Trialbens Glycol Build.

[GFHomebrew]

Yup "gunna" build a Glycol "chilling" system.
I'm not doing the AC cooling cool in the Esky method no I'm opting for the (using existing freezer as Glycol chiller option).

There's not a whole heap of info out there on the interwebs/forums on using a chest freezer for a glycol chilling unit.
I've had a good look around mostly on posts on AHA and Redit of the few who have gone this route and it seems plenty viable to me. Even contacted kegland and they said yep you can do this and this but mostly we put the fermentor in the freezer. Lol

Yes an AC unit has more cooling capacity.
But I already have a chest freezer and Missus wants extra freezer space so I'm using this as a bit of a hombrew lever to state my case "Hey sweety this way you get more freezer space and I can still use it to cool my fermentation WINNING!!!

Put the feelers out I'll be picking up a keg yup this one is gunna fit!
To act as a glycol resivour (hope spell check got that word)

I'm thinking a tall cylindrical 50lt vessel should be more efficient at taking on the cold and 50lt is far more volume than some Glycol units I've seen.

I'm not a maths dude but surely 50lt of 0c solution should adequately maintain a lager temperature of let's say 10c 20lt fermentor at ambient summer 30+celcius ?
Just wondering if my freezer will cycle heaps with this amount of liquid to chill.
Anyone know the formulae for this

I've also seen one post where they use a pre chiller glycol return to the freezer through an Imersion chiller in a bucket of frozen water to help keep glycol coil.
I'm digging this and I can find a.use for my old chiller.

My plan as of now.

.Purchase 50lt keg use this as Glycol resivour.
.Purchase kegland glycol unit pump.
.Purchase keglands Glycol coil.
.10mm internal Diameter silicon hose to transfer glycol ad well as hose insulation.
Glycol
.Bulkhead for temp probe
Use existing heat belt and STC to control glycol pump and heat fermentation.
Purchase keglands allrounder Jacket for fermentor (mines 29lt kegmentor hope it fits)
Install collar on ferm chamber for glycol hoses.
I think i can get most of this done for $200 AUS
Well that's what I've told Wifey.

Anyhow hope I may inspire someone else through my madness to try this. I think ill be able to run two fermentors independently on sepperate glycol pumps using this method eventually. don't worry I'll be the guinea pig lol.

Anyone got any pointers for me before I take the leap of faith
Picking up the keg tomorrow...
Cheers!

 

[Donoroto]

Glycol is antifreeze. Automotive antifreeze is Ethylene Glycol, somewhat poisonous. Pick an antifreeze of the type used for the fresh water supply in a camper or caravan, which is not poisonous like Propylene Glycol. (nasty flavor but not deadly). Even in Aus someone should sell it.

For the math, think in terms of 'liter-degrees'. 10 liters of 'cold' will drop 1 degree when cooling 1 liter by 10 degrees, or 2 liters by 5 degrees. While not exactly right, it is close enough.

Capacity is measured in BTUs, but it gets complicated. A chest freezer will have enough capacity to keep a fermenter cool.

 

[Minbari]

Glycol is antifreeze. Automotive antifreeze is Ethylene Glycol, somewhat poisonous. Pick an antifreeze of the type used for the fresh water supply in a camper or caravan, which is not poisonous (nasty flavor but not deadly). Even in Aus someone should sell it.

.

propylene glycol is the best one to use. non-poisonous, tasteless, and a 30% mixture will not freeze till about 7°F (-14°C)

what you are wanting to do can definately be done. the biggest challenge is recovery time. can the freezer re-chill the glycol as quickly as the fermentor can suck the heat out? I had a fridge that I used for it and it just didnt work. I wish I had did what you did and went with a freezer instead. I eventually used an old dehumidifier and a cooler for the glycol.

this is a blog post I made for that.
Glycol Chiller


This is the pump I used. had it for about 1 1/2 years, still works.
Amazon 12v Pump
only other piece of advice I will give is DO NOT use a copper coil for the chiller coil in the fermentor. the slightly acidic beer with all the sulfates in it will create copper sulfate which is poisonous, even deadly in the right amount.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Thanks for your replies
Yeah kegland sell Food grade Glycol I'll buy some of this. 40$ will get me 5 lt if the stuff and if I go by your 14% that's 7lt /50It but i think ill get away with lower percentage.

Will have a read of your blog @Minbari

Glycol coil
https://www.kegland.com.au/temp-twi...rol-your-fermzilla-with-a-glycol-chiller.html
Pump
https://www.kegland.com.au/icemaste...menter-control-with-2-integrated-pumps-1.html
Insulation jacket
https://www.kegland.com.au/fermzilla-all-rounder-30l-jacket.html
Glycol
https://www.kegland.com.au/glycol-99-5l.html

 

[Minbari]

Thanks for your replies
Yeah kegland sell Food grade Glycol I'll buy some of this. 40$ will get me 5 lt if the stuff and if I go by your 14% that's 7lt /50It but i think ill get away with lower percentage.

Will have a read of your blog @Minbari

14% would get a freeze point about 20°F (-5°C)

 

[GFHomebrew]

14% would get a freeze point about 20°F (-5°C)

What s your glycol resivour volume there Minbari?

Ah I see you ended up using an air con unit in the end.
That's not a submersible pump there aye?
Keglands one is for this glycol system and $20 can't beat that I rekon just gotta find out the power supply for that I think it's 12v...

 

[GFHomebrew]

@Bubba Wade you do something similar to what I'm looking at doing or do you use a Glycol chiller unit?

 

[Minbari]

What s your glycol resivour volume there Minbari?

Ah I see you ended up using an air con unit in the end.
That's not a submersible pump there aye?
Keglands one is for this glycol system and $20 can't beat that I rekon just gotta find out the power supply for that I think it's 12v...

The cooler I am using holds about 4 gallons. Ya, its an old dehumidifier. I carefully bent the copper piping to put the evaporator in the cooler. Will chill 60°F glycol down to 28° in less than an hour

No, not submersible. My original setup required it and it still works, so I just left it. You just have to make sure it doesn't lose prime.

 

[GFHomebrew]

The cooler I am using holds about 4 gallons. Ya, its an old dehumidifier. I carefully bent the copper piping to put the evaporator in the cooler. Will chill 60°F glycol down to 28° in less than an hour

No, not submersible. My original setup required it and it still works, so I just left it. You just have to make sure it doesn't lose prime.

Thanks I'm imagining a large volume of cold glycol solution should be more efficient than a lesser volume but then it's the cooling of the large volume of glycol which is tricky.
It'll take some testing but I'm thinking maybe of mounting the probe in the freezer chamber not in the glycol solution that way less cycling may be from the freezer.
Just speculation here

 

[Minbari]

Thanks I'm imagining a large volume of cold glycol solution should be more efficient than a lesser volume but then it's the cooling of the large volume of glycol which is tricky.
It'll take some testing but I'm thinking maybe of mounting the probe in the freezer chamber not in the glycol solution that way less cycling may be from the freezer.
Just speculation here

more solution takes longer to get to the target temp initially. but this also means you have more stored energy (cold liquid) so you can crash faster. once your beer temp and your glycol temp are the same.......you are just relying on the freezer's cooling ability, things slow down alot. so more is bettter! obviously temperature differential is important too, but be careful setting the glycol temp too low. if your glycol is well below the freezing temp of water and you are crashing a beer, you can freeze the beer up to solid block of ice (ask me how I know ) I generally start with the glycol at 1-2 degrees above water freeze temp and crash the beer 80% then slowely move the glycol temp down to 10 degrees less than the beer target temp.
it wont make much difference. you have a set amount of energy to dissipate. the probe in the glycol will make the freezer respond faster. personally this is how I would do it.

 

[GFHomebrew]

more solution takes longer to get to the target temp initially. but this also means you have more stored energy (cold liquid) so you can crash faster. once your beer temp and your glycol temp are the same.......you are just relying on the freezer's cooling ability, things slow down alot. so more is bettter! obviously temperature differential is important too, but be careful setting the glycol temp too low. if your glycol is well below the freezing temp of water and you are crashing a beer, you can freeze the beer up to solid block of ice (ask me how I know ) I generally start with the glycol at 1-2 degrees above water freeze temp and crash the beer 80% then slowely move the glycol temp down to 10 degrees less than the beer target temp.
it wont make much difference. you have a set amount of energy to dissipate. the probe in the glycol will make the freezer respond faster. personally this is how I would do it.

Thankyou.
Yes i don't intend to cold crash to 3c in half hour.
I just want to main rain fermentation temps mainly.
I currently step ferm temp down in increments.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Keg obtained and it fits yay!

And not a.bad beer at that!

See this keg fits but not the other one
More than one keg size

 

[Donoroto]

Nice! Sure you didn't just stretch the freezer?

 

[Minbari]

Fittings gonna fit on top with the Lid closed?

 

[Bubba Wade]

@Trialben I have made my keezer dual purpose. One on end, I have two 2.5 gallon kegs. On the other, I have a chilled water reservoir made up of a labyrinth of 4” PVC drain pipe, total volume of around 3 gallons. I use water instead of glycol. I have the keezer set at 36 F. This is more than sufficient to keep my fermenter at the desired temperature even during summers in the southern US.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Fittings gonna fit on top with the Lid closed?

Yeah bit of room there pluss I'll put a collar on so will give me more room again I'll have some threaded pipe or something in the collar like a bulkhead or tap shank idea to hook hoses onto from inside then on outside.

 

[GFHomebrew]

View attachment 15977 View attachment 15978 View attachment 15979 @Trialben I have made my keezer dual purpose. One on end, I have two 2.5 gallon kegs. On the other, I have a chilled water reservoir made up of a labyrinth of 4” PVC drain pipe, total volume of around 3 gallons. I use water instead of glycol. I have the keezer set at 36 F. This is more than sufficient to keep my fermenter at the desired temperature even during summers in the southern US.

Ah love your work bubba looking great! Well maybe my 50lt keg is oversize.
Ah better to have more cooling capacity then less .
​

 

[Mark Farrall]

You might be able to run a second fermenter then.

 

[GFHomebrew]

You might be able to run a second fermenter then.

Was a pretty fresh batch of S&W

Thinking of only cutting a smallish hole in this keg maybe enough to get my arm in will do.

I've forgotten how to get the spear out I remember there was an circlip in there I had to remove then counter clockwise to undo.

 

[Bubba Wade]

@Trialben You might want to check these out. I just got these installed on my system. Excellent hose disconnects for the chilled water supply. Should work well with glycol. Very cheap and work well. Not sure who the down-under supplier would be.