ICEMASTER MAX 2

[BoilerInSoCal]

That’s great to hear. I’m pumped to finally get my basement brewery going. Got the glycol chiller ordered and my wife is getting me the SSBrewtech unitank for Christmas.

That's great! I am really liking my move to conical w/glycol. BTW, where in NJ are you? I lived in Madison for about 8 years, but moved back to SoCal about 1.5 years ago.

Using a "sacrificial" extension cord to cut and wire into the switched leg is also a great idea (assuming you had to do an extension cord per vessel controller) and avoids having to cut in the square outlet, but as you said, you end up with cords dangling out somewhere... Still, a much better idea than perma-modding your heaters and stuff...makes it more flexible. BTW, the STC 1000 is directly replaceable with a $15 Inkbird DIN controller, though the secondary vessel controller openings (even peeling back the tack weld metal holders for the circuit boards) don't quite fit that profile and I have not found any drop in replacement like I had hoped. Also, the leg posts are metric, so good luck finding some M8x1.25mm casters.

Yeah, will need need two extension cords to work both controllers. I only have one fermentor...for now, that is! I'm really digging this whole setup and I can see why a recurring theme throughout the conical/glycol comparison threads is the desire to add more conicals! It doesn't help that upon receiving the CF10 and Max2 I moved on from my 2-tap kegerator and converted my GE 7cu chest freezer (that I had been using as a fermentation chamber) into a 4-tap keezer.

 

[jeffalanmcclain]

Yeah, will need need two extension cords to work both controllers. I only have one fermentor...for now, that is! I'm really digging this whole setup and I can see why a recurring theme throughout the conical/glycol comparison threads is the desire to add more conicals! It doesn't help that upon receiving the CF10 and Max2 I moved on from my 2-tap kegerator and converted my GE 7cu chest freezer (that I had been using as a fermentation chamber) into a 4-tap keezer.

LoL. Welcome to the rat race. You upgrade one part of your system that is currently "limiting" you only to find that now makes something else your limiting factor... For me, I just got a 1 BBL unitank (upping the game from my half bbl SS BME chronicle) only to realize there was not a great way for me to boil enough to even remotely fill it (currently operating on 17 year old home built converted kegs for HLT, MT and BK) and the boils are the WORST to try to push 15 gallons out on to fill my half bbl. I have considered double batching, but lot of work. So, I got a 30 gal BK from SS last weekend...only to realize now my mash tun is going to probably limit my ability to produce...LoL. And then I suddenly thought "how the hell am I going to drink 30 gallons of ONE beer"?

I have a problem. My name is Jeff...

"Welcome, Jeff"...

 

[Fidelity101]

I just received my IceMaster Max 2 and I thought I'd provide some pictures of the actual power draw to see if anyone else has similar results. I filled mine up with 4 gallons of solution (3g water and 1g glycol) before turning it on. After a few minutes, the compressor turned on and here are the results...less than the 600 watts I was expecting.

The highest amp draw I could pull (with compressor and both pumps running) was just shy of 2.5 amps which would be about 300 watts. That's pretty far off from the 600 watts of cooling power I was expecting. Anyone else take measurements? Based on what I'm seeing, the actual wattage draw going towards cooling is about 200 watts.

 

[Fidelity101]

I purchased these quick connects: Beer & Gas Quick Connect - In-Line Set (With Shut-Off) | MoreBeer
and this tubing: High Temp Silicone Tubing - 3/8 in. | MoreBeer
Which clearly didn't go so well because the tubing ID was way to large for the quick disconnects. SO...I'm thinking about buying this tubing: Amazon.com: Pure Silicone Tubing - 1/4" ID x 3/8" OD - High Temp Kink-Free Hose Tube 500F (10 Feet): Home Improvement
Using this smaller tubing INSIDE the larger tubing, along with a clamp, should provide a tight seal. If anyone has a better approach, I'd like to hear it.

The reason I need these quick disconnects is to disconnect the tubing from the Glycol chiller when moving the Spike CF5 fermenter over to the cleaning station area. The quick disconnects will allow separation without loosing much glycol solution.

 

[WesBrew]

I pulled the trigger on this chiller on Thanksgiving. Arrived today. The string has some great info. In saw there were issues when these were first delivered. Anyone have any issues yet?

no problems, working great, and Ive done three beers. Just got my 13 gallon fermenter set up so ill be running it on a 10 gallon batch soon. The problems initially were wrong instructions and the controllers were advertised as reading in F. They all read in C.

 

[maxr]

I bought this on cyber monday and it arrived today. Letting it stand for a day before powering on, but initial impressions are that it's a good looking unit with the exception of the internal wiring, which looks exceedingly thin for something that draws 600W. The insulation around the reservoir also seems suspiciously thin. Hopefully it won't have trouble maintaining temperature in my 100+ degree garage in the summer.
Thank you to the previous posters for helpful information about wiring in heating elements and the caster thread. I found a set of very affordable casters on amazon. In the long run I may wire in panel-mount sockets for the heating element, but for now a cut-up extension cord will have to do.

 

[jeffalanmcclain]

I just got my $15 Inkbird panel mount controllers in and the main chiller controller is a drop in replacement. The front two vessels take a little metal work, but after one of my controllers had a busted post that contacts the front press panel, I just went ahead. That and while I had Celsius conversion tables taped on the units, it sucks having to do conversion in your head on "what's my beer temp at". I *wish* I could think in metric, but I just can't.

 

[BrewAgain]

Got it on Wednesday. Powered it up on Thursday night. Within 90 minutes it took the test water from 60 f to 38 f. I think that's pretty good. Left it overnight and the coils started to freeze up. The pumps were off. That's fine. Proved it has capacity.
I'll be running a 7 gallon blichmann conical with their cooling coil. I do have a grainfather conical that I need to figure out how to rig the integrated controller to work the pump. Might be using the internal pump by tricking the controller through thermal couple input.
Anybody try integrating the grainfather conical into it?

 

[maxr]

Got it on Wednesday. Powered it up on Thursday night. Within 90 minutes it took the test water from 60 f to 38 f. I think that's pretty good. Left it overnight and the coils started to freeze up. The pumps were off. That's fine. Proved it has capacity.
I'll be running a 7 gallon blichmann conical with their cooling coil. I do have a grainfather conical that I need to figure out how to rig the integrated controller to work the pump. Might be using the internal pump by tricking the controller through thermal couple input.
Anybody try integrating the grainfather conical into it?

You should be able to wire the internal pump directly to the grainfather conical - both are 12V systems. There is a video here:

 

[jeffalanmcclain]

FWIW, I got everything fully upgraded to 3 new InkBird ITC-1000's. Full heater/Fahrenheit function and wasn't too hard. The primary was very easy. The others required me to get out my angle grinder with a cut-wheel on it to take off the tabs of the front panel, but once those were gone and with a hammer and chisel, the end result was an opening that fit pretty well on the other two InkBirds. You could get the ITC-1000F (12V DC powered one) if you want simpler direct wiring conversion, but I took the opportunity to clean up the horrendous wiring they had.


Still have some clean up to do with some supports to make the panels sturdy, but really happy with having 'F read outs!!!

 

[maxr]

I purchased these quick connects: Beer & Gas Quick Connect - In-Line Set (With Shut-Off) | MoreBeer
and this tubing: High Temp Silicone Tubing - 3/8 in. | MoreBeer
Which clearly didn't go so well because the tubing ID was way to large for the quick disconnects. SO...I'm thinking about buying this tubing: Amazon.com: Pure Silicone Tubing - 1/4" ID x 3/8" OD - High Temp Kink-Free Hose Tube 500F (10 Feet): Home Improvement
Using this smaller tubing INSIDE the larger tubing, along with a clamp, should provide a tight seal. If anyone has a better approach, I'd like to hear it.

The reason I need these quick disconnects is to disconnect the tubing from the Glycol chiller when moving the Spike CF5 fermenter over to the cleaning station area. The quick disconnects will allow separation without loosing much glycol solution.

This is similar to the dual valve quick disconnect that comes with the SS Brewtech kit. US Plastic also sells them at a slightly higher price but they are OOS.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p...pling-body-3-8-id-barb?variant=13249454964779https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p...ing-insert-3-8-id-barb?variant=13249715241003

 

[BrewAgain]

That's interesting that they used a 12 v system. I'll have to investigate the controller and see which approach will work better.

 

[tneary]

I got one of the Max 2 units back in Nov. First unit leaked out bottom when left pump was circulating. Bunch of silicone inside the 1st unit around copper tubing holding the pump lines. Got a replacement unit shipped and this one has a problem where the right pump hums/whines but does circulate any water.

Am I just super unlucky or did anybody else have problems?

 

[tneary]

I played around with it and after pulling up on the pump tube attempting to get it off the bottom the pump started circulating water. The intake must have somehow been blocked on the bottom.

 

[jeffalanmcclain]

I got one of the Max 2 units back in Nov. First unit leaked out bottom when left pump was circulating. Bunch of silicone inside the 1st unit around copper tubing holding the pump lines. Got a replacement unit shipped and this one has a problem where the right pump hums/whines but does circulate any water.

Am I just super unlucky or did anybody else have problems?

Ugh...I hope this is just YOU (grin...sorry, hate to pick on you, but after all the massive modifications I've made, I would like to think it will last a bit, cause I ain't returning it now...LoL).

BR,
Jeff

 

[maxr]

Mine is working very nicely so far. Holding a lager steady at 11.8 C in my unitank.

 

[kirblator]

I got one of the Max 2 units back in Nov. First unit leaked out bottom when left pump was circulating. Bunch of silicone inside the 1st unit around copper tubing holding the pump lines. Got a replacement unit shipped and this one has a problem where the right pump hums/whines but does circulate any water.

Am I just super unlucky or did anybody else have problems?

How bad was your leak? Recently purchased an IceMaster Max 2 and liquid kept dripping from the bottom two front corners. It’s seems too much too be condensation but I wanted make sure I’m not over reacting.

 

[NewJersey]

All these threads just sell penguin chillers tbh

 

[mwayne112]

How bad was your leak? Recently purchased an IceMaster Max 2 and liquid kept dripping from the bottom two front corners. It’s seems too much too be condensation but I wanted make sure I’m not over reacting.

Mine leaked on the out line as well on one of the pumps. I opened it up and had a badly clamped oetiker clamp. I reclamped it and it’s been perfect since then. Just remove the cover and peel back the insulation a bit, super easy.

 

[jeffalanmcclain]

Frown. I don't think it should leak at all, and humidity shouldn't be too much of a problem right now anywhere (ok...northern hemisphere) to make that be culprit....

 

[tneary]

How bad was your leak? Recently purchased an IceMaster Max 2 and liquid kept dripping from the bottom two front corners. It’s seems too much too be condensation but I wanted make sure I’m not over reacting.

How bad was your leak? Recently purchased an IceMaster Max 2 and liquid kept dripping from the bottom two front corners. It’s seems too much too be condensation but I wanted make sure I’m not over reacting.

Steady drip whenever the left pump was running

 

[kirblator]

Steady drip whenever the left pump was running
View attachment 711238

Thanks for the reply. I’m getting a similar type leak. I’ll have to check all my connections. I don’t think I’ll get around to that until after the holidays. I guess I’ll find out how a Pilsner taste fermented with 34/70 at room temp due to this issue.

 

[maxr]

For what this thing cost, it should not leak period. Morebeer should make this right for you. Seeing this QC stuff would not make me want to be among the first purchasers of the new BrewBuilt conicals.

 

[WesBrew]

Mine was a pre-order and has been perfect in Florida. Zero leaks. check your connections to see if its just a hose clamp adjustment. If not, Morebeer has always been good about taking care of issues. send them an email

 

[tneary]

For what this thing cost, it should not leak period. Morebeer should make this right for you. Seeing this QC stuff would not make me want to be among the first purchasers of the new BrewBuilt conicals.

Agree. For $600 you shouldn't need to fix the leak.. i called and they shipped me a new unit. The new one had defective pump...at which point I swapped out with a good pump from the leaking unit. Seems fine now... but shouldn't have had to spend 2 hours of my time fixing it. Just didn't want to go thru hassle of returning another unit.

 

[kirblator]

Agree. For $600 you shouldn't need to fix the leak.. i called and they shipped me a new unit. The new one had defective pump...at which point I swapped out with a good pump from the leaking unit. Seems fine now... but shouldn't have had to spend 2 hours of my time fixing it. Just didn't want to go thru hassle of returning another unit.

This makes me feel better about getting the issue resolved. My conversation with customer support today also made me feel better too. I agree 600 dollars isn’t chump change and I think a product that is this expensive should work as advertised upon arrival. I’m going to check my connections after things from the holidays settle down. Maybe it will be an easy fix.

Did you ever find the leak? If so where was the liquid leaking from?

 

[Fidelity101]

1.) 1/2 gallon of glycol/water leaked out during 48 hours of cold crashing.
2.) Left pump was slower than the right.
3.) Right controller didn't respond to the top button...seemed to get stuck.

All issues fixed and documented below...hopefully. (Display issue self resolved after removing and reinstalling the displays)

Pictures from start to finish to show the repairs:
All 4 internal ports leaked water down the front and out the bottom.

1/2 gallon of glycol/water leaked during 2 days of cooling.

I removed all 4 internal fittings:

Far left internal tube was crimped:

All 4 internal tubes removed… notice that only one internal bulkhead fitting is installed properly. The has a crushed gasket and 2 have NO gaskets.

\\
I added thick 1/2” ID and 3/4” OD tubing to the end of each internal tube and then clamped that down into the bulkhead fittings. This stopped the leaks.

All 4 internal tubes installed with different clamps. No more leaks.

 

[kirblator]

Wow thanks for the detailed run through. Very annoying this product is so poorly constructed. MoreBeer really needs to address this issue.

 

[BrewAgain]

Thanks Maxr. I took apart the controller section. There are two terminations (pos and neg) from the controller to the pumps. I added a connector that matched the connector for the pump cable on the basic cooling kit. ( Thanks grainfather for the cable in the kit. No cutting and no interconnect cable build). I also added another connector so the built in controller can be used. Worked like a charm.
Ended up with 9 extra sets of connectors. Thanks Amazon.

 

[maxr]

I just finished my first brew with the Icemaster and 7gal Unitank. It worked perfectly for both heating and cooling. I spliced in an inexpensive extension cord for the heater. I crashed from 68F to 38 in under an hour. The real test will come next summer when we find out if it can still do that when the garage gets up to 110.

 

[ale_man]

I am ordering mine this week. What cheeses me is that the G20 is $600 austrailian or $461 US. Why are getting ripped for additional $230 ???

where are you getting Glycol?

 

[maxr]

I am ordering mine this week. What cheeses me is that the G20 is $600 austrailian or $461 US. Why are getting ripped for additional $230 ???

where are you getting Glycol?

Tractor Supply sells glycol. I wondered about the markup too. Some combination of the cost to redesign for 110v and the cost of shipping these things from China.

 

[Fidelity101]

I am ordering mine this week. What cheeses me is that the G20 is $600 austrailian or $461 US. Why are getting ripped for additional $230 ???

where are you getting Glycol?

I have to imagine that it's not cheap shipping large boxes from Australia or China. Plus they're a business so they do have to make a few dollars AND offset the cost of "free shipping" and a certain amount of customer returns due to defective items. So all in all, $230 isn't horrible. That's just my two cents. I'm not annoyed by Apple charging $1200 for a phone that cost them $163 to manufacture but that's another story.

Also, for what it's worth, a MoreFlavor employee contacted me regarding the information I posted about the repair and they are actively looking into product changes to improve the design. I was impressed that they cared so much about making necessary changes as quickly as possible so I give them a big thumbs up.

 

[Beerwildered]

I hard wired in the heating relays on mine today to an outlet on the lid and confirmed they work as expected to power some 120v seed mats for heating. Unlike the Kegland manual posted (which is for 240v version), this does NOT have mains on the controllers and motors. They are 12v. But the overall instructions for wiring in the hot leg of an outlet or peripheral is sound and works.
https://mossycupbrewing.blogspot.com/2020/12/glycol-chiller-and-heater.html

I just picked up an Icemaster Max 4. I’m contemplating adding a 12v DC plug-in for my SsBrewtech Silicone Heater - and I see that the STC-1000 has output for heat.

I need to jump positive wire over to blade 4, connect the positive wire of the female plug onto blade 5, and then connect the negative wire to the common negative wire group... right? Is it that simple?

FILSHU 5pcs DC Female Panel Mount with 10cm 18awg Cable Wire, IP67 Waterproof Large Current Dc Power Jack Adapter 5.5x2.1mm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FMG9T44/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_WS6Z8EZ668MKFSSF25TF

 

[maxr]

Does the MAX 4 use the stc1000 for the pumps? The MAX 2 does not - it uses a different temperature controller that seems to be proprietary. I think that you could wire a 12v heater to the proprietary controller. I am using mine to control the spike 120v heater.

 

[Beerwildered]

I just picked up an Icemaster Max 4. I’m contemplating adding a 12v DC plug-in for my SsBrewtech Silicone Heater - and I see that the STC-1000 has output for heat.

my question: if I just wire these female jacks onto blades 4&5 of the STC-1000 and plug in my 12v heating pad, will that work? Is it that simple?

FILSHU 5pcs DC Female Panel Mount with 10cm 18awg Cable Wire, IP67 Waterproof Large Current Dc Power Jack Adapter 5.5x2.1mm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FMG9T44/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_WS6Z8EZ668MKFSSF25TF

Does the MAX 4 use the stc1000 for the pumps? The MAX 2 does not - it uses a different temperature controller that seems to be proprietary. I think that you could wire a 12v heater to the proprietary controller. I am using mine to control the spike 120v heater.

you’re correct - technically it’s not an STC-1000 in form. It is, however, and STC-1000 in function.

I took the lid off the top to take a closer look - it definitely has the relays for heat and cool.




I’ve ordered the female plug for my 12v heater... now I just need some spade terminals.

 

[deuc224]

Thanks Maxr. I took apart the controller section. There are two terminations (pos and neg) from the controller to the pumps. I added a connector that matched the connector for the pump cable on the basic cooling kit. ( Thanks grainfather for the cable in the kit. No cutting and no interconnect cable build). I also added another connector so the built in controller can be used. Worked like a charm.
Ended up with 9 extra sets of connectors. Thanks Amazon.

Could you get some pics and explain this more? I would loe to get my max4 and grainfather to talk to each other. Please any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[BrewAgain]

Mod to the max 2 for grainfather conical.

It was pretty easy as long as the cable from the basic cooling kit is used. That cable has the the pump termination ready to go.

Photo of the cabling.

 

[maxr]

I just received my IceMaster Max 2 and I thought I'd provide some pictures of the actual power draw to see if anyone else has similar results. I filled mine up with 4 gallons of solution (3g water and 1g glycol) before turning it on. After a few minutes, the compressor turned on and here are the results...less than the 600 watts I was expecting.

The highest amp draw I could pull (with compressor and both pumps running) was just shy of 2.5 amps which would be about 300 watts. That's pretty far off from the 600 watts of cooling power I was expecting. Anyone else take measurements? Based on what I'm seeing, the actual wattage draw going towards cooling is about 200 watts.

A heat pump can move more heat than the power input. Look up Carnot Carnot cycle on Wikipedia.

 

[WesBrew]

Hope all is well with the Icemaster Club. I ran a few beers on it last year and it worked perfect, except for the stupid Celsius readout. 7gallon Anvil fermentor with the small coil. I just set up a 13 gallon kegmentor and modified a spike coil/4"triclover for it. (gly-coil thread) expect to run a brew through it in the next week.