Plastic tubing for ferm chiller?

[TronJunior]

Hey all,

As I'm about to drop some bucks to build my 15g internally cooled conical fermenter, I was wondering if I could use food grade plastic tubing as a cooling coil on the inside of my fermenter as opposed to stainless steel. I know the thermal conductivity is not going to be as great, but is it still workable, or am I a moron for even considering it? I'll be pumping ice water instead of glycol and looking to maintain temps about 10-15 below ambient room.

Just a thought before I go buy a stainless steel coil.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

[ross_daly]

Im not capable of running the numbers, but I would be surprised if that worked well. If nothing else, I bet you would need to bulk up the refrigeration side by so much that the cost savings from not buying stainless go out of the window.

 

[MindenMan]

PEX is used for water supply lines in many homes these days, just an idea. PEX is also used for radiant heat in new homes, so the heat transfer must be rather high, I would guess, and at 0.50 to 1.00 per foot as far as I could see.

 

[TronJunior]

Forgot about PEX, thanks. Seems like it would work and would be easier to work with! Anyone have an objection to that?

 

[Hamaki]

While the interior of pex is likely no concern, isn't there a coating on the line that may not be food grade? I'd check into that. Durability would be my other concern. Unless the pex coating is substantially more durable than HDPE I'd always be worried about scratches harboring infection. My $.02 worth of paranoia.

 

[MindenMan]

look for NSF-pw pex pipe info. there are two types it seems, one for radiant heating, and one for drinking water. They are both made of the same material inside and out, therein the two separate types. I could be wrong, though.

 

[Deece]

Is stay away from the Pex. It does scratch easily and also wont bend enough to make a coil in a fermenter. It wont hold the shape once you coil it either. If you don't want to swallow the cost of the stainless what about soft copper?


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[harry_the_face]

I think ross_daly has it right the loss in thermal transfer would be so much that you would probably need 4-5 more length (or more) to attain the same temp and you have the worry of contamination. If you wrapped the outside the fermenter with the tube and insulated it you would avoid the contamination but the cooling ability would be greatly reduced.
You best bet is copper of stainless.

 

[dyqik]

IIRC, copper is really not a good idea in contact with fermented beer. It's ok before fermentation though.