15 Gallon Conical Fermenter Cooling System

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
But it's thermodynamics more than hydraulics. Does a lower flow rate cool quicker than a higher flow rate. Depends on the length of tubing, temp change of coolant through that length, etc, etc.....

I didn't do that well in thermodynamics.....
 
Didn't do well in thermodynamics?? Hell I'm a PA that dropped out of High School....That being said your right about it being thermodynamics.

For the heat transfer you would want the diameter of the coil to be as big as possible. For the thermodynamics This will give you the most surface area for heat transfer, and for the hydrolics it will provide the least amount of restriction on the pump. The length of the tubing is another factor affecting restriction on the pump.

The part I get fuzzy on is heat transfer vs the speed of the cooling liquid going through the coil. The other end is something you have to take into account is how fast the return liquid can get cooled. Too fast and you're just cycling warm fluid through the beer.


Most of the problems I've been reading about is guys getting pumps that couldn't push hard enough to get up into the conical or they had a 50' SS smaller diameter coil that gave too much restriction.
 
18DPA said:
Most of the problems I've been reading about is guys getting pumps that couldn't push hard enough to get up into the conical or they had a 50' SS smaller diameter coil that gave too much restriction.
Click to expand...

The reason we are going to a faster pump is almost exclusively a combination of both of these issues. Our 158gph cooled well but it just dribbled water through the line and (as you can see from the pictures) it was elevated. We need the cooling element on the ground thus we needed a pump with more "lift" and there we found the 620gph pump which has a lift almost triple that of the smaller one. From there we can adjust the speed down if need be but I doubt it will be required. With 25ft of SS I bet the 158gph would work better but I'd still opt for the 620gph pump.
 
tdawg183 said:
...... With 25ft of SS I bet the 158gph would work better but I'd still opt for the 620gph pump.
Click to expand...
A couple other threads talk about this. One guy has a set up where the coolant reservoir is in another room. Add that distance plus a 50' coil and pretty soon you have hundreds of feet of line you're trying to push fluid through. That is a lot of friction and back pressure.
 
lonepalm said:
I have one of these built into a table. Do you plan to strictly use this for lagering?
Click to expand...

lonepalm, this setup was designed for regulating ale temps during our hot NC summer months. We also plan to experiment with it lagering in the fall when temps aren't as high. We've successfully used this design in one beer so far, a Kolsch that attenuated on point and as of transferring to the secondary, no off flavors were detected. We hope to be serving it soon and will better know how our system worked.

Look for future updates as we plan to use a dorm fridge rather than the cooler in our next setup.
 
Copying your setup. Custom built my stand so it will gravity feed into corny

I'll do up a parts list and send more photos of it working. Just got a dorm fridge off CL and debating if I'll need to run glycol or not.

image-1315994071.jpg


image-743906457.jpg


image-1319865001.jpg
 
I see guys putting the qd's through the lid. Why not run through the top or upper side of the conical? Seems like it would be less cumbersome when removing the lid
 
18DPA said:
Copying your setup. Custom built my stand so it will gravity feed into corny

I'll do up a parts list and send more photos of it working. Just got a dorm fridge off CL and debating if I'll need to run glycol or not.
Click to expand...

Looks great! Glad we could be of some inspiration.:tank:
 
18DPA debating if I'll need to run glycol or not.[/QUOTE said:
Why not try RV antifreeze for sinks and toilets during the winter first?
It's not toxic. Worth a shot. (Kal used it to chill his draft tower through glycol lines.)
Click to expand...
 
Here it is on a test run.

Im trying to cool 5 gallons of water. Usually I'll brew 12 gallon batches but I want to test it at minimum capacity first. The bottom of the thermowell and the coil sit at about 2.5 gallons.

So far no leaks and it runs fine.

Pond Pump in stollen 5 gallon RO water jug. That cord into Ranco.

Ranco temp controller probe goes into brewers hardware's longest unthreaded thermowell (really well made).

Water is 80 degrees right now and fridge isn't cool either I'm going to wait to run the pump until its cooled off.

Also I am planning on a racking port but that is down the road a bit. All my fittings are in a box and I can't remember which are for the upcoming electric brewery.

Questions: What was the consensus on the airlocks on this? Needed not needed? I know you have to seal the lid etc etc. Spotty Dog I think you go without right?

image-367354877.jpg


image-697435461.jpg


image-4064140287.jpg


image-942382432.jpg


image-3488101915.jpg
 
Yes. Don't have enough material right now to do it proper. But soon. Zack this is so much your baby wothout that beautiful coil it wouldn't be here.

image-342752289.jpg
 
Can u list the camlock parts? I have everything but that ready to go. Wasn't sure how to get the stainless steel coil through the top in a clean technique. I like the looks of the camlock.
 
18DPA said:
Yes. Don't have enough material right now to do it proper. But soon. Zack this is so much your baby wothout that beautiful coil it wouldn't be here.
Click to expand...

Great! Let me know when she's ready to ship home.

Are you ok with the Type-C camlocks or would you recommend the Type-D (female cam x female thread) with a hose barb fitting for a larger bore?
 
Ship it home...hmmmm Not so much.

The type C are fine. With the hose I bought at Home Depot its a snug fit but I was able to pull them apart. I'm afraid with the barb/Larger Diameter it wouldn't happen. Flow seems to be fine as well.

For the brewing side I'm glad I did go with the larger bore ones. My office and work bench are such a mess of boxes and packaging right now and a lot of it says "stainless brewing" all over it. Thanks!
 
18DPA said:
Here it is on a test run.

Im trying to cool 5 gallons of water. Usually I'll brew 12 gallon batches but I want to test it at minimum capacity first. The bottom of the thermowell and the coil sit at about 2.5 gallons.

So far no leaks and it runs fine.

Pond Pump in stollen 5 gallon RO water jug. That cord into Ranco.

Ranco temp controller probe goes into brewers hardware's longest unthreaded thermowell (really well made).

Water is 80 degrees right now and fridge isn't cool either I'm going to wait to run the pump until its cooled off.

Also I am planning on a racking port but that is down the road a bit. All my fittings are in a box and I can't remember which are for the upcoming electric brewery.

Questions: What was the consensus on the airlocks on this? Needed not needed? I know you have to seal the lid etc etc. Spotty Dog I think you go without right?
Click to expand...

Let us know how your test went with cooling with the dorm fridge. Looks great btw! Nice job.

Also interested in how well your yeast catcher works.
 
Ooops. I'm about 3 sheets to the wind so bear with me. My dorm fridge is the typical at barracks fridge. I'll post details later.... If I run the ranco it won't bring the temp of the circulating water down. So if I run just the fridge it for about 8 hours then turn the system on it wlll drop the conical down about 5 points. Goinf back and forth I've got it cycling at 65 degrees. Going to brew an ale tomorrow so I'll see how it does with the exo thermic yeast.
 
Sorry its been a little while since I posted. I've been building my electric brewery. Cutting holes in brand new Blichmanns and building temp probes. Not to mention I got the wrong locknuts and spent the evening destroying a 1" stainless nipple!! That was fun!

OK This project rocks!!! All I have to say is temperature control temperature control temperature control!!! Dumped the trub at 1 week and sampled the beer and it tasted ready to drink although I'm going to give it a couple more weeks to attenuate a little more.

So the cheap dorm fridge has been able to hold the 65 degrees. I had to move it to a different room in the house though because my office gets about 85 degrees mid day when we aren't home. Now that its in the right room the pump doesn't' cycle that often and it even went down to 64 one evening.

I also figured out that if I seal up the reservoir it doesn't evaporate onto the cooling panel inside the fridge and build up ice.

Question for you all. Glycol? Does it evaporate? I was thinking RV antifreeze just 50/50 or maybe even less.

All said and done I would do this exact thing over again. I may end up building a second and see if the dorm fridge can keep enough water cool to run two.

If I had money to burn I would buy the Morebeer set up but I'm still around $500 for the whole thing.
 
I've got a similar setup on my v-vessel, right now I'm just running filtered water with some StarSan
 
I bought the 1/2" cam locks . the male side looks like the inside diameter reduces down to like 3/8" and could restrict a lager gpm pump
 
Great Build 18 LOVE IT!! I was thinking exact same set up except I want to run glycol/water mix from a corney keg in my Keezer? would that work?
Also: question can you get this conical with a male threaded drain to avoid internal tank threads? or am I overthinking this? thanxxx in advance!
 
I think that might even work better. I would open the little pressure release valve on the corny so you don't ahve to mess with it being a closed system. I put glycol mix in mine last night. I kept having problems with the water in it evaporating off and freezing around the little coil in dorm fridge. Once I figure out how to close the system more besides plastic wrap over the water jug I cut the top off I'll post pics.

Plus the dorm fridge has had a hard time keeping up during the first couple days of fermentation and that is on 5 gallon batches. I will be curious to see how it handles a 12 gallon batch of something with a vigorous fermentation like a hefe or a big belgian.

But yes I think your plan will work well. Just make sure you get a pond pump with enough ass to push the water high enough. Like the Original poster was talking about.

Yeast catcher rocks. The first batch through was crystal clear! its a bit big for 5 gallon batch but when I go back to 12 gallon I think it will be better. I just did an IPA monday so I'll see how much trub I get out of it. As for the threads on the conical I don't think they make it the other way. Yes over thinking it. With the big 1.5" valve threaded almost all the way in there is only 1 or 2 threads exposed. It cleaned out really easy with just garden hose. I didn't even use PBW just star san and I'm normaly a nazi with cleaning.
 
reviving an old thread with some questions about pumps and cooling options. I am looking to add a stainless cooling coil to a roto-mold 14 gallon plastic conical. I have a few refrigerator options- little 'cube' style dorm fridge, slightly larger 'office' fridge, or space in a chest freezer.
I am pretty set on using a submersible pump. This get's pretty good reviews
http://www.harborfreight.com/submersible-waterfall-pump-68418.html
is it too powerful for 10' of 1/2" tubing going to a 25' 3/8" SS coil with about a 5' lift?
I have a spare 'ebay' stc1000 controller, but haven't ordered the stainless tubing, fittings and haven't bought a pump yet, so I can upsize or downsize any part of the chilling system if it would improve the performance or reliability.
I generally brew in 11 gallon batches, and while partial to ales, would like to be able to do a lager and, more importantly, cold crash in the fermenter.
 
save your money on that pump. This is the one i've been using with almost pure glycol and no problems. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JPIQ1Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It runs even when the water mix I had froze almost solid in the dorm fridge. (thats why I mix heavy on the RV Antifreeze side.)

Also you'll want whatever you use as a reservoir to be almost sealed so it doesn't evaporate onto the cooling element inside the fridge. Then in between batches thaw out the fridge. I used one of my old 6 gallon fermenting buckets with holes the same diameter as the hose drilled in the lid. It takes some force to push the hose through em but it almost seals air tight. You don't want to make a sealed system because you'll have to mess with pressure release valves and bleeding it etc.

I've done 15 batches through it and love it. Simple, easy to clean, light and easy to move.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So glad to see this thread is still inspiring others to use these budget conscious conicals as fermenters. We've encountered absolutely zero issues with our initial design, probably 7 ten gallon brews completed in it. We've actually added a 150 W ceramic bulb heater on the heat side to maintain temps during these cold winter months. Was down in the teens the past 2 nights and this little lamp kept the temp humming right along. Would love to hear others success stories using a similar system.

We were actually featured in the AHA Pimp My System section for this rig. I'll try to get a link up to it here shortly. Cheers!
 
Must be nice to have cold temps!! Been riding my motorcycle to work this week. Central Tx.

Yea I'm a success as well. Love it and even thinking of buying a second. Then alternate batches on the cooling system. Leave it on the fridge for primary fermentation and then switch for the next batch. Im not an expert but since the yeast does the bulk of its work, is most stressed during primary fermentation i would think thats when temp control is the most important. Then being able to just leave it in a conical with the trub dumped for a couple more weeks or months would be nice.
 
18DPA said:
save your money on that pump. This is the one i've been using with almost pure glycol and no problems. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JPIQ1Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It runs even when the water mix I had froze almost solid in the dorm fridge. (thats why I mix heavy on the RV Antifreeze side.)

Also you'll want whatever you use as a reservoir to be almost sealed so it doesn't evaporate onto the cooling element inside the fridge. Then in between batches thaw out the fridge. I used one of my old 6 gallon fermenting buckets with holes the same diameter as the hose drilled in the lid. It takes some force to push the hose through em but it almost seals air tight. You don't want to make a sealed system because you'll have to mess with pressure release valves and bleeding it etc.

I've done 15 batches through it and love it. Simple, easy to clean, light and easy to move.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip- I ordered 2 of those pumps today (2 conicals) and have 2 SS coils and fittings enroute from stainlessbrewing.com- hopefully I'll get some pix up in a week or so.
I was also thinking of a sealed 7G bucket and lid as reservoir for the glycol mix. Originally I was thinking pumping from a chest freezer, but now I'm thinking it would be better to use a dedicated 'dorm' fridge for cooling as I can raise it up to reduce the head pressure, as well as turn it off when not in use.
just curious... are you putting your temp probe in a thermowell, or attaching to the outside of the conical?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
chrisdb said:
Thanks for the tip- I ordered 2 of those pumps today (2 conicals) and have 2 SS coils and fittings enroute from stainlessbrewing.com- hopefully I'll get some pix up in a week or so.
I was also thinking of a sealed 7G bucket and lid as reservoir for the glycol mix. Originally I was thinking pumping from a chest freezer, but now I'm thinking it would be better to use a dedicated 'dorm' fridge for cooling as I can raise it up to reduce the head pressure, as well as turn it off when not in use.
just curious... are you putting your temp probe in a thermowell, or attaching to the outside of the conical?
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I use. It was virgin lid I sacrificed with 2 holes the exact diameter as the hose so its a super tight fit but not sealed. Dorm fridge is kicking ass. I went as cheap, small and maint free as possible. The thermowell is right in the center of the conical lid running down into the middle of the coil towards the bottom. 21" I think I got it from Bobby m off this forum. Also Stainlessbrewing is great!! Zach is super easy to work with and quick shipping.
 
Ours is the exact same way, thermowell running straight down the center with the probe stuck down in it. Loving the system and building a second one now.
 
I have a pretty good seal on my lids using two food grade silicone O rings around the outside perimeter of the lid, which being fairly airtight- requires me to use a blow off tube that is going through the center that I drilled to accept a 1" stopper with a 3/8" blow off tube. I tried doing an open (unsealed) fermentation and ended up with a couple interesting but quite sour brews. Nothing wrong with that but, but It's not something I want to drink everyday.
So my plan is to insulate the fermenter with the probe to the controller on the outside wall of the fermenter under the insulation, and place a digital thermometer into the fermenter ( bobby M thermo bulkhead and CDN quick-read) so I can spot check the wort temp.
 
Off topic, but where in Raleigh are you Modo? I work at Raleigh Brewing Co/Atlantic Brew Supply on Hillsborough and would love to chat with you about your system.
 
18DPA said:
save your money on that pump. This is the one i've been using with almost pure glycol and no problems. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JPIQ1Y/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It runs even when the water mix I had froze almost solid in the dorm fridge. (thats why I mix heavy on the RV Antifreeze side.)

Also you'll want whatever you use as a reservoir to be almost sealed so it doesn't evaporate onto the cooling element inside the fridge. Then in between batches thaw out the fridge. I used one of my old 6 gallon fermenting buckets with holes the same diameter as the hose drilled in the lid. It takes some force to push the hose through em but it almost seals air tight. You don't want to make a sealed system because you'll have to mess with pressure release valves and bleeding it etc.

I've done 15 batches through it and love it. Simple, easy to clean, light and easy to move.
Click to expand...

Submersible pumps are definitely the way to ... no issues with losing prime. I need something with more power to pump than these however. My setup is 10' of 1/2 I.D. on both inlet and outlet with a 25' coil of 3/8" stainless tubing in the middle. Pumping water it flows, but the extra viscosity of the 50/50 glycol-water mix just slows it down to zero once I put a 4 foot head pressure on it. I'm glad it works with your setup, but i guess just too much resistance in mine.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Similar threads

SimplyBeginning
For Sale 20-gallon Spike+ Electric Brew System (HERMS)
Replies
3
Views
969
Dusty Bottoms
D
B
For Sale Selling 20-gallon Tippy Dump System, Conical Fermenter, Kegerator and Draft system
Replies
1
Views
465
BurnsyBoy
B
A
For Sale Complete 15 Gallon Electric Brewery for sale - central Texas
Replies
0
Views
598
audiophool
A
C
Best brewing system for 5-15 gallon batches
Replies
24
Views
1K
odie
odie
segallis
SS Brewtech Chronical 2.0 Conical Chiller
Replies
1
Views
2K
dsmith1279
dsmith1279
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top