brewershardware jacketed coni+glycol ?'s

[luhrks]

My glycol chiller operates the pump continuously and has a temp control that cycles the compressor if the reservoir gets over temp. Different models varry, so I would check on the one you're going to purchase before you buy extra stuff.

 

[augiedoggy]

No I made a simple stc1000 based controller... There are YouTube videos explaining how.

 

[augiedoggy]

My glycol chiller operates the pump continuously and has a temp control that cycles the compressor if the reservoir gets over temp. Different models varry, so I would check on the one you're going to purchase before you buy extra stuff.

Mine was designed this way too but they are very easy to modify to only turn the pump on and off with a temp controller... Some people leave the pump run and have a motorized ball valve which is activated by the temp controller instead... This works well if you plan on running multiple fermenters off the same chiller... There is a lot of info in this in the diy section.

I am actually working on controlling 4 fermentors with 4 stc 1000+ s and a 2 pole relay out on every cooling output with one pole to apply 24v to the $2 24V solenoid valves I bought and the other pole to turn on my chiller pump whenever it is called upon to recirc coolant... this way multiple valves can open while keeping all the supply voltages isolated from each other. (hopefully that makes sense)

 

[hs1149]

Unboxing. Total shipping weight: 165#

with the help of my son we wrestled it down to the brew room

Final resting place with repurpposed drinking fountain for chill. Crashed 90° water to 65° in a couple of hours. My room is cold this time of year. Need to add heater to cooler reservoir.

I wish there was more room under the cone for a bucket. I am using a drawer from my refrigerator to hold solutions (PBW or StarSan) & a utility pump to CIP. It barely fits under the 2inch 90° elbow. Any other suggestions?

 

[JonathanS]

Yes, use the tri-clamp fittings on the bottom of the three legs and add tri-clamp extension tubes to raise the height of the conical above the ground. If I had more vertical space in my upright freezer, I would do the same thing for my brewershardware conical.

Still not a terribly hard limitation to get around. Can also use quart sized measuring cup or a tea pitcher angled to catch what you may want to dump from the bottom valve.

http://www.brewershardware.com/Extension-Tubes/

 

[JonW]

Here's my Brewers Hardware 20 gallon jacketed fermentors. I used a cooler and window AC unit to make a glycol chiller. There is a submersible pump in the cooler that recirculates the glycol and two valves that control glycol being recirculated to each fermentor jacket. I use a BCS to control the setpoints on each fermentor and the glycol bath. There are valved quick disconnects on the glycol lines so I can pop them off and move the fermentors.

I built some platforms to elevate the fermentors to make it easy to move them around and to also be able to fit a bucket underneath. For cleaning, I use my keg cleaner bucket underneath and a hose running up to the top with a CIP ball. The keg cleaner pump is more than enough to run the CIP ball.

 

[hs1149]

Jonathan thanks for the heads up on the extension tubes . I completely over-looked them. I did my first trub dump yesterday with quart canning jar.

 

[hs1149]

JonW nice setup. Are your fermentors fastened to the riser/carts? I inquired with brewershardware about adding casters. They said they did not sell then because the fermentor is top heavy and could easily tip. If I was going to take the liability they suggested Expandable Stem Swivel Casters.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

@jonw, What are you using for a keg cleaner pump? I'm assuming you are running a BH CIP ball?

 

[branman]

I have the 15gal with bh cip ball and I use a cheap 3/4 hp non submersible pump from harbor freight. It works great, just run a hose from the bucket to the ball (I use a cam lock for this) and presto!

 

[branman]

Oh yea, and I haven the tc leg extensions with sight tube... works great. Wish they did make a caster set of some sort

 

[hs1149]

I have the 15gal with bh cip ball and I use a cheap 3/4 hp non submersible pump from harbor freight. It works great, just run a hose from the bucket to the ball (I use a cam lock for this) and presto!

How is your solution returning to the bucket? Have you elevated the fermentor to get a bucket beneath the cone?

 

[JonW]

@jonw, What are you using for a keg cleaner pump? I'm assuming you are running a BH CIP ball?

I have the 15gal with bh cip ball and I use a cheap 3/4 hp non submersible pump from harbor freight. It works great, just run a hose from the bucket to the ball (I use a cam lock for this) and presto!

^^^ This. I originally built it for cleaning my corny kegs and my sanke kegs (fermenters), but with just a hose adapter, I now use it for the conicals.

 

[JonW]

JonW nice setup. Are your fermentors fastened to the riser/carts? I inquired with brewershardware about adding casters. They said they did not sell then because the fermentor is top heavy and could easily tip. If I was going to take the liability they suggested Expandable Stem Swivel Casters.

Yes, they are top heavy, but you can mitigate that. If you look at my pic, you'll see that the frame is square, so it has 4 wheels, where the fermentor only has 3 legs. This alone adds a ton of stability to it. Additionally, you can see where I extended the front legs out in front of the fermentor a bit. This also adds a lot of stability. There are some screws holding the legs down. This was all supposed to be temporary while some SS frames were being made, but they may get a bit more longer term usage now.

 

[branman]

How is your solution returning to the bucket? Have you elevated the fermentor to get a bucket beneath the cone?

Yes i have tc extensions and just slide a bucket under it so it drains through the cone.

 

[JFarrar]

Hs1149 Hey your conical looks great! I see you added an extra ferrule for a sampling valve to yours? How much extra was that? Also how much was shipping?...p.s I appologize for sending a pm first. I wanted to post here so that others could share the knowledge you have to offer. I plan on ordering one soon!

 

[hs1149]

Shipping was $56 to 48230
I did not request the sampling port but it is nice to have. I believe it is now a standard feature on fermenter.

 

[Elfmaze]

I'm looking to order soon as well... My plan is to have a 5 gallon bucket of coolant in a deep freeze (~-10*) figured circulating sub zero coolant cant hurt anything. And we can still use the freezer for some food.

 

[hs1149]

I'm looking to order soon as well... My plan is to have a 5 gallon bucket of coolant in a deep freeze (~-10*) figured circulating sub zero coolant cant hurt anything. And we can still use the freezer for some food.

So your temp controller is going to control the pump and not the cooling source?

 

[JonW]

I'm looking to order soon as well... My plan is to have a 5 gallon bucket of coolant in a deep freeze (~-10*) figured circulating sub zero coolant cant hurt anything. And we can still use the freezer for some food.

Unless you are doing 5 gallon batches, this method won't keep up with the cooling requirements. A container of glycol sitting in the freezer will indeed get down to the temps you project, but once you start circulating it, it warms up fast and cannot recover quickly.

You should look to building a window AC unit and ice cooler setup. With the AC condenser coil directly submerged in the glycol, it can recover MUCH faster.

 

[Elfmaze]

Unless you are doing 5 gallon batches, this method won't keep up with the cooling requirements. A container of glycol sitting in the freezer will indeed get down to the temps you project, but once you start circulating it, it warms up fast and cannot recover quickly.

You should look to building a window AC unit and ice cooler setup. With the AC condenser coil directly submerged in the glycol, it can recover MUCH faster.

Damn thats a bummer, Is it a matter of the freezers compressor not keeping up or is it a problem of heat sinks transferring the heat out of the glycol? could have the returning glycol do a loop of the freezer before returning to the bucket... Infact, the bucket is only needed for rapid transitions like cooling wort as long as you can get good thermal transfer from the fridge?

I'm not opposed to making an air conditioner modle. But I was trying to cut down on my equipment floorprint. Can the Ac units cool to 32*? I was under the understanding that was below their ideal operating range.

 

[JonW]

I'm not opposed to making an air conditioner modle. But I was trying to cut down on my equipment floorprint. Can the Ac units cool to 32*? I was under the understanding that was below their ideal operating range.

It really is all going to depend on how many degrees you need to move your wort. Don't forget also the temp swing when you crash cool.

You could always try it your way first and see if it works for your setup. You would re-use almost all of the components anyways, so it wouldn't be like you sunk a bunch of costs into it that were going to be scrapped.

A good friend of mine did the freezer style unit for quite a while for his 5G batches, but once he moved up in size, it had a hard time keeping up. YMMV.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Fwiw, I have a ac unit type chiller and my temp is set at 25 degrees. My conical has 11 gallons of beer in it at 42 degrees right now waiting keg. It's works great. I can crash cool very quickly as well. I have a 9 gallon bath Glycol bath.

 

[Elfmaze]

I wasn't able to get anything up and running for this brew. But I was able to drop the wort from 32c down to 18c and its holding at 20-21c for the past three days on 40 lbs of commercial ice and one frozen milk jug. I just added two more milk jugs today. Cold crashing will be another issue. But this is a wheat so i'm good for now.

My plan for the time being will be wait for winter and brew my 2 10 gallon batches when nature will help me with the freezing temps(bucket of glycol sitting outside).