Glycol Chillzilla

[cascadia]

I have a chillzilla counterflow chiller, guess it's called a chillus convolutus now. Would it be feasible to pump a glycol mixture through the chiller during cooling? Is glycol caustic to copper? My kegerator is close so I could put the reservoir in the freezer. Anyone out there already doing this?

 

[arturo7]

I haven't done it yet, but I am quite interested in using glycol for chilling.

Copper is not an issue. What I'm hung up on is the size reservoir and flow rate of the circulation pump.

 

[OMJ]

I have a chillzilla counterflow chiller, guess it's called a chillus convolutus now. Would it be feasible to pump a glycol mixture through the chiller during cooling? Is glycol caustic to copper? My kegerator is close so I could put the reservoir in the freezer. Anyone out there already doing this?

I could be wrong about this but if you are using your kegerator to hold the glycol I don't see the advantage of it over water. I have no glycol experience but I thought the advantage was you could cool it well below the freezing temp of water with a deep freezer. If you are keeping your kegerator at 40 water would probably work just as well

 

[cascadia]

OMJ, I understand what you are saying. My water is about 55* so a 15* difference is probably negligible in terms of cooling efficiency. The reservoir would be located in the freezer section of the fridge, so it may be cooler than 40, but it does not get down to deep freezing temperatures.

I am trying to accomplish a reusable water alternative. My focus here is to reduce water consumption while brewing.

 

[OMJ]

OMJ, I understand what you are saying. My water is about 55* so a 15* difference is probably negligible in terms of cooling efficiency. The reservoir would be located in the freezer section of the fridge, so it may be cooler than 40, but it does not get down to deep freezing temperatures.

I am trying to accomplish a reusable water alternative. My focus here is to reduce water consumption while brewing.

From my understanding that would work then if the freezer on your fridge has space to store enough glycol. I am sure there is some one here who will pop in soon and tell you how much glycol it will take

 

[uncia]

Assuming my math is correct and perfect temperature equalization you are looking at the following equation:

(v1*t1 - t3 *v1) / ( t3 – t2 ) = v2

v1 = Wort Volume
t1 = Wort Temp
v2 = Chiller Liquid Volume
t2 = Chiller Liquid Temp
t3 = Final Wort Temp

For a 20 gallon batch, chilling to 70f would take almost 70 gallons of 29 degree chilling liquid.

 

[cascadia]

Thanks uncia, that is what I was looking for. I assume I could use that same equation to calculate the volume of water used to chill. Correct?

10 gallon batch would require 47 gallons of glycol
5 gallon batch would require 24 gallons of glycol

Both are larger than my current capacity. Guess I'll shelve that idea for another day.

 

[SweetSounds]

Has anyone tried using a closed loop with a transmission cooler (Or something like that) in the freezer, instead of a bucket?
I'm looking at cooling my trunk line from the keezer to the taps, and was thinking about using a small trans cooler with a fan for a heat exchanger. I think of it like setting a glass of water outside in the winter. It'll freeze, but it takes a while. Pour the glass on the ground and you've got a skating rink in 5 minutes.

On Topic:
I haven't tried it yet, but I figure it has to be more efficient than a pool of warm water in a freezer right? There's a TON more surface area for the warm coolant to contact the cold air, and aluminum fins to transfer the heat even faster. This is how the freezer you would ask to chill your glycol will transfer the wort heat to the atmosphere...

Has anyone tried this before?

I would think it could dump more heat into your freezer than the freezer could keep up with..

 

[BenjaminR]

The only issue I see with running a trans cooler in your freezer is it will more than likely thaw out the freezer or at least melt a lot of ice that may be in there. Then the freezer would have to run full tilt for a day or so to get back up to temp. Also using an air to liquid will only cool with as much cold air that is available. So a freezer would in all reality offer limited volume. Additionally the cooler would require a fan to move the air.

I would suspect it would not have that much heat reduction after circulating and I feel that the cooling you may get at first would drop rapidly. Liquid to liquid is going to be hands down the most efficient.

 

[ClaudiusB]

I have a chillzilla counterflow chiller, guess it's called a chillus convolutus now. Would it be feasible to pump a glycol mixture through the chiller during cooling?

I use two counterflow chillers, one is cooled with tap water (pre-chiller) and the second one is connected to 30 gallon glycol chiller.

Is glycol caustic to copper?

The evaporator coil is made out of copper, no sign of any deterioration after constant use (24/7).


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[goatchze]

See this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/glycol-through-therminator-plate-chiller-big-batches-156771/

If you don't want to pre-chill, you're going to need a big chunk of ice in that freezer.