Chiller for a jacketed conical

[JB_Brewing2]

Considering an aquarium chiller for my 14 gallon jacketed SS conical. I'm not wanting to employ a cooler or glycol or ice baths. I have an electronic temp controller which I would like to mate to the system; just unsure of the configuration and capabilities for an aquarium chiller. Has anyone used an aquarium chiller with an aquarium pump to maintain fermentation temperature for 10 gallon batches? I've seen some in the $500 range (1/4hp). Any thoughts?

 

[JB_Brewing2]

Bump...

 

[brick_haus]

It would work for fermentation. Where did you get a 14g jacketed conocal?

 

[JB_Brewing2]

It would work for fermentation. Where did you get a 14g jacketed conocal?

Actually it is the Medium BIAC from Brewha. Since my only thought was for fermentation temps in the summer, I thought it simpler to just be generic for my question. Cooler season temps are not an issue as I use the heating element at an extremely low setting coupled to the ETC to maintain fermentation temp.

 

[ajdelange]

As the kind of chiller you are looking at is a typical liquid/liquid (refrigerant loop on one side of a heat exchanger and glycol on the other) refrigeration unit as are those sold for this particular application I suppose the answer is yes. One lets the refrigeration unit's thermostat keep its reservoir of glycol near or below freezing and used the RTD in the beer to turn on and off a pump which recirculates this through the jackets. At least that's the way it's done when one has multiple fermenters. With a single fermenter I guess you could recirculate continuously and use the controller to turn the compressor on and off. I'd worry about short cycling if I were to do that though.

 

[JB_Brewing2]

As the kind of chiller you are looking at is a typical liquid/liquid (refrigerant loop on one side of a heat exchanger and glycol on the other) refrigeration unit as are those sold for this particular application I suppose the answer is yes. One lets the refrigeration unit's thermostat keep its reservoir of glycol near or below freezing and used the RTD in the beer to turn on and off a pump which recirculates this through the jackets. At least that's the way it's done when one has multiple fermenters. With a single fermenter I guess you could recirculate continuously and use the controller to turn the compressor on and off. I'd worry about short cycling if I were to do that though.

I'm actually wondering about substituting for the aquarium tank with the jacket on the conical; closed loop as used in normal aquarium chiller intended use. Your thoughts about the short cycling are a concern though. The shop where it is located only rose to 79F during our 90+F outside ambient air temp. Chilling to 70F should allow a long enough cycle followed by a fairly slow rise until the unit cycles on again?