Glycol Tank

[Tony M]

After an outlay of $5.00 and 40 years of almost continuous operation, I decided to break down my 70 y/o Genelex fridge so i could turn it into a smoker as the insides are baked enamel. It then occurred to me I could make a glycol tank with the hardware as I didnt have to cut gas lines. I was just going to mount the evaporator in a tank of 100 litres or so, then I could chill 45 litres of lager. However.... Clever me destroyed probably the first sealed unit ever manufactured whilst attempting to wire it up. It ran for 10 minutes then said goodnight. My question is, How practical and at what cost would it be to cart it off somewhere and get another sealed unit fitted.

Edit: I forgot the foto

 

[Tony M]

This post quickly sank to the bottom of the other 600,000 with no response, so trying again.

 

[mxd]

mmm, don't know, but I quite like you plastic conical fermenter

 

[Doogiechap]

Bloke I just had a chat with my Dad (similar vintage to you) who has repaired these beasts some time ago and I got these gems of information.
Yes it is possible but here are the drawbacks/ hurdles:
The unit would have R12 Refrigerant and would not survive the modern nore eco friendly R134a refrigerant.
There are R12 equivalent propane based alternatives but these are apparently hard to come by.
You would probably need to use a secondhand hand compressor suitable for this unit as the newies are not compatible.
A good secondhand jobbie would be as rare as hens teeth.
Unless you have a good mate who is a fridgy who can do the job for beer it's probably not worth the exercise

Good luck mate and I love your fermenter too .
Cheers
Doug

 

[Tony M]

Thanks Doug-- A bit more junk for the verge.

 

[riverside]

Bloke I just had a chat with my Dad (similar vintage to you) who has repaired these beasts some time ago and I got these gems of information.
Yes it is possible but here are the drawbacks/ hurdles:
The unit would have R12 Refrigerant and would not survive the modern nore eco friendly R134a refrigerant.
There are R12 equivalent propane based alternatives but these are apparently hard to come by.
You would probably need to use a secondhand hand compressor suitable for this unit as the newies are not compatible.
A good secondhand jobbie would be as rare as hens teeth.
Unless you have a good mate who is a fridgy who can do the job for beer it's probably not worth the exercise

Good luck mate and I love your fermenter too .
Cheers
Doug

By looking at the age of this unit, i would say it would probibly be on so2 gas not R12,,if it is on R12 (should be stamped on a plate) if so... the new R134 compressor can be fitted.

Im happy donate a second hand compressor and change it if you can get it to Mandurah, but dont think it would be very effective as a gycole bath... recovery would be way too slow !

Cheers

 

[Tony M]

By looking at the age of this unit, i would say it would probibly be on so2 gas not R12,,if it is on R12 (should be stamped on a plate) if so... the new R134 compressor can be fitted.

Im happy donate a second hand compressor and change it if you can get it to Mandurah, but dont think it would be very effective as a gycole bath... recovery would be way too slow !

Cheers

I had a look at the plate and the unit holds 12 1/2 oz. of freon 12 which I presume is R12. I also did some sums and you are quite right, it would take about 5 hours to drop my brew from 40C to 15C. With the scheme water at 28C at the moment, my immersion chiller gets the wort down to 40C in about 15 minutes and I had planned to switch over to the glycol at that point. I have an old 80L fibreglass icebox to fit the evaporator into and if I can pull that down to 0C the night before, I should have enough "cold" stored to do the job.
I shall have a think then PM you.