Glycol reservoir in a walk-in cooler?

[kennyc]

I'm finally building my home brewery properly. Part of this will be a small walk-in cooler powered by a Coolbot wall AC.

My unitanks will be along the wall outside of the cooler. Is it reasonable to think I can keep a couple of buckets with glycol and pumps inside the cooler and pass the hoses/probes through the wall via a bulkhead, or is there a reason I'd want to consider a dedicated (and more expensive) glycol system for maintaining fermentation temperature?

Thank you!

 

[wootz001]

Very cool! What’s the planned use for your walk-in?

What you are thinking about it is possible, but highly dependent on the thermal demands placed on the system.

Something to be conscious about is the recovery time needed to transfer the heat from the pumps and tanks (now stored in the glycol reservoir) into the cold room air and out via the AC. This isn’t a super efficient process, you may find that the average glycol temp ends up being higher than you want it to be due to the lack of time to cool. It may even impact the intended operation of your cold room with increased AC cycles, potential temperature swings, glycol reservoirs taking up space, etc…

If you are thinking about cold crashing or lagering in your tanks, I’d say go for a glycol chiller. If you are handy at all, search this forum for “DIY AC glycol chiller” for some great inspiration.

 

[Broken Crow]

Part of this will be a small walk-in cooler powered by a Coolbot wall AC.

I'm looking at the wording: "powered by"...are you buying the whole cooler and money is no issue, or are you buying the controller and DIYing the rest?...if you have the skills, a separate DIY glycol chiller for the unitanks is the way to go as you want your glycol to be below the target temperature. ...BTW; Is this walk-in cooler specifically for drinks, or is this a general grocery storage area? You haven't posted since 2016 when you asked about CO2 and Nitrogen for your keezer so we have no idea what your specific situation is.

My unitanks will be along the wall outside of the cooler.

Are these unitanks that you currently have, and if so; what have you been doing with them thus far?..or: Are these unitanks you have the budget for and intend to buy? (ie: what level of experience are you at in chilling/serving fermentations?)
Please give us some more info and details...even pics if it seems like it'll help.

 

[kennyc]

Thanks for the replies. Lots has changed since 2016.

That's a good call out on cold crashing and lagering as I do tend to do both of those and there will be approximately a 35deg temperature difference between the spaces.

Cooler will basically be a closet with extra insulation and the overridden wall AC. And insulated door. It's small and just for brewing - serving kegs, CO2 tank, can and ingredient storage, etc. No unitanks at the moment. All that will come with the new setup.

Money is less of an issue than floor space is, so was also hoping to avoid having something else on the floor or the main space. I've also heard you shouldn't run a glycol chiller inside of a walk-in but would also be happy to learn that's not true.

I'm fairly handy but not really looking at DIY these days unless the design helps me solve a unique problem that chillers on the open market wouldn't.

 

[kennyc]

And more context

- the 2 tanks are about 20gal capacity each but most batches will be about 10gal for the foreseeable future.

- I'd ideally like to also run a serving trunk from the cooler to a tap over about 30ft or so, which would also have a glycol loop.

Do you think the needs of cold crashing and lagering be met here if I had a very large reservoir of glycol (e.g., a 55-gallon drum) cooled by the ambient walk-in temperature of appx 34degF with the jacketed tanks sitting at about 65-70degF?

Is it really an issue to run a glycol chiller inside of a walk-in cooler? If it operates as a traditional heat exchanger, then I'd think standard fridge temperatures would be okay if the glycol was set to be lower than that. Is the concern that the heat exchanger would need to run much less efficiently and thus more often than it the chiller was placed in an area with a higher ambient temperature?

 

[matt_m]

The heat generated by the glycol chiller removing heat fr the glycol plus the heat generated by the compressor itself are going to end up in your cooler, which will mean your cooler refrigeration will have to work harder to remove that heat. Whether that’s harmful to any of the components I couldn’t say but it’s certainly energy inefficient.

 

[wootz001]

Sounds like you’ve got quite a lot going on. The trunk line alone is going to need a constant supply of coolant to keep the beer in the lines cold. That coolant needs to be below your serving temp, usually 29-32F plus or minus a couple.

Maybe rethink the coolbot AC, and think about a glycol unit that can handle everything: trunk, tanks, and cold room. Probably need to consult with an expert and do some math at that point. Penguin and G&D chillers come to mind. They could help you understand your needs.