I am up in Canada and the ambient temperature for at least six months of the year is low enough to regulate fermentation, and for at least four months of the year it is lower than a walk in cooler. As such, it seems silly to use electricity (= coal here in NS) to run a glycol system for those tasks. I am considering using one or two storage tanks of glycol or water located outside for wort chilling and fermentation control. For the wort chilling, I envision two tanks located outside with pipes running through the wall, one tank filled and one tank empty. The glycol/water would pump one from tank to the other via the chiller. The hoses would have disconnects to allow them to be switched between batches to reverse the flow. This would save both water and energy (and in the winter would provide a cooling liquid well below ground water temps for super fast chilling). Fermentation temp control could be run in a similar manner, but just recirculating off a single tank (average daily temps are <10 C/50 F for eight months of the year, and with a large reservoir/sufficient thermal mass, daily swings wouldn't really affect things). I have also thought about hooking the walk in area up so outside air is used to cool it during the four months of the year when the average temp is <0 C/32 F (temp. conbtrolled fan and duct).
Wondering if anyone is currently doing any of these? If not, do you see any reason why this would be a bad idea? Brewery size is small: 200 gallon fermenters, one batch per day boil maximum.
Thoughts?
Jason
Wondering if anyone is currently doing any of these? If not, do you see any reason why this would be a bad idea? Brewery size is small: 200 gallon fermenters, one batch per day boil maximum.
Thoughts?
Jason
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