Bigfoot99 said:
For the fermenters, I would probably consider something similar to BrewPastor's setup (if I recall, he had the copper immersion chillers inside the conicals). I don't think the design of the Blichmann Fermentator would allow for an easy installation of external glycol coils.
So if I got you, you plan on running copper coils in the conical fermenter with ethylene glycol running through the coils. for safety you might want to consider having a couple layers of protection in case you get a leak. Glycol is bad stuff and it tastes sweet so you might not notice if a little gets in to your fermenter, but it can do some serious kidney damage. I was thinking if you had the coils in a sealed container so you wart is never in direct contact with the coils.
Any way one thing about glycol is that it is used for two reasons, it increases the boiling point and decreases the freezing point of water, but for a heat transfer system working at ambient temperatures you are actually loosing heat capacity from pure water. this chart explains it well. I Guess though if you wanted to get large vat of hot wart down to temperature fast Salt water would be a good safe alternative.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ethylene-glycol-d_146.html
Specific Heat Capacity of Ethylene Glycol based Water Solutions
Specific Heat Capacity - cp - of ethylene glycol based water solutions at various temperatures:
Specific Heat Capacity - cp - (Btu/lb.oF)
Temperature (oF) Ethylene Glycol Solution (% by volume)
25 30 40 50 60 65 100
-40 1) 1) 1) 1) 0,68 0.703 1)
0 1) 1) 0.83 0.78 0.723 0.7 0.54
40 0.913 0.89 0.845 0.795 0.748 0.721 0.562
80 0.921 0.902 0.86 0.815 0.768 0.743 0.59
120 0.933 0.915 0.875 0.832 0.788 0.765 0.612
160 0.94 0.925 0.89 0.85 0.81 0.786 0.64
200 0.953 0.936 0.905 0.865 0.83 0.807 0.66
240 2) 2) 2) 2) 2) 0.828 0.689
280 2) 2) 2) 2) 2) 2) 0.71
1. below freezing point
2. above boiling point
* 1 Btu/(lbmoF) = 4,186.8 J/(kg K) = 1 kcal/(kgoC)
Note! The specific heat capacity of an ethylene glycol based water solution is less than the specific heat of clean water. For a heat transfer system the circulated volume must be increased.
In a 50% solution with operational temperatures above 36 oF the specific heat capacity is decreased with aprox. 20%. The reduced specific heat capacity must be compensated by circulating more fluid.
Automobile antifreeze solutions should not be used in HVAC systems because they contain silicates that may cause fouling. Silicates in automobile antifreeze are used to protect aluminum engine parts.
Note! Distilled or deionized water should be used for ethylene glycol solutions. City water is often treated with chlorine, which is corrosive, and should be avoided.
Automatic makeup water systems must not be used. A leakage will contaminate the environment and dilute the antifreeze protection of the systems.