Leftover water freezing a problem with AG brew sculptures in northern climates?

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kal

kal

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I searched but couldn't find any information on this:

My AG setup will be in my garage which is below freezing about 3 months of the year.

The setup will be a fairly advanced setup with March pumps, lines, fittings, copper piping for HERMES, a Blichmann Therminator, etc. Think of something like the popular "Brutus Ten" setup but electric:

brutus1.jpg


I can't imagine it's possible to always remove all left over water from lines/coils/chiller/etc. What happens when the water freezes in the winter? Should I be concerned about this? What do others do?

Kal
 
Take your compressor crank up the PSI and blow air through the tubes to get most of it out. A few drops won't matter as much, but any standing water can ruin some stuff pretty quickly.
 
I don't have a compressor. Do most people who brew in the garage in norther climates own compressors expressly for this purpose?

Kal
 
I just take my plate chiller indoors for now. All my line are softlines with QD's so, those come off for cleaning. When I have a hard piped system I will break it down as much as I can then too.
 
I believe the best way would be to install drains at the low point of any circuit. These drain valves could then be opened during storage so that any remaining fluid drains out via gravity.

Make sure all ball valves are stored open to inhibit pressure build up caused by freezing.
 
I'd worry about a HERMS coil maybe and the plate chiller without any compressed air. Technically you should be able to drain both via siphon with the output hose dropped all the way to the floor but I'd sleep better blowing it out. You could dedicate a corny keg to this purpose by hitting it with 60psi.
 
Thanks guys. Lots of food for thought. Installing drains to bleed any hard lines that can't be removed is not hard to do. I'll keep that in mind as I design the system.

The good (bad?) news is that during the month deep freeze (Dec-Feb/Mar) it's not likely that I'll want to brew anyway so I'd only have to bleed once at the end of the brew season when I close up shop for a few months. Some parts (chiller/HERMS coil) could easily be taken inside for the winter too.

Kal
 
To avoid this very same problem, I built a new garage with 2x6 walls, insulated garage doors, thermal glass windows in the south wall and a 60,000 BTU natural gas furnace... So far it's been a success.... only had frozen lines one time when I turned the furnace off and left the doors open over night.
 
kal said:
I searched but couldn't find any information on this:

My AG setup will be in my garage which is below freezing about 3 months of the year.

The setup will be a fairly advanced setup with March pumps, lines, fittings, copper piping for HERMES, a Blichmann Therminator, etc. Think of something like the popular "Brutus Ten" setup but electric:

brutus1.jpg


I can't imagine it's possible to always remove all left over water from lines/coils/chiller/etc. What happens when the water freezes in the winter? Should I be concerned about this? What do others do?

Kal
Click to expand...

I cracked an immersion chiller because of incomplete draining and subsequent freezing. This is a very real issue. I take extra care to drain equipment, especially my pump and immersion chiller.
 

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