I have a few questions about glycol chillers for jacketed fermenters...

[Beardown]

I recently ordered a 3bbl system. The fermenters are jacketed and i am admittedly ignorant in the world of glycol chilling for these ferms... What type/size of glycol chiller should i be looking at for an operation of this size? thanks

[BreweryLabs]

I recently ordered a 3bbl system. The fermenters are jacketed and i am admittedly ignorant in the world of glycol chilling for these ferms... What type/size of glycol chiller should i be looking at for an operation of this size? thanks

We're in the market, too. Here's a great link to a calculator to estimate the size. http://www.advantageengineering.com/...Calculator.php

A few things I've picked up on:
- you need either a 2 stage heat exchanger or a cold water tank. The cold water tank lets your glycol system cool the water over time, so a smaller glycol system can be used. We have a 2 stage chiller, so we will use water to chill in stage 1 (and route it back into the HLT saving energy). Stage 2 is glycol.

- your glycol system's size is primarily based on changing temperatures, not maintaining them. Cold crashing and wort chilling are the biggest demands

Hope this helps!
Zack


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[Beardown]

We have a plate chiller already to chill the wort... will only use the glycol to control temp of ferms..

[BreweryLabs]

We have a plate chiller already to chill the wort... will only use the glycol to control temp of ferms..

A single plate chiller with tap temperature water *May* work fine for 3BBLs. If you try that with 30BBLs your hops will be bittering for hours while you try to cool the wort. IMHO that is a critical point in the Brew cycle, and I want a lot of control over it.


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[Beardown]

What size glycol chiller you think I could get away with for this size operation?

[Jer]

That depends on how many ferms you have, what size they are, if you have a brite tank or tanks, how big they are, if you live in Vegas or Anchorage, if you want to cold crash in 6 hours or 36, etc. You have to put your data into the calc to get your answer.

As for using the plate chiller with groundwater, there are different sized plate chillers, so if yours is sized right, you don't need a 2 stage, or a cold liquor tank. Scavenging the heat for future batches is wise. I have two morebeer counterflow coils that my wort flows through in series, but the water flows through in parallel, so the water gets a cooling refresh 1/2 way through. I can cool about 1gallon per minute to 60F.

-J.

[backslope]

As much as possible, if you have the finances, work with one of the chiller professionals, such as some of the ones that advertise on this site, and get a pro system that has room for expansion.

That said, I started running a 4 bbl system with 5 fermenters and 2 brites with 2 of these:

https://foxxequipment.com/product/glycol-chiller-extra-34-hp-pr-7949

They run about $1800 each, I used one for the 5 fermenters, and the other for the 2 brites. I now have 3 of these. 2 are running in parallel for 4 4bbl ferms and 2 7bbl ferms; the other is dedicated to 2 brites, 1 4bbl and 1 7bbl. I can crash the ferms to 40 degrees, and I can take the brites down to about 33 degrees with this set up.

[Jer]

Several of them have great reputations. They're not inexpensive, but sometimes being cheap is expensive....

[Beardown]

I will be starting off with 2 3bbl ferms, that's it... no brite and the plate chiller is beg enough to chill pretty fast on its own! And yea 8k isn't in the budget right now so it sounds like a 1/2 hp or a 3/4 hp would do the trick!? Sound about right ? Thanks again everyone , just trying to wrap my head around this part of the operation while system is being built ...

[backslope]

Yep, if that is all you have, one of those units should be great for you. A few other observations from my limited experience:

If you can swing a brite tank, get one, it will improve the quality and clarity of your beer. Even if it is just another fermenter that you can use as a brite tank. But, it is your project and your budget, so do what you have to.

When you are plumbing in the glycol system to the ferms, use ball valves EVERYWHERE so that you can isolate tanks and isolate individual jackets (if you have multiple jackets on your ferms). As you inevitably expand and add more ferms and/or brites, you will need to cut into your glycol plumbing to add lines and reconfigure. If you spend an extra $100 - $200 on ball valves now it will pay off in spades in convenience later. Also, you can better isolate areas to identify leaks and problems.

As for eventual expansion, I've seen a micro brewery run 5 4bbl unitanks with one of those 3/4hp units, and it was frankly too much for the unit to handle, they couldn't control their temps very well and, couldn't effectively crash their beers. The ratios I'm using, of around 12-16 bbl per chiller unit works pretty well for me.

Good luck.

[Jer]

I will be starting off with 2 3bbl ferms, that's it... no brite and the plate chiller is beg enough to chill pretty fast on its own! And yea 8k isn't in the budget right now so it sounds like a 1/2 hp or a 3/4 hp would do the trick!? Sound about right ? Thanks again everyone , just trying to wrap my head around this part of the operation while system is being built ...

SSBrewtech has a 3/4HP offering. About 1000$, I think.

Have you thought about how you're going to control the glycol flow to your jackets?? You could do multiple inkbirds, with 120v solenoid valves, or, if you wanna plan for future, contact eBrewsupply and have a web based panel built for 12-1500$ ish.

I echo the Brite tank comment. There are several nice ones for sale in the classifieds, or a unitank is a nice option too.