Building DIY glycol chiller for less $

[Willy]

I already have a dedicated small freezer I use as a lager chamber for 5 gal bucket or 6.5 gal corny keg. Heat pad too... all controlled by inkbird.

I want to multi-purpose this freezer to temperature control (cold side) on a Spike CF-10 I just picked up off FB mktplace. (Crazy deal ... Came with glycol, hosing, container, pump, and fittings, Woo woo).

Step one:
Remove top door. Make a small collar (2*4) to run hoses, power for pump, and still be able to open lid easily (top door model). Easy... A little box shape with nice corners, solid! ... Attach to the freezer with silicone adhesive. Re-attach top door.

Step two:
Take my extra set of chiller coils (6 1/2" diameter of coil bundle) and use as a heat exchanger for the return of the glycol from the fermenter. The coil is placed in a 12 qt bain Marie (a ss cylinder used in cooking/serving food) which is inside the freezer. The bain Marie (10" dia, about 10" high) (Marie bain?) is filled with glycol/water blend. The glycol in the bain Marie is not pumped to the fermenter... It serves to cool the return glycol from fermenter before dumping glycol in the glycol container #1 w. pump used to cool fermenter .

So ... The chain... The glycol container with pump... Pumps to the fermenter ... Which returns to the freezer, to the cooling coils in bain Marie (heat exchanger... Cooling return before dumping glycol back in the glycol container with pump.

Still waiting on parts and little doohickeys before the build begins. Planning and measuring and ciphering time makes for an easier build. I included a pic to help explain the idea ... I don't have the bain Marie yet (it's like a bucket, less flare from top to bottom) .. coming in a week or so.

The corny shown is a 6.5g corny used for fermenting lagers ... I don't think I will be able to lager and cool fermenter at the same time - I am planning on making the freezer very cold and doing just one task at a time.

 

[Zanatrik]

Seems like a great way to get what you want, nice!

 

[SFC Rudy]

I open ferment my Hefeweizen in a 15 gallon Sterilite container. To control temp I use a pond pump in a 5 gallon bucket in a chest freezer which pumps coolant through a Blichman cooling coil. I run it off two STC-100's. and have a reflectix "box" to cover it when fermenting. Works and it's cheap!

 

[BrewZer]

I open ferment my Hefeweizen in a 15 gallon Sterilite container. To control temp I use a pond pump in a 5 gallon bucket in a chest freezer which pumps coolant through a Blichman cooling coil. I run it off two STC-100's. and have a reflectix "box" to cover it when fermenting. Works and it's cheap!

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How cold can you get it?

 

[SFC Rudy]

I ferment @68F and it maintains that temp. I keep the cooling water @36F so I’m sure it would get colded

 

[Imhoppy]

open ferment my Hefeweizen in a 15 gallon Sterilite container.

Cool (pun intended) DIY! First thought about Sterilite containers being food safe was confirmed on the Company's web site FAQ.

https://www.sterilite.com/Sterilite-FAQ.html#:~:text=What materials are used to,used in our manufacturing process.

 

[Willy]

I just tweaked my original design because it wasn't doing as good a job as I wanted during a 95° F day. It could cool it down to the high 50s but then stalled out.

Two changes.
1) I increased the amount of glycol/water blend in the reservoir from under 2 gallons to 6 six gallons. I figured the increased mass of coolant would give me increased potential to chill.

2) I switched out the old small pump to a more powerful aquarium type pump with about 2 times the flow rate.

Currently working fine keeping the temp in the pocket but I am not pushing it at all. In about 12 days I will cold crash the batch and see how the modifications perform in the real world .

Just added a picture of the updated diy glycol chiller. Just finished a quick test and wow... It works great. The fermenter was at 76°F and it took just a few minutes to get it down to 72°. Still wanna see how well and if I can cold crash down to 35°F

 

[Willy]

Diy glycol chiller cost breakdown

Used small freezer freezer top open -$100
Wood Collar - $10
Bucket + lid - $14
Tubing/connecters - $40
Bain Marie - $15
Pump -$12
TOTAL - $192

I already had the stainless steel cooling coils, inkbird and the glycol I reduced my "does the pile of beer stuff ever get smaller" pile... Which I consider a big win!

 

[Lalo_uy]

I open ferment my Hefeweizen in a 15 gallon Sterilite container. To control temp I use a pond pump in a 5 gallon bucket in a chest freezer which pumps coolant through a Blichman cooling coil. I run it off two STC-100's. and have a reflectix "box" to cover it when fermenting. Works and it's cheap!

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You will save a lot of energy foam insulaing the Sterilite container.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread or add it here but.....

Anyone ever try using a countertop ice machine? I thought about trying that vs using an AC unit in a cooler. A countertop IM would give me a smaller footprint (which helps me out) but it may reduce the chilling potential (I'll be doing 5/10 gallon batches where ambient temp is generally 50-60 deg).

 

[Bobby_M]

I think the hard part would be figuring how to submerge the ice tray, or whatever metal the evap circuit is made of, in your glycol reservoir. Your ambient is already so low you really don't need much help.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

But I'm thinking I'll need a bit more power than just ice. Irregardless, I'll be starting there first.

I just got a box of fittings from you Bobby to have a go on the new to me fermenter.

 

[Matthew Murphy]

Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread or add it here but.....

Anyone ever try using a countertop ice machine? I thought about trying that vs using an AC unit in a cooler. A countertop IM would give me a smaller footprint (which helps me out) but it may reduce the chilling potential (I'll be doing 5/10 gallon batches where ambient temp is generally 50-60 deg).

I am in the process of using an ice maker to cold crash my ales and here is what I have so far: I got a new nugget ice maker (26lbs/ day.) Removing the ice tray allows the ice cubes to chill the reservoir, I was able to chill 10 gallons to 43F in 65F environment, but it took a few days.
There is a guy I saw on facebook Home Brewing Hacks and Mods who has really made it work. He was able to control the pump and chiller on the ice maker using an STC-1000 controller (like an ink bird) and use glycol. I believe this would work with a cube ice maker (not nugget) as the water (glycol) is pumped over a chilling grid, and if you can control the timing of this as this guy was able to do, you will be golden. Good luck and let me know if you can get this working