Commercial breweries glycol + heating system

[nachov]

Hi folks,

I have a question concerning cooling / heating system in fermentation vessels.

In commercial breweries,
I think they use glycol chiller with thermostat
to pump glycol through the jacket.

But what about the heating system?
Do they use air-conditionning system ?

I would welcome any inputs.

Thanks!

 

[pcollins]

In my brewery if we wanted to ferment warmer we would just leave the cooling off or set it for a higher than ambient temp. 23hl of fermenting wort can easily climb up to north of 80ºF in the early stages. I don't know what other breweries do who would want to maintain those temps beyond primary.

 

[nachov]

That's OK in spring or summer. But in cold climate country such as Ireland, with crap weather all year round, you cannot count on yeast actitivty to reach the 70's or even 65-68

 

[pcollins]

Well, we're in Canada and I understand what you're saying. We've got a ton of crap weather here, too.

In winter when I cool in to the fermenter we still set the cooling for 70ºF regardless of the ambient. Temps will climb higher than that for sure otherwise we could just dispense with our cooling altogether once external/ambient temps hit certain points.

 

[nachov]

I never got to brew a big batch myself.
In New Zealand, I saw a guy brewing in his garage (in winter)
with a fermentation vessel (50 Gal capacity).

He was using a heating pad wrapped around the vessel.

From what you both said, for big batches
the yeast activity is well enough to reach high temps.

That's good to know. Thanks

 

[nachov]

Hi folks,

I’d like to reactivate this old dusty post.

I understand that primary fermentation would actually create
it’s own heath.

But at the end of the fermentation,
when the fermentations starts to slow down,
is there a way to keep the fermentation at the same temperature ?

I guess homebrewers are not too concerned about that
because we brew inside the house.

But if you were to brew in your garage (in a crap cold climate),
would you use any heating device to keep the secondary fermentation
at the same temperature ?

Furthermore, in a commercial brewery
would they use any kind of heating device at the end of the fermentation ?
I guess you could use a glycol heating system.

I know glycol is used to cool down the vessel (because of it’s heat exchange propery);
but I have never heard of such a heating device.

I would welcome any thoughts on this topic.

Cheers.