Glycol fermenter 1st run

I built this after I saw Marty's article in Brew Your Own. I built my own evaporator coil to cover more area inside the cooler. I am testing it out on a oatmeal stout, The temps in my garage are in the upper 70's to mid 80's right now, and it is having no trouble holding 66 degrees, it only runs for 10-15 min. twice a day.

Man that is dandy! What issue was that in?

Looks really good. Running 15 minutes a day for you would only be a few minutes a day for me.

It is in the May-June 2009 issue

Very Cool! I'm in the process of building something similar. I just got a window ac unit and I will be also be trying to chill a sanke keg. I was also hoping to be able to lager in the keg as well.

I don't have access to that article and I have a few questions:

1) Do you have two temp controls - one for the glycol bath and another for the fermenter?

2) Can you provide any more details on how you built your evaporator coil? I was going to try to just put the factory evap in the glycol bath and hope for the best, but that seems like a better option.

3) Where did you get your glycol? Does it have any rust inhibitors in it?

Sorry for all the questions. This is really interesting.

Thanks in advance.

I am just using one ranco temp control to turn system on when beer temp rises.
The evaporator is about 25 feet of 3/8 copper, you will need to be able to remove the refrigerant from the system to weld in the new coil. In the article in the magazine he used the factory coil. I used 50 feet of 3/8 copper around the sanke keg as tight as I could get it. I am using a 250 gph pond pump to circulate the glycol around the keg. I used regular RV antifreeze (potable) for the glycol. I hope this helps you can PM me if you have any other questions

Highlandsbrew said:

It is in the May-June 2009 issue

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thanks, I'm going to try to get ahold of that issue. I have an extra ac unit laying around should make for a good project.

Highlandsbrew said:

I am just using one ranco temp control to turn system on when beer temp rises.
The evaporator is about 25 feet of 3/8 copper, you will need to be able to remove the refrigerant from the system to weld in the new coil. In the article in the magazine he used the factory coil. I used 50 feet of 3/8 copper around the sanke keg as tight as I could get it. I am using a 250 gph pond pump to circulate the glycol around the keg. I used regular RV antifreeze (potable) for the glycol. I hope this helps you can PM me if you have any other questions

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Awesome. Thank you for the info. I don't think I'll be able to remove the refrigerant so I think I'll just stick with the factory evap. I was also thinking about using multiple temp controllers so maybe in the (distant) future, I could have multiple fermenters cooling off one glycol bath.

Let us know how the beer turns out.

P-Lay said:

Awesome. Thank you for the info. I don't think I'll be able to remove the refrigerant so I think I'll just stick with the factory evap. I was also thinking about using multiple temp controllers so maybe in the (distant) future, I could have multiple fermenters cooling off one glycol bath.

Let us know how the beer turns out.

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P-Lay,

I plan on doing the same thing with the multiple fermenters. I was thinking that this project would be the perfect use of an Arduino. See sean coates project on uHobby. Good luck and let us know when you do it.

Highland, hope it works out well. How did you remove the refrigerant?

I had to install a service port on my window ac to recover the refrigerant, weld in ports are best, piercing type will work, but tend to leak over time.

Highlandsbrew said:

I had to install a service port on my window ac to recover the refrigerant, weld in ports are best, piercing type will work, but tend to leak over time.

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Cool. Just curious. Do you have anything in the fermenters right now? If so, how long until you reap the benefits? As far as power usage, do you think this is a pretty efficient design?

I have an oatmeal stout fermenting now, I plan to crash cool it and keg it on Friday, as far as cost of running, right now it hardly runs, I think because of the insulation around the keg and the cold glycol that stays in the coil around the keg after system shuts off, I noticed that the temp drops about 1 degree below my set point about 15 min after it shuts down.

Acidjazz54 said:

P-Lay,

I plan on doing the same thing with the multiple fermenters. I was thinking that this project would be the perfect use of an Arduino. See sean coates project on uHobby. Good luck and let us know when you do it.

Highland, hope it works out well. How did you remove the refrigerant?

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Do you have a link to that project? I can't seem to find it. I'm not familiar with uHobby.

P-Lay,

Here is the link to the original. This one is pretty basic and should be easy to modify. He has also done a second version with an LCD but I was only able to find that one once. Luckily I downloaded the code and if you'd like I can PM it to you.

http://www.uchobby.com/index.php/2007/10/08/arduino-beer-thermostat/

...I wanted to get it working now, not in a week, or more, when a controller would arrive. Additionally, these controllers can run for anywhere from $60-200. I didn’t feel like waiting, and I didn’t feel like paying. So, what’s a resourceful geek supposed to do? Build your own, of course...

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Just breezed through that tutorial and found that funny.

That's a cool project. I'm not sure if I want to go that route or the BCS-460 for multiple fermenters. I have some decisions to make - but not for a while.

Thanks!

Any updates to this project? How is the system running after a few years use?