Corny Kegs & Glycol

[Thorrak]

Does anyone have a solution they use for using glycol with corny kegs?

I'm currently using 5 gallon cornys as fermenters for 2.5gal batches of beer coming out of a Pico Z and am interested in potentially trying to hook these up to a glycol system. Yes, it's not quite a conical, but I don't know of any conicals that are recommended for batches this small!

 

[IslandLizard]

Why not stick them in a temp controlled fridge or freezer?

 

[Thorrak]

Why not stick them in a temp controlled fridge or freezer?

Short answer: Because I bought a glycol chiller and want to use it with my current rig

Actual answer: I'm doing exactly that right now. I have a 5gal chest freezer acting as a keezer /w attached taps for serving, and a kegerator acting as a fermentation chamber - all controlled with Fermentrack and my port of the BrewPi firmware to ESP8266. Glycol support is a commonly requested feature for both of those projects, but I realized it wouldn't get built unless I had a test rig to use it with, so I picked up a test rig. Now I'm stuck figuring out how to integrate that into my brewing pipeline since - as you noted - glycol is kind of overkill for most 2.5gal brewing applications.

 

[leesmith]

Short answer: Because I bought a glycol chiller and want to use it with my current rig

Actual answer: I'm doing exactly that right now. I have a 5gal chest freezer acting as a keezer /w attached taps for serving, and a kegerator acting as a fermentation chamber - all controlled with Fermentrack and my port of the BrewPi firmware to ESP8266. Glycol support is a commonly requested feature for both of those projects, but I realized it wouldn't get built unless I had a test rig to use it with, so I picked up a test rig. Now I'm stuck figuring out how to integrate that into my brewing pipeline since - as you noted - glycol is kind of overkill for most 2.5gal brewing applications.

This:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/brewbuilt-coolstix-glass-carboys.html

And then drill a hole in a keg lid and use this to secure and seal the coolstix:

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/truebulkhead12comp.htm

Coolstix says it’s 1/2” OD. Should work with bulkhead. You put lid on first and then insert coolstix after lid is on, tighten bulkhead, and then pressurize keg to seal the lid like normal.

Been wanting to pull the trigger on this for sometime. If you get to it first please let us know how it works.

Brew hardware also sells a weld/solder bulkhead for cheaper if your handy that way.

 

[leesmith]

Does anyone have a solution they use for using glycol with corny kegs?

I'm currently using 5 gallon cornys as fermenters for 2.5gal batches of beer coming out of a Pico Z and am interested in potentially trying to hook these up to a glycol system. Yes, it's not quite a conical, but I don't know of any conicals that are recommended for batches this small!

Any update?

 

[Gruel]

Old thread, I know, but since I've just done something similar: it's not so hard to tape a copper cooling loop to the outside of a stainless 5 gallon Cornelius keg. I'm reaching 8℃ with just three windings of 1/4" tubing and a liquid-liquid peltier cooler dumping the heat into the ambient air, so a glycol cooler should be able to drive the keg even lower. See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/compact-peltier-cooled-carboy-setup.675283/#post-8802041

 

[Thorrak]

Old thread, I know, but since I've just done something similar: it's not so hard to tape a copper cooling loop to the outside of a stainless 5 gallon Cornelius keg. I'm reaching 8℃ with just three windings of 1/4" tubing and a liquid-liquid peltier cooler dumping the heat into the ambient air, so a glycol cooler should be able to drive the keg even lower. See https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/compact-peltier-cooled-carboy-setup.675283/#post-8802041

That is pretty brilliant! Thanks for posting this!

 

[Tallgrass]

I recently needed to chill a corny with no fridge space. My copper chiller fit neatly around the corny so I placed the whole mess in a 5 gallon bucket with water. 34f water in the chiller held the bucket water around 39f. That was in 65 ambient temps with a lot of loss in long vinyl tubing and an open bucket.

 

[Smudgey]

Have you seen these purpose made cooling jackets? Fit conical, and a keg version as well.

http://www.gotta-brew.com/categories/cooling-jacket.html

There are DIY versions using a few wraps of rubber flat pack type hose as well, then drop the whole deal in a closed cell foam tube.

 

[matt_m]

Have you seen these purpose made cooling jackets? Fit conical, and a keg version as well.

Thanks! That may be the solution for cooling the Blichman Cornical I recently picked up