Diy Glycol Chiller Build

[T.P]

Hi All,

First post on Aussie Home Brewer!

Im in the process of getting an all Electric Herms rig together, and as part of that have been looking into ways to control fermentation temperatures without having to dedicate the space for a fridge/chest freezer.

Inspired by a few posts on other sites, i decided to look down the route of glycol chilling.

I managed to get my hands on a 10k btu window A/C for a case of beer, and have then immersed the evap coils in an eski, all mounted to a bit of form-ply.

Still to come is a couple of digital temp controllers, and get all of the electrics into a waterproof enclosure.
One controller will be dedicated to maintaining the Glycol temp, the other will drive a "brown" pump or fish tank type submerged pump to circulate the glycol through a jacket on the fermenter which I'm planning on building out of fibreglass.

All a big work in progress, so keen for any feedback!

Cheers,

Tom.


Evap Coils in Eski.


Condensor Coil and Fan


Compressor
Compressor and Fan Caps, Contactor, overload and digital thermostat to be installed in waterproof enclosure.

 

[Mardoo]

Wow. You're fuckin' nuts. I love it!

Edit: Yep, subscribed is the right choice Djar007

 

[michaeld16]

Awesome looks like you've got it under control

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

You know you are going to force up the price of window units on Gumtree :lol:
These blokes don't need any more ideas.
Good job, cant wait to see the test run and report.
Nev

 

[siege]

Holy shit-balls, Batman!

subscribed.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I have a glycol unit and after some thought I would recommend removing some of the fins on the immersed coil and have some sort of movement in the glycol bath to keep the liquid moving. This will greatly improve the efficiency.
Nev

 

[T.P]

I have a glycol unit and after some thought I would recommend removing some of the fins on the immersed coil and have some sort of movement in the glycol bath to keep the liquid moving. This will greatly improve the efficiency.
Nev

How would you recommend going about removing the fins Nev?

Im a bit paranoid about fiddling with it too much, don't want to risk getting a leak.

I was planning on sticking a submerged pump in the tank to circulate through the condenser to avoid icing, have it wired to cycle with the compressor.

 

[MHB]

You could buy an off the shelf Ice Bank Pump, Andale and Lancer both have them as spares, or I found some at Totton Pumps.
Integrated pump and Stirrer.
Mark

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

How would you recommend going about removing the fins Nev?

Im a bit paranoid about fiddling with it too much, don't want to risk getting a leak.

I was planning on sticking a submerged pump in the tank to circulate through the condenser to avoid icing, have it wired to cycle with the compressor.

I would just cut some out to allow better flow around the coil.
Without seeing what they are like I cant say if its easy or not. If its difficult leave them but you will need good flow thru the coils.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Oh another thing is you have the coil mounted hard up against the esky wall, this is not a good thing for flow and heat transfer.

 

[T.P]

Oh another thing is you have the coil mounted hard up against the esky wall, this is not a good thing for flow and heat transfer.

Couldn't extend it out any further, but I'm thinking i might use this to my advantage, pump water from one side to the other forcing it to go through the coils.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Couldn't extend it out any further, but I'm thinking i might use this to my advantage, pump water from one side to the other forcing it to go through the coils.

Yes that will work well if the flow is good.
Nev

 

[gava]

Hi All,

First post on Aussie Home Brewer!

Im in the process of getting an all Electric Herms rig together, and as part of that have been looking into ways to control fermentation temperatures without having to dedicate the space for a fridge/chest freezer.

Inspired by a few posts on other sites, i decided to look down the route of glycol chilling.

I managed to get my hands on a 10k btu window A/C for a case of beer, and have then immersed the evap coils in an eski, all mounted to a bit of form-ply.

Still to come is a couple of digital temp controllers, and get all of the electrics into a waterproof enclosure.
One controller will be dedicated to maintaining the Glycol temp, the other will drive a "brown" pump or fish tank type submerged pump to circulate the glycol through a jacket on the fermenter which I'm planning on building out of fibreglass.

All a big work in progress, so keen for any feedback!

Cheers,

Tom.

IMG_0086.jpg
Evap Coils in Eski.

IMG_0087.jpg
Condensor Coil and Fan

IMG_0088.jpg
Compressor
Compressor and Fan Caps, Contactor, overload and digital thermostat to be installed in waterproof enclosure.

IMG_0089.jpg

I have an old wall unit in my garage for this exact project.. To many projects, no time..

 

[T.P]

Yes that will work well if the flow is good.
Nev

Might end up going down the route of having one big pump, that can also run the fermenter loops via a solenoid.

Researching the pros and cons of using a submersible unit vs have a tank style pump mounted externally.

 

[klangers]

Looks awesome!!

I'd suggest an external pump - bearings tend to go a bit weird if they're not design for the low temps (ie submersibles).

Also agree with making a main header loop (ie supply and return headers) with loops off that (supply and return off the respective headers) - this will keep the bulk of the coolant recirculating which is necessary to avoid freezing up of stagnant sections as well as slow reaction times to increased demand.

Higher flow with a higher temperature is generally better than a low flow with lower temperature.

I've worked on designing refrige/glycol systems for breweries for work so if you want more advice on this PM me - happy to chat.

 

[T.P]

Looks awesome!!

I'd suggest an external pump - bearings tend to go a bit weird if they're not design for the low temps (ie submersibles).

Also agree with making a main header loop (ie supply and return headers) with loops off that (supply and return off the respective headers) - this will keep the bulk of the coolant recirculating which is necessary to avoid freezing up of stagnant sections as well as slow reaction times to increased demand.

Higher flow with a higher temperature is generally better than a low flow with lower temperature.

I've worked on designing refrige/glycol systems for breweries for work so if you want more advice on this PM me - happy to chat.

Those cheapy 240v magnetic wort pumps are looking like the most cost and energy efficient solution, @17l/m should be plenty to keep a decent amount of coolant running through the coils.

Klangers, I'll drop you a p.m, would be interested in your advice on plumbing the headers.

Cheers, Tom

 

[spog]

Slightly OT but if anyone is interested I saw on Pinterest the other day a post for a fermenting chamber using parts from a small aircon unit.
I think it was under brewing equipment,I can't remember exactly but have a look.
Cheers....spog...

 

[T.P]

Quick update, STC1000 and the contactor arrived (skeptical about the quality of the stc's relay).

All wired up and works a treat, chilled 20 deg tap water to 1 deg in about 9 minutes.

Sitting idle it took about 4 hours for the compressor to kick back on again for a minute or so. Obviously this will increase when it's actually trying to keep a fermenter cool, but still, not bad in my mind!

Eski did get a little frosty on the outside so I may look at some additional insulation.

 

[T.P]

Update: it works!

Finished plumbing the pump, and wired up the second controller to operate it, few leaks which caused a bit of a headache, should have opted for the retro aluminium esky as polypropylene is a nightmare to stick anything to.

Jacket on the fermenter is not a permanent solution, currently 25 meters of irrigation pipe which has pretty bad thermal conductivity, I plan on making a fibreglass outer jacket so the glycol actually comes in contact with the glass.

 

[Mardoo]

Wow...I am not worthy. Very impressed. Great work! May have to give this a go.

What was your total spend on it out of curiosity?