DIY glycol tank idea.

[Jako]

Suck's tomorrow I find out the real damage.

Well I need surgery and a new job. Turns out punching someone at work is against the rules. Regardless of the situation. Lesson learned report bullying and have it physically documented because management will forget you said anything once you stick up for yourself.

 

[Jako]

After reading the advice above a few times over and looking at that other build. I think I could set this up to maintain fermenting Temps. I just don't think it's worth destroying a fridge even if it cost me 20$ it's practically new but I don't think I would ever be satisfied with the final results. Wife was going to buy me a new fermenter or bed cover for my truck for my birthday. I might just buy a chiller and eventually get that shiny unitank once I can maintain Temps reliability.

Big sigh. I did learn a ton from the help so thank you everyone. Now what should I do with this fridge? Basement kegerator?

 

[TheMadKing]

Is it just because a mini fridge has a small glycol capacity to begin with? Starting to understand I think.

Am I making a big mistake if I plan to turn one into a fermenting chamber?

Edit: apparently I missed the entire second page of this thread before commenting.. My bad.

Original comment:

Mini fridges don't have glycol they have freon which is a refrigerant.

Using a mini fridge as a fermentation chamber works well because you have an insulated volume inside the chamber that you're chilling and that's it.

The problem with your glycol tank idea is that you're using the mini fridge to chill the glycol, which is then circulated through a conical that is absorbing heat from the environment at a pretty high rate. So effectively, you would be trying to use your mini fridge to chill the entire room in a very inefficient way. I also have a friend that tried that with a full sized freezer and a keg full of glycol and he couldn't chill his fermenter below 50F

You need a chiller that can remove heat from your beer at a faster rate than it can absorb heat from the environment and keep up with the glycol temp rise.

I recommend the AC unit build. Even if you can't find one on Facebook marketplace you can buy a new one for $120 at Lowe's and a cheap cooler at Walmart. It's probably your most cost effective (and actually effective) option

 

[JAReeves]

I started with a mini-fridge as a dedicated brewing fridge: yeast cultures, hops, pre-crushed grain (when I was doing extract brews). Now most of that is stored in my keezer at 36F with 3 kegs. This hobby can rapidly deplete a wallet as you move upwards and onwards.

I forced myself to sell off the items from one hobby to pay for this one. By keeping myself on a zero-sum budget I was able to spend more time planning the projects before I invested the time and money. Before this glycol build, I was going to make an 8'x3'x3' enclosed fermentation chamber/worktable. I am glad I didn't, as I think the setup I have is better use of space, energy, and cash resources. But it did take almost a year longer to pull it together than the other idea.

This is the keezer; the only mod is the collar to allow for holes for CO2 and temp control, and space above the kegs for the hoses, etc. When the space isn't so tight, I want to put stainless taps in the front, but can't yet. Everyone would run into them constantly, knocking them on and off, it would just be a mess.

Good luck on your projects!

 

[Jako]

Edit: apparently I missed the entire second page of this thread before commenting.. My bad.

Original comment:

Mini fridges don't have glycol they have freon which is a refrigerant.

Using a mini fridge as a fermentation chamber works well because you have an insulated volume inside the chamber that you're chilling and that's it.

The problem with your glycol tank idea is that you're using the mini fridge to chill the glycol, which is then circulated through a conical that is absorbing heat from the environment at a pretty high rate. So effectively, you would be trying to use your mini fridge to chill the entire room in a very inefficient way. I also have a friend that tried that with a full sized freezer and a keg full of glycol and he couldn't chill his fermenter below 50F

You need a chiller that can remove heat from your beer at a faster rate than it can absorb heat from the environment and keep up with the glycol temp rise.

I recommend the AC unit build. Even if you can't find one on Facebook marketplace you can buy a new one for $120 at Lowe's and a cheap cooler at Walmart. It's probably your most cost effective (and actually effective) option

I stared looking for AC units. High hopes since fall is around the corner.

I decided to order a fermenter with hopes of being able to find an AC unit and after my surgery able enough to brew and get back to normal.

I started with a mini-fridge as a dedicated brewing fridge: yeast cultures, hops, pre-crushed grain (when I was doing extract brews). Now most of that is stored in my keezer at 36F with 3 kegs. This hobby can rapidly deplete a wallet as you move upwards and onwards.

I forced myself to sell off the items from one hobby to pay for this one. By keeping myself on a zero-sum budget I was able to spend more time planning the projects before I invested the time and money. Before this glycol build, I was going to make an 8'x3'x3' enclosed fermentation chamber/worktable. I am glad I didn't, as I think the setup I have is better use of space, energy, and cash resources. But it did take almost a year longer to pull it together than the other idea.

This is the keezer; the only mod is the collar to allow for holes for CO2 and temp control, and space above the kegs for the hoses, etc. When the space isn't so tight, I want to put stainless taps in the front, but can't yet. Everyone would run into them constantly, knocking them on and off, it would just be a mess.

Good luck on your projects!
View attachment 739162View attachment 739163

That freezer set up looks awesome! Thank you for the great advice. My current project was trying to play video games with my 4 year old. It ended with me annoyed and Mario dying over and over.

 

[Jako]

I am going to look at a 10k BTU AC unit this evening. The guy has two for sale one is 5k and 10k. He said the 10k unit will stop cooling when it gets to hot. Sounds like it could be dirty or the compressor was over worked and kicks off.

Is this a fixable issue?

 

[JAReeves]

Sorry, no clue. But 5k should be sufficient for most DIY uses.

 

[Jako]

Showed up to buy the unit. The guy was stoked on the idea and had a 12k unit I ended up buy for 50$

 

[Jako]

Small update. Interesting day in utah. Flooding on a large scale. My neighborhood took a massive hit lots of flooded basements. I will never understand walk out basements.

I ended up digging into the AC unit. Took it apart almost part by part to clean it up. It had so much dirt and junk in general. Debating adding some paint on the fan shroud and AC base plate.

 

[JAReeves]

Good that you project is on its way, bad that you have so much flooding! Wish you could send some of that water our way-Southern California.

 

[WyattH]

Yesterday I went out and bought a 5k BTU window air conditioner (used). I slowly bent the copper pipes running to the evaporation so they stood up vertically and put them in a cheap, 50qt ice chest. I'm about $120 into this project. It should be completed soon. My glycol should arrive by the weekend so I can test it out with my 14 gallon BME chronical. I'll take some pics if anyone is interested.

 

[JAReeves]

Yesterday I went out and bought a 5k BTU window air conditioner (used). I slowly bent the copper pipes running to the evaporation so they stood up vertically and put them in a cheap, 50qt ice chest. I'm about $120 into this project. It should be completed soon. My glycol should arrive by the weekend so I can test it out with my 14 gallon BME chronical. I'll take some pics if anyone is interested.

Excellent, show your design!

Now that I have a system that can handle 3 primary fermenters I am sad that work has kicked back up again full-time+ because I don't have any time left for fermentations! My chiller is acting like a petulant teen, giving me the hairy eyeball every time I walk by. It's soooooooo bored.