SirJoshuaIV
Well-Known Member
To start, I will give a little background information and would like to appologize for such a long post. I am in the process of opening a small(nano) brewery and restaurant. The system is 1bbl. The location has a walk in cooler that I could use for controlling fermentation temps. However, I would like more control over fermentation temps and be able to use the cooler for restaurant purposes and not build another. I will be using plastic conicals ((2) 1bbls, (4) 2bbls and (1) 3bbl) to start because they will save lots of money that can be used for other parts of the business start up costs, with plans to upgrade to an all stainless and larger system.
I have come up with a rough plan to build a glycol chiller, and there is one little thing I can't seem to wrap my head around. This is a very rough plan, and I will do much fine tuning to it. Please point out any and all errors you see in my planning/reasoning, and hopefully you can also help me solve me last problem.
I intend to mimic many other glycol builds by simply making copper coiles that will be submerged into the fermenters, and mounted to the lids on the fermenters (similar to a herms system), which would allow for easy removal and cleaning. If I do not do this, I will use the Frankenbrew method and make the coils flat and attach them to the outside with insulation.
Each coil will have an Autovalve on it that is wired to my BCS-462 for control to open the valves when cooling is needed. Each conicals coil will connect to a manifold that is plumbed to a large glycol holding tank inside the cold room which will ideally be kept around 34-40 degrees.
Here is where im stuck - I would like to use a single pump for this setup. So here are my questions. Will controlling the pump by my BCS be problematic? My concern is what would happen if multiple conicals needed cooling at one time - in example the pump is already triggered on by one temp controller in FV1, and then FV2 triggers it to turn on even though its already running. I dont think this will cause a problem because it is extremely low voltage but I want to be sure and wrap my head around this completely before I jump into the build.
Also, could I just leave the pump running continously? I know this would reduce the pump life, but would it be a drastic reduction if i kept it in the cold room to keep it cool?
Any other ideas on how to do this all with a single pump?
I would like to thank anyone who gives advice/insight in advance. Thank you!
I have come up with a rough plan to build a glycol chiller, and there is one little thing I can't seem to wrap my head around. This is a very rough plan, and I will do much fine tuning to it. Please point out any and all errors you see in my planning/reasoning, and hopefully you can also help me solve me last problem.
I intend to mimic many other glycol builds by simply making copper coiles that will be submerged into the fermenters, and mounted to the lids on the fermenters (similar to a herms system), which would allow for easy removal and cleaning. If I do not do this, I will use the Frankenbrew method and make the coils flat and attach them to the outside with insulation.
Each coil will have an Autovalve on it that is wired to my BCS-462 for control to open the valves when cooling is needed. Each conicals coil will connect to a manifold that is plumbed to a large glycol holding tank inside the cold room which will ideally be kept around 34-40 degrees.
Here is where im stuck - I would like to use a single pump for this setup. So here are my questions. Will controlling the pump by my BCS be problematic? My concern is what would happen if multiple conicals needed cooling at one time - in example the pump is already triggered on by one temp controller in FV1, and then FV2 triggers it to turn on even though its already running. I dont think this will cause a problem because it is extremely low voltage but I want to be sure and wrap my head around this completely before I jump into the build.
Also, could I just leave the pump running continously? I know this would reduce the pump life, but would it be a drastic reduction if i kept it in the cold room to keep it cool?
Any other ideas on how to do this all with a single pump?
I would like to thank anyone who gives advice/insight in advance. Thank you!