So, I started actually cleaning up the massive piles of crap i have all over the house and realized that, if I felt like spending a day doing it, I pretty much had everything I would need to temp control some large 30 gallon plastic conicals that I had gotten from Tank Depot.
The only things I would have to buy are an on-demand pump, some stainless tubing, a small stainless tank of some kind and some glycol.
I have four of these conicals
Here's what I'm thinking:
Frame in four "closets" down in my basement and in each closet, make an extremely sturdy shelf on sliders that would pull out (ok, I would have to but that hardware as well). The shelf would have a large circular hole in it that a conical could sit in.
Each of these "closets" would be lined with 3 inch think extruded foam insulated foam boards (already have a pile left over from my walk-in build... not sure how I ended up with so much left over).
Then, next to these four closets I would have one of my ferm fridges (already have an extra one). Place a small (maybe 4-5 gallon) tank in the freezer, fill it with glycol and then plumb it through the on-demand pump and to a solenoid/manifold.
From the manifold it would split into four branches, one to each conical. Then I would take some stainless tubing, coil it into a wort chiller and mount one in each of the conical lids.
I already have extra PIDs laying around so I could wire the solenoid/manifold to open each branch via a PID temp setting. I could also, if I really wanted to, wire a simple heating blanket through these PIDs so I would have temp control on both sides, heat-chill.
Add wort to conical, set temp, close closet and walk away.
Temp rises above PID setting, the PID clicks open the solenoid creating a "demand" from the pump, the pump kicks on and pumps glycol from the freezer, through the manifold, through the stainless coil and chills the wort and then back into the glycol reserve tank in the freezer.
... not 100% positive if simply opening the solenoid would create enough of a demand that the pump would kick on. I'll have to think about that.
... but like I was saying, I have a large majority of this stuff already. I would need the stainless tubing, the solenoid/manifold thingy (gotta figure out exactly how I would do that... I'm sure I can find a very simply basic hydraulic manifold that would do the trick... and then the pump.
Yeah, "but you would have to clean those coils really well"... yeah.. not super worried about that.
"I would be leary about pumping glycol through my beer". I hear ya... but if plumbed correctly I don't see how this is a real concern.
"you're a moron"... true... true...
What else?
The only things I would have to buy are an on-demand pump, some stainless tubing, a small stainless tank of some kind and some glycol.
I have four of these conicals
Here's what I'm thinking:
Frame in four "closets" down in my basement and in each closet, make an extremely sturdy shelf on sliders that would pull out (ok, I would have to but that hardware as well). The shelf would have a large circular hole in it that a conical could sit in.
Each of these "closets" would be lined with 3 inch think extruded foam insulated foam boards (already have a pile left over from my walk-in build... not sure how I ended up with so much left over).
Then, next to these four closets I would have one of my ferm fridges (already have an extra one). Place a small (maybe 4-5 gallon) tank in the freezer, fill it with glycol and then plumb it through the on-demand pump and to a solenoid/manifold.
From the manifold it would split into four branches, one to each conical. Then I would take some stainless tubing, coil it into a wort chiller and mount one in each of the conical lids.
I already have extra PIDs laying around so I could wire the solenoid/manifold to open each branch via a PID temp setting. I could also, if I really wanted to, wire a simple heating blanket through these PIDs so I would have temp control on both sides, heat-chill.
Add wort to conical, set temp, close closet and walk away.
Temp rises above PID setting, the PID clicks open the solenoid creating a "demand" from the pump, the pump kicks on and pumps glycol from the freezer, through the manifold, through the stainless coil and chills the wort and then back into the glycol reserve tank in the freezer.
... not 100% positive if simply opening the solenoid would create enough of a demand that the pump would kick on. I'll have to think about that.
... but like I was saying, I have a large majority of this stuff already. I would need the stainless tubing, the solenoid/manifold thingy (gotta figure out exactly how I would do that... I'm sure I can find a very simply basic hydraulic manifold that would do the trick... and then the pump.
Yeah, "but you would have to clean those coils really well"... yeah.. not super worried about that.
"I would be leary about pumping glycol through my beer". I hear ya... but if plumbed correctly I don't see how this is a real concern.
"you're a moron"... true... true...
What else?