The $129 simple non AC glycol chiller

[Bobby_M]

One conical in an air conditioned space is borderline. Once you have hot ambient temps or add a second conical, refrigerators and freezers just don't have the BTU capacity to compete with a 5Kbtu air conditioner compressors.

 

[Brewfreedom]

One conical in an air conditioned space is borderline. Once you have hot ambient temps or add a second conical, refrigerators and freezers just don't have the BTU capacity to compete with a 5Kbtu air conditioner compressors.

Its in a hot garage now doing fine with a 10 gallon batch in a conical. It is however working hard and I don't see this thing cold crashing or dropping me below the low/mid 40s in that environment. Definitely can't compete with a real chiller or an ac mod running the coils in the glycol in a non air conditioned space.

 

[Brewfreedom]

Curious what you're using for a pump. Are you using a submersible pump inside the freezer? Do you have to worry about the below freezing operating environment for the pump? Also what are you using for the lines to your fermenter?

Cheers and thanks for the write-up. I'll be doing something very similar to this until I can afford a chiller.

The one that comes with the spike CF10 temp control unit. Its submerged in the glycol.

 

[adman]

Eh, screw it, I did it. Freezer's gonna be here in a few weeks.

One thing that may help with cooling the liquid down faster is getting the glycol solution in motion with a cheap circulation pump which triggers whenever the compressor turns on. Shouldn't be too hard to wire.

Part of me wonders if the best way to go is to totally take the walls of the freezer apart and try to get the cooling coils directly in the solution somehow. Will consider it when it arrives.

@shoo, did your freezer arrive from Japan yet? I'm considering purchasing one from ebay as well; certainly can't beat the price.

-Adam

 

[shoo]

@shoo, did your freezer arrive from Japan yet? I'm considering purchasing one from ebay as well; certainly can't beat the price.

It looks like the seller was fake, or backed out, or something. Never accepted payment, never shipped freezer. Probably was a scam, but I never got charged, so no real loss.

 

[Nubble]

Well you fared better than I did. I purchased it 3 weeks ago and my PayPal was charged but have not heard a peep from the seller. Guess it's time to file a claim with eBay.

 

[shoo]

Well you fared better than I did. I purchased it 3 weeks ago and my PayPal was charged but have not heard a peep from the seller. Guess it's time to file a claim with eBay.

Lame. Good news is PayPal heavily favors the purchaser in situations like this, so you'll almost certainly get your money back without too much effort.

 

[shoo]

Still working on this. What did y'all use for bulkheads through the freezer door?

 

[adman]

Still working on this. What did y'all use for bulkheads through the freezer door?

Curious to know this as well. I think I'm going to give this a try for fermenting in a keg using this Cool Zone jacket.

 

[Nubble]

Still working on this. What did y'all use for bulkheads through the freezer door?

I haven't procured a freezer yet but I was planning on using something like this weldless shank for going through the freezer door. Would just need to add some barb connectors on each end for the tubing. I used some thing very similar for a jockeybox build.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/vb2.htm

 

[shoo]

I haven't procured a freezer yet but I was planning on using something like this weldless shank for going through the freezer door. Would just need to add some barb connectors on each end for the tubing. I used some thing very similar for a jockeybox build.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/vb2.htm

Yeah, was looking for something that made a smaller hole and was cheaper. But what can you do.

Edit: Also saw the shank on the keezer ball lock posts from brewhardware, but got a slightly ... disappointing response about it when I inquired.

Hi there, I have a question for you. I've been looking to make a freezer bulkhead for a quick-n-dirty glycol chiller. Weirdly enough, the part I am having the most trouble sourcing is a 1/4" NPS nipple for the bulkhead, ideally with a flare on one or both ends. I noticed you had what looks like one on your very slick liquid ball lock post bulkhead, but don't seem to sell it separately. I'd do the full bulkhead, but it's a bit outside my preferred price range.

Any chance you can sell two of those without the ball lock post?

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/mfl14bulkheadliquid.htm

First, think twice about using a freezer for glycol unless it's only one
fermenter and you don't expect to cold crash. You will probably be
disappointed. To save money, I'd suggest just drilling the hole and
using some rubber grommets to avoid cutting your hose.

Was there a "second" part intended in that e-mail?

The chiller is for temp control for one 6.5 gal fermenter. If I can get it to cold-crash, that's a bonus, and expect that at best cold-crashing would have to be done in stages. And because this test run is on a freezer that I use for other things, I'd prefer the ability to easily remove the tubes, hence the bulkhead. If it doesn't work out well, I have other uses for that part, specifically as a convenient gas out line, which I've wanted in any case.

No response so far.

 

[Stu Alp]

Anything wrong with using an 8 cu/f chest freezer as a glycol chiller since that's what I already have? I suppose the cost of glycol would be pretty huge but imagine the cooling power to be pretty great?

I'm currently using the spike flex+ directly in the freezer. Any benefit to having the fermentor outside of the freezer with a coil/glycol vs in the freezer?

I imagine that glycol would provide better heat exchange and more precise cooling.

 

[Brewfreedom]

Anything wrong with using an 8 cu/f chest freezer as a glycol chiller since that's what I already have? I suppose the cost of glycol would be pretty huge but imagine the cooling power to be pretty great?

I'm currently using the spike flex+ directly in the freezer. Any benefit to having the fermentor outside of the freezer with a coil/glycol vs in the freezer?

I imagine that glycol would provide better heat exchange and more precise cooling.

The small freezer approach has worked great for me in a garage. Crashing small batches is no problem. Larger 10 gallon batches gets iffy in the garage when temps are above 60s so fall/winter only for big batches below 35. Im moving up to a real chiller since im adding a cf15.

 

[Blazinlow86]

Anything wrong with using an 8 cu/f chest freezer as a glycol chiller since that's what I already have? I suppose the cost of glycol would be pretty huge but imagine the cooling power to be pretty great?

I'm currently using the spike flex+ directly in the freezer. Any benefit to having the fermentor outside of the freezer with a coil/glycol vs in the freezer?

I imagine that glycol would provide better heat exchange and more precise cooling.

I imagine a large downgrade I'm cooling performance and a few extra pumps hoses etc. Imho if your fermentor fits in a fridge) freezer you already have you can't get a better solution. Even a penguin chiller wont out perform a chest freezer. Glycols purpose is cooling things that don't fit in a fridge. Cheers

 

[augiedoggy]

glycol chiller setups are more economical for when you have multiple fermenters you want to cool at once or are looking for bling factor. As mentioned if you only have one, using an old fridge works better if it fits your fermenter. otherwise it really is a lot more efficient to make a chiller from an old window ac unit or dehumidifier vs using a freezer for the glycol bath. it would work but it would be inefficient. likewise if you have multiple fermenters, using a fridge or freezer for each one is not as economical and takes up a lot more room than a chiller setup.

 

[mongoose33]

The small freezer approach has worked great for me in a garage. Crashing small batches is no problem. Larger 10 gallon batches gets iffy in the garage when temps are above 60s so fall/winter only for big batches below 35. Im moving up to a real chiller since im adding a cf15.

I've got a Penguin though I went through the exercise of using the upper freezer compartment of a fridge/freezer to chill the glycol. It worked fairly well, actually, though not as fast as the penguin.

In the end, I concluded that the bigger issue for me was finding a way to insulate the fermenter from ambient. I also have the CF10 and I've wrapped it with a moving blanket, wrapped everything I could using reflectix, even built a small "closet" inside which I put the fermenter and into which I directed the cold air from a window air conditioner. Nothing I did allowed that fermenter to get below about 38 degrees (glycol solution at 28 degrees).

My last stab at this is going to be using 2" foamboard insulation to build a "closet" around the fermenter. If I can isolate the fermenter from ambient using this approach, I feel pretty sure I can get that fermenter down to 32 degrees or so.

My garage environment sounds similar to yours, once I'm into the 70s or above, the chiller has to work, though the penguin's recovery is amazing. In the end, though, it doesn't work THAT much better than my old freezer reservoir approach.

 

[augiedoggy]

I've got a Penguin though I went through the exercise of using the upper freezer compartment of a fridge/freezer to chill the glycol. It worked fairly well, actually, though not as fast as the penguin.

In the end, I concluded that the bigger issue for me was finding a way to insulate the fermenter from ambient. I also have the CF10 and I've wrapped it with a moving blanket, wrapped everything I could using reflectix, even built a small "closet" inside which I put the fermenter and into which I directed the cold air from a window air conditioner. Nothing I did allowed that fermenter to get below about 38 degrees (glycol solution at 28 degrees).

My last stab at this is going to be using 2" foamboard insulation to build a "closet" around the fermenter. If I can isolate the fermenter from ambient using this approach, I feel pretty sure I can get that fermenter down to 32 degrees or so.

My garage environment sounds similar to yours, once I'm into the 70s or above, the chiller has to work, though the penguin's recovery is amazing. In the end, though, it doesn't work THAT much better than my old freezer reservoir approach.

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But the insulation isnt Blingy! ironically there seems to be a lot of homebrewers out there that wont blink an eye about spending a grand or more on a huge chiller but do have an issue with insulation the fermenters because they dont "look as cool" in their brewcave...
(as you know all my fermenters are covered in multiple layers of the similiar foil bubblewrap and it works well) I was worried about the actual fiberglass and condensation myself.

 

[mongoose33]

But the insulation isnt Blingy! ironically there seems to be a lot of homebrewers out there that wont blink an eye about spending a grand or more on a huge chiller but do have an issue with insulation the fermenters because they dont "look as cool" in their brewcave...
(as you know all my fermenters are covered in multiple layers of the similiar foil bubblewrap and it works well) I was worried about the actual fiberglass and condensation myself.

Well, in my defense, if I show people a picture of my setup, I don't show them one where the fermenter is covered.....

Besides, my brewcave is my garage; not sure it qualifies as a "cave." And the rest of the stuff is exposed, the brew kettles, pumps, hoses, CF chiller, ferm chambers, CO2 setup....in fact, there's so much stuff they don't know where to look first.