Decision on Chiller

[Squeezer01]

Just purchased a Spike 5 conical with temperature control and wanting opinions on a source for chilling the water or water/ glycol mix.
Would a small freezer with the water or water/ glycol mix in a 3-4 gallon container be more efficient and allow for lagering better than an aquarium chiller ?
I've seen You Tube videos of both types of set ups but soliciting input from more experienced brewers...

I've got a couple of small room a/c's that a renter left behind in my rent house but both are digital so not wanting to mess with the a/c chiller unless I can leverage the experience of someone local in my area.

Appreciate any and all input!

 

[mongoose33]

You'll be able to do something like you suggest and get the temps down to the 50-degree range for fermenting a lager, but it's likely to be hard to get the temp down into the 30s using a homemade setup. Not saying it can't be done--I've done it using a homemade device--but it took a while to get all the kinks worked out. Much of it has to do with ambient temps and the protruberances on the fermenter sucking heat in from the outside. The chiller has to overcome that as well as chill the wort.

Here's a thread on my experience with it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/conical-cooling-conundrum-spike-cf10.650037/

Mine's a Spike 10CF, so yours will be a little easier. If you add extra insulation to the outside, you'll have a shot.

Here's mine with all the extra insulation, and I still couldn't get it below 38.5 degrees using a Penguin chiller.