15 Gallon Conical Fermenter Cooling System

So my brew buddy and I have been trying to figure out a way to keep our conical temps regulated during these hot NC summers. Here is our solution.

Our Conical.

Our solution, a SS coil with camlock fittings.

Camlock and bulkheads from StainlessBrewing.com.



Assembled!

Our full solution. Cooler contains ice water with a small pond pump recirculating through SS coil inside.


Our homemade temp controller per the aquarium temp controller build thread on this forum.


As of two days later, its maintaining our target temp of 63 F. Ambient temps have been in the high 70's low 80's. :rockin:

I need to buy me a brew buddy like yours. How expensive are they?

and folks, tdawg183 would be my brew partner mentioned in original post. He built most of that system for us.

Awesome build. What is the plan for when it gets cold?

Like it! I haven't read about the aquarium pump, but I've seen the thread. How often do you have to add ice to your cooler?

Strong work!!!

Any chance you could post a parts list? Not the Conical but everything past the hoses?

I really like the cam lock idea. I've got a 7 gallon conical and have been needing a blow off recently. This might be a better way to do that. Thanks for sharing the temp regulation. I'll probably be adapting that in some form too!

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll see if we can put a parts list together.

As for adding ice. We added 2 bags of ice the day after brewing, and three bags the next day. But there were about 4 bags of ice in there after we added the three bags. Our next plan is to add a dorm fridge to help maintain cooler water temps to reduce the amount of ice we have to use. We will probably try this on our next brew day.

How much did the stainless coil set you back?

The coil was around $60 or 70 shipped and came with standard hose fittings on it. We didn't get it here, but check out StainlessBrewing.com. I think he has reasonable prices and will bend it however you want it.

Great - yet another homebrew site to purchase things from

modobrew said:

The coil was around $60 or 70 shipped and came with standard hose fittings on it. We didn't get it here, but check out StainlessBrewing.com. I think he has reasonable prices and will bend it however you want it.

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Same thing from Stainlessbrewing.com 25' for $57 and he copied the one the Brewhemoth site. It looks great on the pictures. I haven't been home to see it in person.

18DPA said:

Strong work!!!

Any chance you could post a parts list? Not the Conical but everything past the hoses?

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Thanks man.

Parts list:
SS Chiller ($66.99) Link
3/8" Compression Bulkhead (x2 @ $14.21) Link
1/2" Type C Camlock (x2 @ $6.29) Link
1/2" Type A Camlock (x2 @ $3.84) Link
158 GPH Miniature Submersible Fountain Pump ($8.99) Link
***This we intend to upgrade to this 620 GPH pump***

We purchased the hosing and 4 SS 3/8 or 1/2" (don't recall) washers from HD for less than $10 total.

The only difficult part to this entire system was trimming the chiller top tubes to the correct length so that it fit down in the conical at the correct height.

Thanks!!

I have an extra one of the smaller pumps already. Does it run all the time and that's why you want to upgrade to a bigger pump?

18DPA said:

Thanks!!

I have an extra one of the smaller pumps already. Does it run all the time and that's why you want to upgrade to a bigger pump?

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No, the flow rate just isnt strong enough to pump it the height we intend for it to pump. For now we have it sitting on a second conical. Don't plan to keep it that way. Hope this helps.

Cool thanks!! Was wondering about that in the picture.

Great thread. Planned on doing something like this before I saw this thread, and now I'll use your ideas as well. Really nice job.
Do you think you need that big of an immersion chiller of do you think you could get away with 25' X 3/8"? Also, what are you using for your drain parts/valve under the conical if you don't mind me asking?

Very cool idea... I cant see the pictures (at work) but I get the gist of it. Where is the temp probe located? Have you checked it in different areas throughout the vessel? I assume you get enough convection from active fermentation that the wort mixes enough to be consistent?

i would think a 5 gal bucket of water in a dorm fridge would be a great replacement for the cooler and bags of ice.....

in the winter you could throw a space heater in the fridge to heat the water.....

How much SS coil do you think you really need? I wonder if a "U" extending a foot or so into the fermenting beer would be enough.

the more surface area you have into the liquid the less time and energy will be used pumping. I'd suspect a simple U would have the pump running constantly and would not give you much leeway in temperature differential

fpweeks said:

i would think a 5 gal bucket of water in a dorm fridge would be a great replacement for the cooler and bags of ice.....

in the winter you could throw a space heater in the fridge to heat the water.....

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Submersible aquarium heater

kpr121 said:

Submersible aquarium heater

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Now there's an idea I haven't thought about. I wonder how warm they can get the water?

chutracheese said:

Great thread. Planned on doing something like this before I saw this thread, and now I'll use your ideas as well. Really nice job.
Do you think you need that big of an immersion chiller of do you think you could get away with 25' X 3/8"? Also, what are you using for your drain parts/valve under the conical if you don't mind me asking?

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I'll have to see if I can find the parts list for that. I know a couple of the pieces I bought from our local Agri Supply store. Let me see if I can dig up any old emails I have from past orders and I will try to let you know.

modobrew said:

Now there's an idea I haven't thought about. I wonder how warm they can get the water?

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I've used one on 15 gallon plastic (empty LME ) fermenter and can keep it to 70 degrees in the garage during a Georgia winter

geniz said:

I've used one on 15 gallon plastic (empty LME ) fermenter and can keep it to 70 degrees in the garage during a Georgia winter

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Have a link to where I can look at the one you use?

Aqueon 200 watt from petco:

http://www.petco.com/product/102603/Aqueon-Submersible-Aquarium-Heaters.aspx

Also on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YAHJ50/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

200 watt might be overkill but it works well

Set it to abt 70 on dial but prob would be better with a controller

For the sake of full disclosure, don't use it anymore because the fermenter fits in my ferm fridge

geniz said:

Aqueon 200 watt from petco:

http://www.petco.com/product/102603/Aqueon-Submersible-Aquarium-Heaters.aspx

Also on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YAHJ50/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

200 watt might be overkill but it works well

Set it to abt 70 on dial but prob would be better with a controller

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Thanks! I might have to look into one of those.

chutracheese said:

Great thread. Planned on doing something like this before I saw this thread, and now I'll use your ideas as well. Really nice job.
Do you think you need that big of an immersion chiller of do you think you could get away with 25' X 3/8"? Also, what are you using for your drain parts/valve under the conical if you don't mind me asking?

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As requested. This what I believe I used. I'm on vacation, so its hard for to check it at the moment, but it was something like follows.

I replaced the one on the tank with this one. http://www.norwescotanks.net/p-535-2-standard-duty-double-threaded-polypropylene-fitting.aspx Not sure if that size is correct as I'm on vacation right now and not at home to check to see if it is 2" or something smaller. Just be sure to check your diameter if yours needs to be replaced.

Then I needed a reducer to step it down to 1" for my ball valve, so I ordered something similar to this, can't remember where I got mine. http://www.etanks.com/products/details.aspx?productid=5156

Then I added this 1" x short nipple to attach my ball valve to my tank. http://www.etanks.com/products/details.aspx?productid=5079

I then added this 1" ball valve. http://www.agrisupply.com/Ball-Valve-Poly-Npt/p/10194/&sid=&eid=/

and then screwed this 1" hose barb into the bottom of the valve http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200336282_200336282

From the exit of the tank, it goes:

1. 2" Standard duty double threaded polypropylene fitting
2. 2" MPT x 1" FPT Reducing Bushing
3. 1" x Short Poly Nipple
4. 1" BALL VALVE
5. Polypropylene Hose Barb — 1in. Dia.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the details. Especially while on vacation! Have fun and thanks.

Awesome post guys!!!
It gave me a great idea to use my Keezer with a wood collar to house a 6 gallon bucket filled with water and do a modified version of your whole setup with the fermenter next to it by drilling ports through the wood collar. Then I could even rack straight to a secondary (to lager) or the keg (to drink-my favorite) thats in the keezer without even lifting or moving anything besides the conical which is on on casters anyways. I guess I need to put my construction hat on again.

Nice job and thanks for the order!

Nice job on your build. I am using a brewhemoth so it is very similar with its internal chiller. I have used an aquarium heater in the winter with good results. Here is a helpful tip for cooling though. Instead of adding bags of ice I freeze 2 liter bottles of water. This is much easier and does not cost anything once you have the empty bottles. I add 2 every 24 hours to my cooler and I am good.

cfrazier77 said:

Nice job on your build. I am using a brewhemoth so it is very similar with its internal chiller. I have used an aquarium heater in the winter with good results. Here is a helpful tip for cooling though. Instead of adding bags of ice I freeze 2 liter bottles of water. This is much easier and does not cost anything once you have the empty bottles. I add 2 every 24 hours to my cooler and I am good.

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Started doing this after a few bags of ice. Works great.

fpweeks said:

i would think a 5 gal bucket of water in a dorm fridge would be a great replacement for the cooler and bags of ice.....

in the winter you could throw a space heater in the fridge to heat the water.....

Click to expand...

modobrew briefly mentioned that this is our next step already but I just wanted to throw in that the ice bath in the cooler was just a way to get the show on the road. We were sick of getting off flavors after fermentation and being limited to certain yeast strains. We've since aquired a (free) dorm fridge and I'm currently building a little custom bucket to fit into it.

As for the heater, I think our thoughts were to keep as little equipment from being in contact with the liquid as possible for sanitations sake so I think we're going down the ferm heater route.

PVH said:

How much SS coil do you think you really need? I wonder if a "U" extending a foot or so into the fermenting beer would be enough.

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A "U" may be enough but I doubt it when it gets really warm out. It will however be a function of what speed pump you have. Meaning if you just had a small "U" loop you'd have to spend a lot more time pumping to cool than you would if you had a fast pump. That may be obvious but with our setup we justified needing a faster pump and we had 50' of coil but also the ambient temperature never got too warm. There's also the surface area factor, ability of your dorm fridge to cool warm water, etc.

Needless to say, my personal opinion is that you don't want your pump working a whole lot if possible. With this setup (dorm fridge, 620gph pump, 50' SS coil) I don't believe the pump will be overworked and I believe that lagering temps are achievable which is our end goal.

Hope that helps!

this little Tetra submersible is about $15 and works great! (Petco, WalMart...)

I'd consider pumping warm water, as opposed to setting this in your wort - too much to sanitize, too many little nooks for nasties to hide...

Hang Glider said:

this little Tetra submersible is about $15 and works great! (Petco, WalMart...)

I'd consider pumping warm water, as opposed to setting this in your wort - too much to sanitize, too many little nooks for nasties to hide...

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Thanks for this bit of info. We might look into this option as well.

Hang Glider said:

this little Tetra submersible is about $15 and works great! (Petco, WalMart...)

I'd consider pumping warm water, as opposed to setting this in your wort - too much to sanitize, too many little nooks for nasties to hide...

Click to expand...

I agree, I should have made it more clear, but I pump warm water too.

Do folks think that having 25 feet of 3/8 tubing with a strong pump is better than having 3/8 tubing with a smaller pump?

ghoti said:

Do folks think that having 25 feet of 3/8 tubing with a strong pump is better than having 3/8 tubing with a smaller pump?

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Hydraulics:

I don't know the formulas for calculating these but this is basic.

The longer the tube the more resistance.
The bigger ID of the hose the less resistance.
Height from your reservoir to the fermenter increases resistance.

All of these should be thought out before buying your pump especially that last one. Every pump has a rating and a chart telling how high it will pump.

Pump size:
If you get one that is too big you should be able go to Lowes or HD and buy a $5 dimmer switch. (Old school one with the white circle nob your weird uncle has at in his 70s style split level house in the den) This will allow you modulate the flow rate with it.

But there is no way to make a smaller pump generate more power or flow rate.

The bigger the pump the lest its going to have to work. which means less cycling and cheaper electric bills.