# Place To Buy Glycol



## gava (5/4/09)

hey guys,

Im setting up a Glycol chilling system for my fridge taps and I was wondering where would I find this stuff? I live in Bendigo... 

cheers!


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## NickB (5/4/09)

Craftbrewer has it, link at top of page (no affiliation etc etc).

If you have an Andale in your area they might stock it too.

Cheers


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## reg (5/4/09)

Go to any super cheap auto or store like that and buy anti freeze, same stuff different name.

A lot of pubs in country towns use it as it is easy to get, cheaper and does the same job.


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## LethalCorpse (5/4/09)

As reg said, it's just automotive coolant


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## wessmith (5/4/09)

Sorry guys - it is not automotive coolant. That is Ethylene Glycol. For brewing or any food related process you need to use Propylene Glycol which is not poisonous.

Andale certainly would have it.

Wes



LethalCorpse said:


> As reg said, it's just automotive coolant


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## wakkatoo (5/4/09)

heard of people having just as good results using the automotive coolant in a small container in the fridge feezer and using an aquarium pump to move it around.


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## Sammus (5/4/09)

good luck with the automotive stuff. FWIW it is highly poisinous, if any of it gets in your beer line by some fluke leak you'll probably die. I'd opt for the food safe stuff personally.


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## seravitae (5/4/09)

Just to point out, ethylene glycol metabolises through alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme, and with regards to ethanol it acts as a competitive inhibitor. Such that yes, ethylene glycol is bad for you, however the antidote for ethylene glycol poisoning is....ethanol. Literally swamps out the EG.



EG is probably okay in a sealed chiller loop for say, making a floodded font, but be iffy using it for say, an immersion chiller loop or something. If you can get propylene glycol it's a better alternative. Also a good idea if you are using a glycol to chill, and it's not colored - color it. If for some reason your beer comes up bright red or blue, its a pretty good indicator somethings gone bad.. otherwise you have a clear liquid leaking into a mostly clear liquid..


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## reg (5/4/09)

wessmith said:


> Sorry guys - it is not automotive coolant. That is Ethylene Glycol. For brewing or any food related process you need to use Propylene Glycol which is not poisonous.
> 
> Andale certainly would have it.
> 
> Wes



If you do not have any leaks in your system, which you shouldn't, it is safe to use.

As I said there is plenty of pubs out there that run it in their glycol system, they top up und add a little water and have no problems and certainly not a death reported from the thousands of beers that get poured per week.
Good enough for a pub then certainly good enough for me.


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## gava (5/4/09)

its only for a few taps... could I just use vodka?

its in a tub in freezer setup with a bilge pump moving the stuff around.


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## Sammus (5/4/09)

Probably, I think the glycol stuff would have more thermal mass though, so would probably be more effective. If you give vodka a go let us know how it goes.


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## seravitae (5/4/09)

vodka may leech out plasticisers or dissolve the tubing. If your only goal is to not be able to freeze water, you might get away with using saturated salt water. As long as you dont have anything in your path to corrode.


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## simonab (6/4/09)

If your glycol tub is in the same freezer as your kegs (eg at 1C) then I have just used water (with an ocassional dash of bleach to ensure it stays clean). Works fine.

Cheers
Simon


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## Thunderlips (6/4/09)

reg said:


> Good enough for a pub then certainly good enough for me.


I don't know for certain but I'd suspect that would have to be illegal.

Surely they are not allowed to used something that could potentially harm someone to have contact with beer line.


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## gava (6/4/09)

I have the tub in the freezer up the top with the lines running through to the taps..


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## Greeno (22/4/09)

gava said:


> I have the tub in the freezer up the top with the lines running through to the taps..




Can anyone provide more detail on there Glycol setups? Maybe some photos??


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## gava (22/4/09)

Greeno said:


> Can anyone provide more detail on there Glycol setups? Maybe some photos??



I have not tested this yet because I can't find anything to run through it..

Im just going to use some old beer line to come from a bilge pump inside the esky in the freezer.. then they go through the bottom of the frezzer into the fridge and simply wrapp them around the shafts of the taps.. I have not tested this yet but I dont see why it shouldn't atleast work a little 

when I test it and if it works i'll post some pics but im sure someone here has already done this.


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## hando (16/7/09)

wessmith said:


> Sorry guys - it is not automotive coolant. That is Ethylene Glycol. For brewing or any food related process you need to use Propylene Glycol which is not poisonous.





....and the propylene Glycol is better for your car too, it has a neutral ph balance and naturally helps to inhibit corrosion. You just won't find it in the Auto shops. I don't know why, maybe it's cheaper to produce the ethylene stuff and and corrosion inhibitors later.


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## nseymour (30/7/09)

gava said:


> hey guys,
> 
> Im setting up a Glycol chilling system for my fridge taps and I was wondering where would I find this stuff? I live in Bendigo...
> 
> cheers!


Heavy commercial vehicle coolants such as Fleetguard's PG Coolant contains Propylene Glycol, however it also contains a nitrite based inhibitor which wouldn't be good for you should it somehow contaminate your system.
http://www.cumminsfiltration.com/pdfs/prod...es/FM040601.pdf :chug:


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