really simple glycol chiller. 
Think of a an 8 liter insulated drink cooler like this: with a small pump inside and one of these iceprobe chillers installed in it with about 7 liters of glycol.  -http://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Beverage-Cooler-Gal-Yellow/dp/B00002ND4X

You could connect a modified STC 1000 controller to it and pump the glycol through a stainless or copper immersion chiller and you'd have an awesome, fairly inexpensive and easy-to-build glycol cooling system. -Upsize it to a full 5 gallon reservior and maybe 2 IceProbes and you could chill multiple fermenters simultaneously if you implemented more complicated actuator control to turn on the flow to individual fermenters.



Adam

[Dr Horrible]

Ehmmm, that's pretty much my setup
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,5811.msg74012.html#msg74012  (although I've developed a bit since then)
There's no need for an iceprobe chilller or glycol though, if you just use a chilled cooler box (also Peltier technology) with water in it,  you're good, although I usually put two ice bottles in there to start with a cold temp (great for prechillng down to a low temp prior to pitching).   Don't use a copper coil, copper in a fermenter is bad news.  I got my SS coil made up but HBW are selling them now, so it's all off the shelf, easy to get stuff and gives excellent temp control within reason - I still keep to lagers in the winter, but with better insulation I could possibly stretch that out a bit.
Haven't looked at multiple fermenters, have thought about, but currently switching the above setup to 12V as I've been evicted to the shed.

[nigel_c]

I started researching the chiller to cut down on my brewing footprint so trying to keep it as self contained as possible.
Trial day today. I insulated the fermenter with around 5m of small bubble wrap and put 20l of water in at apox 15c and let it do its thing.
Its dropping steadily and is sitting at 11.2 now. About 2 hours later. I'm going to let if go to see how low it can drop before adding temp control. 
I have grains all milled for a lager brew day tomorrow so will report back.

[phoenix]

Watching this closely Nigel!

[Shane Phelan]

Also watching closely. Particularly interested in its performance over the summer.