Need Input On Glycol Chiller

[JCasey1992]

Not sure if this is the best place to post this so my appologies if this is in the wrong location...

I'm considering getting either the Spike CF5 or a CF10 conical fermenter. I want to be able to run a glycol chiller for tight temp control but I'm trying to save money where I can. I recently came across this glycol kit here (https://www.morebeer.com/products/glycol-pump-kit.html).

As luck would have it, I already have a spare inkbird, some tubing, clamps, and a pump I picked up from the hardware store a while back to recirculate chilling water. With this in mind, I was thinking I could piece together what I need with what I already have on hand. What else would I need to build a glycol chiller? Does anyone have a build they would recommend?

When it comes to temp control, all I think I would need to buy from Spike is the temp control coil (https://spikebrewing.com/products/temp-control-coil), the heater (https://spikebrewing.com/collections/conical-accessories/products/conical-heater-1), the Insulated jacket (https://spikebrewing.com/collections/conical-accessories/products/insulated-conical-jacket-1), and the quick connect fittings (https://spikebrewing.com/collections/conical-accessories/products/temp-coil-quick-connect-fittings-1)

For those of you who use Spike conicals, would this be sufficient to manage temperatures or am I better off buying their kit? Additionally, would my pump (https://www.acehardware.com/departm...n=21181&utm_keyword=8-8287&clickId=2527482371) work for this function or should I pick up a different one?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Cheers!
Casey

 

[Vale71]

You pump is way too powerful! With either a 5 or 10 gallon fermenter a 1 gallon/minute flow is all you need to maintain temperature, a more powerful pump will only generate lots of heat that might overload your chiller and make it ineffective. This is especially true with internal chilling coils which have a rather small surface compared to f.e. a fully jacketed fermenter.

 

[Suicid]

[QUOTE="JCasey1992, post: 8458003, member: 227475"What else would I need to build a glycol chiller? Does anyone have a build they would recommend?
[/QUOTE]

I can tell about the build I can NOT recommend I tried setup almost exactly like yours. The only pump was much smaller the little chinese one used for aquariums 40l/h or such.
I used a minifreezer (34 liters) with 9l of glycol/water 1/2.

Long story short : my conical could not go below 13c with 23l wort and 21c ambient temp.

I started from glycol -18c and wort +21c. After about couple of minutes I had glycol +4c and wort +17c. Then overnight glycol creep up to +10c and wort dropped to +14c. During next day they set up balanced at +11c glycol /+12.7c wort.

I think i could reach teh same temps without any glycol/freezer, by just used old good water+ice mixture

So bottom line freezer,s BTU is not enough and air-to-glycol temp transfer (inside the freezer) is not as efficient as required.
Gave up, went for "normal" glycol chiller - it has sort of AC unit (much much more BTU than freezer) converted so the refrigerant coil is soaked directly into glycol/water mixture. That guy works like a charm!