Glycol Chiller Home made.

[hoppyscotty]

I got a FloJet pump off eBay. Think it's too much for a home-brew setup, more like a pump that would be used in a proper high commercial brewery, but it works fine and doesn't seem to be causing any issues. I have a ball valve on the output to throttle it back. Most people seem to use those small 12v submersible pumps you can get off eBay. You don't need anything with too much power for a homebrew setup since you're not pumping glycol through hundreds of feet of line. This is what my mate uses with his bucket. He has a Grainfather fermenter so uses the universal glycol pump kit which utilises a very small submersible pump.

 

[MashBag]

What sort of power pump do people use.

I have a simple small pond pump, that came with a variety of hozzles so that platinum cured silicone fitted nicely. Mains. So it's easy to plug into inkbird.

 

[MashBag]

If I do get syphon from the top, then that'll just draw up glycol from the coolbox

If you do, you will just run the heating more and the temp fluctuates (flip flops) quite a lot.

 

[hoppyscotty]

If you do, you will just run the heating more and the temp fluctuates (flip flops) quite a lot.

yep, but at this point I'm more concerned about dumping glycol into my coolbox which will overflow and spill all over my floor.

I guess to be sure I could install an actuated valve on the outflow so that between the check valve on the pump output and the actuated valve on the glycol loop output the glycol is captured in the system.

 

[MashBag]

Brilliantly complicated You are now reheating the Gycol. Why not just take some out, or get a bigger coolbox.

A bigger coolbox gives you a greater thermal mass too

 

[hoppyscotty]

Brilliantly complicated You are now reheating the Gycol. Why not just take some out, or get a bigger coolbox.

A bigger coolbox gives you a greater thermal mass too

Complication I can deal with so long as it works of course. Unfortunately I'm space limited so no room for bigger coolbox, plus coolboxes are expensive, and wanted to have a smaller volume of glycol to have less volume, minimising surface area of heat transfer, to get it down to its lowest possible temperature. And ultimately the coolbox still has a larger volume than the bath in the maxi chiller...Also in reality the glycol circulation is very low so not dumping large volumes of slightly warmed glycol into the volume, it's basically a smidge above a trickle, so I should have more than sufficient cooling capacity from the circulating water through the coil. The relative flow rate of the cooling water through the coil will be far far higher than the flow rate of the incoming glycol so plenty of capacity to suck the heat out of the glycol. But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. If this doesn't work I'll be revising the entire setup.

No point in emptying the glycol from the jacket every time, this is not how they normally work. My current setup has a completely closed loop of glycol that circulates around the system and I can control fermentation temp within +/- 0.5 degrees, which is more than sufficient...how accurate do you actually need to be.

In reality the inkbird turns on the pump to begin circulation so no reason why it cant simultaniously actuate a solenoid valve, not a huge level of additional complication.

 

[MashBag]

What did you call me

 

[Jiffy176]

Out of interest Scott what glycol jacket do you use?

 

[MashBag]

Out of interest Scott what glycol jacket do you use?

A complicated one

Sorry I will get my coat....

 

[hoppyscotty]

A complicated one

Sorry I will get my coat....

Hope your coat is less complicated than my jacket!!

 

[hoppyscotty]

Out of interest Scott what glycol jacket do you use?

I’ve got a jacketed fermenter so it’s in built.

It’s an interesting concept though, a Velcro jacket you can pump glycol through. Could probably string a few hot water bottles together and connect them with a hose!!

 

[MashBag]

Hope your coat is less complicated than my jacket!!

 

[MashBag]

Just buy 10m of syphon hose and loop it around. Simple jacket over the top.

I have seen very similar for sale.. About £80 from memory.

 

[Jiffy176]

Just buy 10m of syphon hose and loop it around. Simple jacket over the top.

I have seen very similar for sale.. About £80 from memory.

I feel the need, the need for a diy solution!!

 

[MashBag]

I will find the jacket online, it would be easy to clone.

 

[MashBag]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35322168...JqzRlhvQpi&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[Jiffy176]

I'm thinking hot water tank lagging jacket and lots of clear pvc hose!!

 

[MashBag]

"Hot water tank " he screeched, in a high pitched voice.
"FFS how much cooling do you need"

 

[Jiffy176]

Ok 48 inch gillet then??

 

[MashBag]

I found a 25l cube at 2c was more than able to cope with fv temp control.

Don't use pvc hose, mm cured silicone is sooooo much better.

I used salt water 2% not glycol.

The most money I spent on mine was the temp twister coil which was about £20. Dunno if the pipe insulation help Tbh.