Adding temp control to my fermenters made the biggest improvement to my beer. I make a lot of high gravity beers and can now get my final gravity down by starting a bit on the cold side and ramping up the temp at the end.
Here is how I do it:
I have four fermenters wrapped in Reflectix with two of them temp controlled. The temp controlled ones have a stainless coil in them with a temp prob. Each fermenter has a Ink Bird controller. The hot is plugged into a heating pad under the fermenter and the cold is plugged into a small submersible pump in the glycol cooler. A third controller has a prob in the glycol cooler and turns on a larger submersible pump in the cooler that recirculates through a 1/2 hp reef aquarium chiller. The controller turns on the chiller pump and the chiller together. I keep the glycol at 28F and can control the two fermenters independently.
Its similar to the SS Brewtech setup but is less then half the cost and its more powerful. The chiller brings the 4.5 gal glycol mix (1.5 gal glycol & 3 gal RO water) down at 1.3 degrees per min, from 73F to 28F in about a half hour. It brings the 6 gal in the fermenter down at a rate of about 0.7 degrees per min and can cold crash down to 38F. To maintain the glycol at 28F the chiller cycles on for 6 min about every two hours.
I used to have just the two fermenter coil pumps in a bucket of glycol in a mini fridge. It would work but only if you were going down less then 8 or 9 degrees. Once the glycol got warm it could not cool down with the heat from the pumps and friction in the coil.
I have been happy with the new setup. It's a little on the loud side but that's not a problem for me. I also use it to cool and temp control my 2L yeast starters. I have a copper coil in a pot of water with a computer fan stir bar under it. I submerge the 2L starter in the water and have a tiny pump in the opposite direction of the stir bar. Works great.
Here is how I do it:
I have four fermenters wrapped in Reflectix with two of them temp controlled. The temp controlled ones have a stainless coil in them with a temp prob. Each fermenter has a Ink Bird controller. The hot is plugged into a heating pad under the fermenter and the cold is plugged into a small submersible pump in the glycol cooler. A third controller has a prob in the glycol cooler and turns on a larger submersible pump in the cooler that recirculates through a 1/2 hp reef aquarium chiller. The controller turns on the chiller pump and the chiller together. I keep the glycol at 28F and can control the two fermenters independently.
Its similar to the SS Brewtech setup but is less then half the cost and its more powerful. The chiller brings the 4.5 gal glycol mix (1.5 gal glycol & 3 gal RO water) down at 1.3 degrees per min, from 73F to 28F in about a half hour. It brings the 6 gal in the fermenter down at a rate of about 0.7 degrees per min and can cold crash down to 38F. To maintain the glycol at 28F the chiller cycles on for 6 min about every two hours.
I used to have just the two fermenter coil pumps in a bucket of glycol in a mini fridge. It would work but only if you were going down less then 8 or 9 degrees. Once the glycol got warm it could not cool down with the heat from the pumps and friction in the coil.
I have been happy with the new setup. It's a little on the loud side but that's not a problem for me. I also use it to cool and temp control my 2L yeast starters. I have a copper coil in a pot of water with a computer fan stir bar under it. I submerge the 2L starter in the water and have a tiny pump in the opposite direction of the stir bar. Works great.
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