DIY glycol chilled plastic conical fermenters

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packet

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As requested in the main conical thread, I'm creating a thread for the fermenters I'm building.

The gist of it is that this is (going to be) a BCS-460 controlled set of 3 15 gallon plastic fermenters. Heated via flexwatt heat tape and cooled via glycol. Why three fermenters? The BCS-460 only supports 4 temp probes and I need one for the glycol. So, max size of 3 fermenters. The Air conditioner I'm using should support more than that though.

The glycol system I'm building is completely hacked together based on an old BYO article. I uses a re-purposed window air conditioner to chill the glycol and then a submersible pump to circulate the glycol.

When a fermenter needs to be chilled, the BCS will turn on the pump to start circulating the glycol and then turn on a motorized ball valve to send the glycol to the specific fermenter.

As of writing this, I've tested the air conditioner, but haven't wired up the BCS. So, there may be some changes to the design as things get further along.

The main holdup at this point is that stainless brewing is out of 1/2" stainless tubing. So, I have to wait until that gets back in stock. But, in the mean time I'm working on the stand:

photo%25286%2529.JPG


It's (obviously) made from 2x4, joined via pocket screws and lag bolts. The counter top was the most expensive piece and is a 6ft butcher block counter from ikea.

Right now I've cut the remainder of the holes for the other two fermenters, have stained it, and am waiting for the first coat of waterlox to dry.
 
Im glad you get to be the guinea pig on this one, because this is my next build.
 
Im glad you get to be the guinea pig on this one, because this is my next build.

Yeah, there's a surprising lack of information out there on this. I figured people would be all about it, but I guess chest freezers work well enough for most people.
 
packet said:
Yeah, there's a surprising lack of information out there on this. I figured people would be all about it, but I guess chest freezers work well enough for most people.

I was just more concerned if the ac unit can keep up.
 
I was just more concerned if the ac unit can keep up.

Near as I can tell, the standard chest freezer is ~400-500BTU. The A/C unit I have is 5,000BTU. Granted, the insulation isn't nearly as good, but it should be fine.
 
Where did you get your conicals from?

Spraysmarter. Agrimart has them with free shipping if you leave them in your cart for a day or two though.

I had ordered them from Rural King,but they had an 8 week backorder on them.

My only complaint about the ones from Spraysmarter is that they must have been sitting in a barn or something. the outside of the conicals were filthy when they showed up. A quick blast with the hose fixed that though.
 
Looking forward to seeing your progress! This is on my to-do list as well. Unfortunately, my list is getting really long. ;-)

edit: One thought on your design. Instead of controlling the pump with the bcs, couldn't you just get a pressure activated diaphragm pump and then just use the bcs to control the solenoid valves for the glycol going to each conical? This way the pump will turn on automatically as needed. My apologies if this is your plan and I misunderstand your description.
 
Looking forward to seeing your progress! This is on my to-do list as well. Unfortunately, my list is getting really long. ;-)

edit: One thought on your design. Instead of controlling the pump with the bcs, couldn't you just get a pressure activated diaphragm pump and then just use the bcs to control the solenoid valves for the glycol going to each conical? This way the pump will turn on automatically as needed. My apologies if this is your plan and I misunderstand your description.

I suppose I could, but it wouldn't gain me a ton. With the current plan, I can have the pump turned on to circulate the glycol in the reservoir. The BCS has more than enough outputs to control the pump anyways. It's just another relay to add to the controller. The main restriction with the BCS is the number of temp probes.

I looked in to solenoid valves since they're quite a bit cheaper than mechanical ball valves, but they have very small diameter openings, which could be a problem if I get a small chunk of ice in the line.

The downside to the ball valves is they're apparently a major pain to find in the US. Everywhere I looked was out of stock. So, I had to order them from the factory in china.
 
When a fermenter needs to be chilled, the BCS will turn on the pump to start circulating the glycol and then turn on a motorized ball valve to send the glycol to the specific fermenter.

Turning the pump on and off to many times per hour may not be the best solution.
Check with the manufacturer or look at the data sheet how many start & and stops per hour the pump can handle.
My glycol pump runs 24/7 and the controller turns the solenoid valves on and off.
Cheers,
ClaudiusB
 
Thanks for posting this build.. I may be looking to do something glycol-y if/when I start brewing lagers.

Spraysmarter. Agrimart has them with free shipping if you leave them in your cart for a day or two though.

The fine print is "orders over $250"... already checked that. :mug:
 
Turning the pump on and off to many times per hour may not be the best solution.
Check with the manufacturer or look at the data sheet how many start & and stops per hour the pump can handle.
My glycol pump runs 24/7 and the controller turns the solenoid valves on and off.
Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Eh, it's a $40 pump. If it's a problem I can always replace it.
 
How often do you expect the AC unit to run?

Hopefully fairly rarely. The temp of the glycol isn't all that critical. So, I plan on giving a fairly wide margin on the glycol temp to keep the cycles to a minimum.
 
I know if you ran it all day everyday it would be around $2 a day, how does the system work? I know the chiller is in Glycol.
 
I know if you ran it all day everyday it would be around $2 a day, how does the system work? I know the chiller is in Glycol.

An updated version of this:

http://byo.com/brown-ale/item/1877-build-your-own-glycol-fermenter

AC coils go in the glycol to chill it, a submersible pump circulates the glycol through the lines. Motorized ball valves decide which conical gets cooled.

Inside the conicals will be an immersion chiller to circulate the glycol

To control it all, I'm using a BCS-460. One temp probe monitors the temp of the glycol and turns on the AC unit when it gets above a set point.

The other 3 temp probes control conicals. When a conical needs to be chilled, the pump gets turned on an a ball valve gets actuated to cool it.

If it needs to be heated, there will be heat tape around the conical. I'm not quite sure how effective this will be, but we'll see how it goes.
 
Looking forward to seeing your progress! This is on my to-do list as well. Unfortunately, my list is getting really long. ;-)

edit: One thought on your design. Instead of controlling the pump with the bcs, couldn't you just get a pressure activated diaphragm pump and then just use the bcs to control the solenoid valves for the glycol going to each conical? This way the pump will turn on automatically as needed. My apologies if this is your plan and I misunderstand your description.

Barryfine, do you happen to have any links to such a pump. I have a different application that I'm working on that might really benefit from such a thing.
 
Barryfine, do you happen to have any links to such a pump. I have a different application that I'm working on that might really benefit from such a thing.

Here is a cheap 12V version of what I'm talking about. They're commonly used in RVs to pump water to the sinks as needed. You can find a bunch of different ones like this if you search for "diaphragm pump rv". They also make heavy duty ones if you need something with more power.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150998230266?hlp=false
 
Here's what I'm basing the plumbing for the glycol lines on:

Glycol.jpg


Obviously without the plate cooler or cold room.
 
And with the pipe wrap in place:
IMG_0666%255B1%255D.JPG


The glycol I ordered finally showed up today too. Still waiting on a couple fittings, but otherwise I should have most of what I need. Hopefully this weekend I'll get around to rewiring the BCS-460.
 
packet said:
And with the pipe wrap in place:

The glycol I ordered finally showed up today too. Still waiting on a couple fittings, but otherwise I should have most of what I need. Hopefully this weekend I'll get around to rewiring the BCS-460.

Since you ordered it, I assume you are not using automobile coolant. Please excuse my ignorance but what exactly are you using?
 
And with the pipe wrap in place:
IMG_0666%255B1%255D.JPG


The glycol I ordered finally showed up today too. Still waiting on a couple fittings, but otherwise I should have most of what I need. Hopefully this weekend I'll get around to rewiring the BCS-460.

Nice looking set up.... So is that a Bug Eyed Sprite I see a head light of in the picture? Or is that a Porsche?

Cheers
Jay
 
Since you ordered it, I assume you are not using automobile coolant. Please excuse my ignorance but what exactly are you using?

USP Propylene Glycol. It's not toxic if you happen to ingest some, which is a good thing considering it'll be running through a chiller in the beer. It's not cheap, but probably worth the price for the added safety factor.

I've heard of other people using the RV Coolant you use to winterize water lines in an RV, but it tends to get chunky as it gets below 32F. Much cheaper though, ~$5/gal instead of the $20/gal I paid for the Propylene Glycol.
 
Nice looking set up.... So is that a Bug Eyed Sprite I see a head light of in the picture? Or is that a Porsche?

Cheers
Jay

It's an old 911. Mostly restored, but needs a new paint job at some point in the next couple years.
 
So begins my least favorite part of the project... rewiring the BCS:

IMG_0667%255B1%255D.JPG
 
Why the second return lime in parallel to the one for the coil returns?

To equalize the flow between the conicals. If you don't have that, the first conical in line gets a lot more glycol flow to it than the last one in line since there is less total pipe for the glycol to flow through.

This way they should get roughly equal amounts of glycol if more than one fermenter needs to chill at any given point in time.
 
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