AG Cooler requirements

[Hudson1984]

Ok, i'm slowly looking at this AG malarkey and seeing what I need.

I will probably go for a grainfather type system, more than likely Brewzilla.

So, I get the BZ bit, I get the boiler bit. Only thing that's getting me is the conical/fermenter.

Now, I've seen grainfather do a glycol chiller, which connects to their fermenters. So how cool do you need to go?

I've seen some of you putting conicles into a fridge - I assume this is a brewfridge and you're setting the temp to whatever it needs to be - is this essentially what the glycol chiller is doing?

main reason i'm asking is the only thing holding me back is the fermenter and where to keep it.

I have a larder fridge - which is for shopping overflow - woe betide me filling that up!
I have an undercounter brew fridge - perfect size for my kit fermenter bucket but possibly too small for a conicle (need to check the brewzilla SS one with legs on low, that MIGHT just go in)
and I have the other larder fridge - this is the kegerator so no using that

So the question is - is there a way outside of a fridge to temperature control the fermenter? I've been looking with curiosity at shelf coolers, perhaps this could be run into the cooling circuit but then how much cooling do you need? what sort of temps we talking about here....

I can see the kits come with a cooling thing, but I'm not really sure how that works or what I need to run into it (i.e. am I just putting the brew through it and the air cools it down???)

so yes, bit lost, be handy to see something from start to finish but this lock down thing is holding me back there.

 

[Clint]

What do you mean by "cooling thing"? A spiral immersion type or plate chiller?
Both work on heat exchange principles...
The spiral is simply put in your kettle about 15 minutes before the end of the brew to sanitise it and connected to the cold tap and the return either saved or goes down the drain..cold water is sent through it reducing the wort temperature. Less effective in the summer when the ground water temp is warmer. Easy to use and clean.
Plate chillers...never used one.
There's also counter flow chillers that are more efficient.
You could do no chill in a plastic Jerry can or just chill your wort in your brew fridge.

 

[Hudson1984]

gotcha, so the GF thing is MASSIVELY overkill for the job it's doing, unless you have multiple fermenters on the go.

have to go measure the brew fridge, see if the conicle I want will fit.

 

[Clint]

I think the gf glycol chilled stuff is doing the same job as a brew fridge...depends on how much you want to spend I suppose it's like you say...running loads of fv's.

 

[Hudson1984]

the Glycol thing just seems massively expensive and takes up space. Floor space isn't something I have alot of, I've got loads of room on worktops but not much floor space and i'd rather not move everything again. My issue will be water supply. I do have a sink but it's in the other end of the garage to where I'd like to brew, so it's a bit of a pain there - I think if a plate chiller and pump could be wall mounted to do the job i'd be more interested in going that route.

 

[Clint]

I think plate chillers need a bit of a more robust cleaning regime as you send the wort through it..

 

[Hudson1984]

ah ok... something to think on then. I'm sure it'll all become clearer once I get a brew under my belt. Just need to get the gear in place.....hopefully lockdown ends and I can find a local on here who fancies a brew day to show me the ropes.

 

[BlackRegent]

Assuming your question is: how do I control the temperature of a conical fermenter in the most cost efficient way then my answer would be to get a fermentasaurus snub nose in an under counter brew fridge. That is by far the cheapest way of doing it. I personally think the snub nose is an excellent product. You could also look at the Fermzilla allrounder but that has a round bottom, not a conical bottom.

You can check out the snub noses here:

https://brew2bottle.co.uk/collectio...products/fermentasaurus-snub-nose-starter-kit
This also assumes you won't be doing batches bigger than c 30L. If you want to do bigger batches you won't get it in an under counter brew fridge.

I would check your fridge dimensions first as well as, although marketed as fitting in an under counter fridge, the snub nose will be a tight fit

 

[Hudson1984]

looks good but no airlock? I assume that's because it can be pressurised? so any excess is merely released from the safety valve?

So, i've got my finished brew (whatever it's called at this point i'm rubbish with terminology) ready from the BIAB system - ready for fermenting. Can I just stick it in here, then bung this in the brewfridge to do it's thing. Then once that's over, transfer it in a corny for conditioning/serving?

I see I don't really need to use a corny but the size is more convinient and I wouldn't want to tie up the fermenter for keg duties.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

With the Grainfather glycol chiller and conical fermenters you don't need a water supply. How low you need to go in terms of temperature depends on what style of beer you're making.

If you're only making beers where the ambient temperature of the room you're fermenting in is lower than the temperature you want to ferment at, you wouldn't need a chiller. The heating element in the fermenter should keep the beer at a constant enough temperature.

 

[Pezza24]

I don't see the need for a fancy fermenter unless you really want one. Your plastic "kit" fermenter in your brew fridge is going to be absolutely fine to begin with.

As for chillers the ones that come with the grain farther are for chilling the wort as far as I know.

 

[Hudson1984]

Think I’ll just carry on with the plastics for the time being then.

I can’t fit a conical in my brew fridge. I can fit my plastic. So going conical would mean I’d need a new brew fridge too so all starts to become a little more of a pain

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I don't see the need for a fancy fermenter unless you really want one. Your plastic "kit" fermenter in your brew fridge is going to be absolutely fine to begin with.

As for chillers the ones that come with the grain farther are for chilling the wort as far as I know.

Exactly. The counterflow chiller that comes with the Grainfather is for cooling the wort, a glycol chiller is for controlling the temperature of the fermenter.

You mentioned shelf coolers. I'd say steer clear of them as they're massively inefficient

In terms of efficiency only, Grainfather's glycol chiller and a conical fermenter should be more efficient than a brew fridge as you are only heating and cooking the contents of the fermenter, rather than the air around it. I realise some may see this as heresy.

 

[Hudson1984]

ah gotcha, all understood.

I think i'm narrowing down my options more and more with each bit of advice given so thanks everyone.

I've managed to swap around what we use the fridges for, so my little undercounter is going to become the overflow fridge, and the larder fridge is the new brew fridge. Meaning much more room for a decent sized fermenter. So whilst I can carry on with my plastic ones (which I will) I can at least get a conical in there when the time comes.

Sadly I broke the toilet yesterday (replacing the flush mech and dropped the cistern....) so that's the next project to fix before I can start on the new brew fridge