Chiller for SS Brew Bucket ordered!

[normonster]

Just ordered the chiller set up for my SS BB's. Unfortunately couldn't find the daisy-chain kit to add to my order. Might have to make one.

Cost was pretty steep at $274 total. Hope it works well, though I know it will be a painting clean it. This will free up my beer fridge to be a cold storage/serving box now, so no need for another fridge.

Anyone else order one?

 

[dmcman73]

I just ordered one for the 7 gallon Chronical (that's what they call it) that I have coming in tomorrow. I was checking my phone every second at 4:00 EST waiting for the "Add to cart" button showed up and lucky I did because just a few minutes after I placed my order I received an alert stating that they were sold out!! Either they only made like 5 of these things or people were really into it. Can't wait to get the chiller in.

 

[Ramitt]

I am looking forward to hearing how will they work, seem like a good value. How are you planning to chill the cooling fluid?

 

[dmcman73]

Basic way for now, for cooling using a cooler filled with iced water. To warm, using water with a fish tank heater. I have kegerator I built that's right next to it and I may build a water tank into it to do double duty as a cooling fridge for my fermenter and keeping my finished beer ice cold.

 

[normonster]

I was going to do like DMC and put a reservoir into my fridge but I decided to cancel my order because they didn't have the daisy chain kit to cool two fermenters and I have two (and boil double batches). Instead I'm going to get a second keezer to use for cold conditioning/serving and dedicate my first fridge to fermentation only.

I was also worried about the extra cleanup with the coil being in the wort.....friggin hate the clean up aspect of brewing.

 

[CRAFTBEERKING]

Just ordered the chiller set up for my SS BB's. Unfortunately couldn't find the daisy-chain kit to add to my order. Might have to make one.

Can't wait to get my 7 gallon chronical and FTSS (when money permits) Do they even make a daisy chain kit? If not, I'm sure they will shortly, as demand is clearly through the roof as evidenced by how quickly they just sold out.

I am looking forward to hearing how will they work, seem like a good value. How are you planning to chill the cooling fluid?

This is an interesting topic question. Of course you can use a cooler filled with ice, but the ice melts, median temp rises and you have to refill every few days. A go-around which I plan on using is my kegerator. When I originally made it, I drilled two holes for CO2 lines (I did not have a Splitter for my CO2 lines). My plan is to drill one more hole in kegerator, (3 total now, 1 for CO2, 2 for cooling water-1 in and 1 out) use an insulating pin for each cooling water line then place a corny or small cooler in the kegerator filled with water. This way the refrigerator element of the kegerator replenishes the cold with no maintenance. The only real downside to any of this is negligible-slight inefficiency due to drilling yet another hole in my kegerator (and one less keg or actual beer in the kegerator). This is also interesting because this method might be reasonable for a lagering process as well which would normally require much more cooling potential and therefore more often ice replenishment. The five gallon capacity should offer enough cooling potential to accomplish what the system is designed to do. Thoughts?

:rockin:

-------------------

Bottled: Scotch Ale, Double Scotch, Red
Kegged: Belgian Triple, (All Grain) Pumpkin Spiced Porter (Extract and Grains)
Primary: Empty
Secondary: Empty
This weekend: English Winter Red (All grain, own recipe)

 

[Vanryzin]

It's pretty amazing so far. I've been able to maintain 65-68 with minimal ice maintenance. I'm using 2 one gallon jugs in a coleman 54qt cooler filled with 5 inches of water. The other nice thing is I can transfer wort at the coldest I can get it with wort chiller and cool to pitching temps. Summer sucks to get past 80-85 with chiller. I'm getting at least 36-48 hrs with 2 1 gallon jugs.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Vanryzin]

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Vanryzin]

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Vanryzin]

A test with just water


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[dmcman73]

I was going to do like DMC and put a reservoir into my fridge but I decided to cancel my order because they didn't have the daisy chain kit to cool two fermenters and I have two (and boil double batches). Instead I'm going to get a second keezer to use for cold conditioning/serving and dedicate my first fridge to fermentation only.

I was also worried about the extra cleanup with the coil being in the wort.....friggin hate the clean up aspect of brewing.

Shouldn't be that bad. Bucket full of hot water and PBW in it and soak it while you clean the rest. Use a bristled type brush to knock off anything still on it and rinse clean with hot water. I plan on using my HLT to boil it out by placing the lid with the coil attached to it and placing it on top of the HLT. Clean and sanitize it at the same time.

 

[dmcman73]

Can't wait to get my 7 gallon chronical and FTSS (when money permits) Do they even make a daisy chain kit? If not, I'm sure they will shortly, as demand is clearly through the roof as evidenced by how quickly they just sold out.



This is an interesting topic question. Of course you can use a cooler filled with ice, but the ice melts, median temp rises and you have to refill every few days. A go-around which I plan on using is my kegerator. When I originally made it, I drilled two holes for CO2 lines (I did not have a Splitter for my CO2 lines). My plan is to drill one more hole in kegerator, (3 total now, 1 for CO2, 2 for cooling water-1 in and 1 out) use an insulating pin for each cooling water line then place a corny or small cooler in the kegerator filled with water. This way the refrigerator element of the kegerator replenishes the cold with no maintenance. The only real downside to any of this is negligible-slight inefficiency due to drilling yet another hole in my kegerator (and one less keg or actual beer in the kegerator). This is also interesting because this method might be reasonable for a lagering process as well which would normally require much more cooling potential and therefore more often ice replenishment. The five gallon capacity should offer enough cooling potential to accomplish what the system is designed to do. Thoughts?

:rockin:

-------------------

Bottled: Scotch Ale, Double Scotch, Red
Kegged: Belgian Triple, (All Grain) Pumpkin Spiced Porter (Extract and Grains)
Primary: Empty
Secondary: Empty
This weekend: English Winter Red (All grain, own recipe)

If your concern is with the holes in the fridge, seal them around the tubes coming out that will keep the cold air in the fridge and make sure the tubes/pipes are insulated with some pip insulation that wraps around it.

What I plan on doing is making a tank to sit on the back shelf of the kegerator which will put it in contact with the cold "plate" that's there (my kegerator didn't have a freezer so the cold side in the fridge was mounted against the back wall). Fill the tank with food grade glycerol and water so it won't freeze up and drill two holes out the side of the fridge.

My other option that I am leaning more towards is buying this mini freezer: http://www.sears.com/spt-1.1-cu-ft-...a=04699882000P&kpid=04699882000&mktRedirect=y and building a platform ontop of it to set the 7 gallon conical I bought on it. Build a tank inside that for the cooling which later on down the line, I can add other conicals to the loop.

 

[CRAFTBEERKING]

...What I plan on doing is making a tank to sit on the back shelf of the kegerator which will put it in contact with the cold "plate" that's there (my kegerator didn't have a freezer so the cold side in the fridge was mounted against the back wall). Fill the tank with food grade glycerol and water so it won't freeze up and drill two holes out the side of the fridge.

My other option that I am leaning more towards is buying this mini freezer: http://www.sears.com/spt-1.1-cu-ft-...a=04699882000P&kpid=04699882000&mktRedirect=y and building a platform ontop of it to set the 7 gallon conical I bought on it. Build a tank inside that for the cooling which later on down the line, I can add other conicals to the loop.

That sounds like a plan. I am fairly unfamiliar with glycerol and its properties. I figured that running a tank out of the freezer portion of my kegerator (same plan as with the standard refrigeration unit I mentioned) would not work, as the water would freeze, and I don't know much about the freezing properties of glycerol.

So if I understand properly, the glycerol will act like anti-freeze and a tank in the freezer would work well?

 

[dmcman73]

That sounds like a plan. I am fairly unfamiliar with glycerol and its properties. I figured that running a tank out of the freezer portion of my kegerator (same plan as with the standard refrigeration unit I mentioned) would not work, as the water would freeze, and I don't know much about the freezing properties of glycerol.

So if I understand properly, the glycerol will act like anti-freeze and a tank in the freezer would work well?

Same concept for beer as with the wine: http://morewinemaking.com/category/glycol-chiller.html

 

[CRAFTBEERKING]

Same concept for beer as with the wine: http://morewinemaking.com/category/glycol-chiller.html

Sweet, thanks!