Took the plunge and ordered a ss brewtech glycol chiller and it arrived today

[GJOCONNELL]

and boo I have to wait for 24 hours to let the coolant settle just to make sure things don't go poof!

Have to figure out where I am going to setup the unit maybe in the garage or in the back shed!

Have to move stuff around but it will be nice to abandon the keezer/corny keg setup for a chill water source.

Also the ability to run 4 brew buckets will be nice and give me peace of mind.

Pics to come soon!

 

[fethdarman]

How is that working out? I'm thinking of buying one.

 

[augiedoggy]

How is that working out? I'm thinking of buying one.

As another option you can buy the same one direct without the rebranding for I believe a couple hundred bucks less... Theres a few threads here with the manufacturers model number and links to it.

 

[jready]

I can't wait for an update on this!

 

[fethdarman]

As another option you can buy the same one direct without the rebranding for I believe a couple hundred bucks less... Theres a few threads here with the manufacturers model number and links to it.

Thank you augie

 

[erock2112]

I'm loving mine so far! Some numbers:
- Glycol chills from room temp (72F when I measured) to 28F in ~40 mins
- FTSs+Chiller gets water from 100F to 60F in ~35 mins. This was just a test; I'm not using it for primary chilling, but it's nice to get it "cool enough" with the primary chiller and ground water then transfer to the fermentor and let the FTSs do the rest before pitching yeast.
- Cold crashed from diacetyl rest at 65F to 35F in ~3 hours with the glycol at 28F. The third hour was the last 4 degrees or so.
- Holding at 35F requires the pond pump on the FTSs to run almost constantly at ~70F ambient (plus afternoon sun through the window), and the chiller cycles fairly often.
- A single fermentor at ale or lager temp is no problem at all. I have not yet tried multiple simultaneous fermentations. I think it'd be fine for fermentation temps but cold crashing plus another cool fermentation or cold crash might be pushing it.

 

[Daybis]

How loud is the unit? Is it something I can keep in the house or should I look at trying to put it in the garage?

 

[Pollix]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1487210765.119946.jpg

I run 2 half bbl with I chiller ( bvl eco 33) and it as no problem cold crashing 1 fermenter at 32f will the other is at 64f

i guess it could do both at 32f

 

[erock2112]

How loud is the unit? Is it something I can keep in the house or should I look at trying to put it in the garage?

Forgot to mention that. It's pretty darn loud. Significantly louder than my chest freezer or normal fridge. Not really sure how to measure that, but when it cycles it's hard to hear the TV in the adjacent living room.

 

[cpa4ny]

Sub'ed

 

[Markd27]

I wonder how well this would do in a hot Texas garage in the summer.

 

[augiedoggy]

Forgot to mention that. It's pretty darn loud. Significantly louder than my chest freezer or normal fridge. Not really sure how to measure that, but when it cycles it's hard to hear the TV in the adjacent living room.

I can say they are not all like that... I have a similiar chiller only it has a metal cabinet around it with a lid that lifts off and its on wheels.. It was originally designed as a beerline chiller. Its slightly larger than thats and I use it to control 4 fermenters with homemade jackets (one with a coolzone jacket) but its not terribly loud when running (the pump is louder than the chiller by far)...I leave my brewery door open as well as my bedroom at nights and its 2 doors down..

 

[brewman !]

How many BTUs/hour are these chillers ?

 

[erock2112]

I can say they are not all like that... I have a similiar chiller only it has a metal cabinet around it with a lid that lifts off and its on wheels.. It was originally designed as a beerline chiller. Its slightly larger than thats and I use it to control 4 fermenters with homemade jackets (one with a coolzone jacket) but its not terribly loud when running (the pump is louder than the chiller by far)...I leave my brewery door open as well as my bedroom at nights and its 2 doors down..

Good to know. Mine is in the kitchen which opens to the living room, so I don't have many walls to buffer the sound.

How many BTUs/hour are these chillers ?

The SS Brewtech chiller is rated 2300 BTU/hr. Seems to be more than enough for me.

 

[augiedoggy]

Good to know. Mine is in the kitchen which opens to the living room, so I don't have many walls to buffer the sound.



The SS Brewtech chiller is rated 2300 BTU/hr. Seems to be more than enough for me.

this is the chiller SS brewing resells http://rapidswholesale.com/3-gal-gl...2tohfO8mT1GYYvMSn8vlC-eRtzs-hffJ5YaAqrp8P8HAQ

Only brewtech has the main glycol pump removed which should make it a lot cheaper... I use the main glycol pump in my chiller since its powerful enough to pump my coolant through a shared manifold with 4 solenoid valves which turn on flow to one or more cooling jackets at the same time.. regular stc1000 controller connector to a $6 double pole relay work well to both turn on my main 240v pump and open my 24v dc ball valve at the same time.. Its really a super simple setup and has been working great for a couple years now.
If you use the SS version you need to use individual smaller pumps for each fermenter

 

[erock2112]

this is the chiller SS brewing resells http://rapidswholesale.com/3-gal-gl...2tohfO8mT1GYYvMSn8vlC-eRtzs-hffJ5YaAqrp8P8HAQ

Only brewtech has the main glycol pump removed which should make it a lot cheaper... I use the main glycol pump in my chiller since its powerful enough to pump my coolant through a shared manifold with 4 solenoid valves which turn on flow to one or more cooling jackets at the same time.. regular stc1000 controller connector to a $6 double pole relay work well to both turn on my main 240v pump and open my 24v dc ball valve at the same time.. Its really a super simple setup and has been working great for a couple years now.
If you use the SS version you need to use individual smaller pumps for each fermenter

Nice setup! I didn't realize that the original version had its own pump. I was in "working out of the box" mindset when I purchased this stuff and didn't want to DIY it, or I might have looked more closely at alternatives. If you're using the FTSs for your fermentors, you'll have the small pond pumps to immerse in the glycol, so that's not an issue, although they fit rather awkwardly into the reservoir.

 

[augiedoggy]

Nice setup! I didn't realize that the original version had its own pump. I was in "working out of the box" mindset when I purchased this stuff and didn't want to DIY it, or I might have looked more closely at alternatives. If you're using the FTSs for your fermentors, you'll have the small pond pumps to immerse in the glycol, so that's not an issue, although they fit rather awkwardly into the reservoir.

yeah the SS setup it a nice modular out of the box setup and its ideal for certian situations for sure.
For me the killer is the pond pumps or DC "solar pumps" are only strong enough for those stainless coils immersed in the conical.. I use a jacket comprised of blue discharge hose wrapped around the outside on my conicals with foil bubble wrap insulation around the outside as an insulated jacket... This means no fittings or crevices or coils to clean inside the conicals but I need a strong pump like those normally found in a beverage chiller to be able to pump liquid into and fill this hoses as well as multiple hoses on multiple conicals at the same time if needed.. the plus is theres only one pump and it cost $100 in hardware to cool 4 conicals plus the chiller.... The downside is that one pump fails and all my conicals lose cooling I guess.

 

[erock2112]

yeah the SS setup it a nice modular out of the box setup and its ideal for certian situations for sure.
For me the killer is the pond pumps or DC "solar pumps" are only strong enough for those stainless coils immersed in the conical.. I use a jacket comprised of blue discharge hose wrapped around the outside on my conicals with foil bubble wrap insulation around the outside as an insulated jacket... This means no fittings or crevices or coils to clean inside the conicals but I need a strong pump like those normally found in a beverage chiller to be able to pump liquid into and fill this hoses as well as multiple hoses on multiple conicals at the same time if needed.. the plus is theres only one pump and it cost $100 in hardware to cool 4 conicals plus the chiller.... The downside is that one pump fails and all my conicals lose cooling I guess.

Makes sense. I'm betting that's a much higher-quality pump than the little FTSs pond pumps though. I admit I had some concerns with it running non-stop for a 4-day cold crash.

 

[augiedoggy]

Makes sense. I'm betting that's a much higher-quality pump than the little FTSs pond pumps though. I admit I had some concerns with it running non-stop for a 4-day cold crash.

my chiller doesnt run much.. it might cycle once every couple hours. the pump comes on for a 5=-10 mins at a time it seems just as often.

 

[radwizard]

@erock2112 Where did you get that stainless table to set your 2 brew buckets on? I'm kind of looking for the same thing right now.

 

[Dcpcooks]

@erock2112 Where did you get that stainless table to set your 2 brew buckets on? I'm kind of looking for the same thing right now.

Those are commercial grade equipment stands. Search Resteraunt supply shops online and you'll find them new around $140

 

[erock2112]

@erock2112 Where did you get that stainless table to set your 2 brew buckets on? I'm kind of looking for the same thing right now.

They're equipment stands from Restaurant Depot. You can get them online as well. They're shorter than work tables and have the walls on 3 sides. Pretty perfect for heavy stuff. The fermentors are on a 24x24" stand and my brew kettle and mash tun are on a 24x48" stand.

 

[heckels]

I just got one of these as well. It's cold enough in my brewery right now that I actually need to send warm water through my FTSs so I haven't been able to test this out yet. May need to brew a lager soon or wait for the SD thaw.