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Glycol setup help - temp probe and solenoid valve or motorized ball valve

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  • Glycol setup help - temp probe and solenoid valve or motorized ball valve

    I have done some research on glycol units and will be buying the Foxx 3/4 HP unit. I will have 3 - 3bbl tanks running on this unit. This will be our 1st time using a glycol unit so I am a bit clueless on how to run it. Speaking with Foxx and doing research has helped me a bit to wrap my head around the process and what is needed. I am in Latin America, so if everything arrives and I am missing a valve or connection, I'm SOL for a few weeks/month until another shipment arrives.

    My question is in regards to how the unit will work to keep the tanks at a certain temp and what products I will need to buy. Looks like solenoid valves or motorized ball valves along with a temperature controller?
    Foxx can sell me the glycol unit, glycol, lines, insulation and clamps.
    The fermenters are bubbas barrels that have a cooling coil.
    Knowing all the above. What else do i need to buy to run 3 fermenters?

  • #2
    You want a loop coming from the pump on the glycol unit back to the reservoir on the glycol unit. That loop will always have flow going through it. About halfway down the loop you need a valve, that you will partially close, creating a high-pressure supply side of the loop and a lower pressure return side. On the high pressure side, you will have a drop for each tank to supply the tank, and then a return line from the tank going back up to the return side of the loop. You will have a solenoid valve or a motorized ball valve on the supply side of each tank, and the valve will open and close based on the setpoint of a temperature controller.
    Linus Hall
    Yazoo Brewing
    Nashville, TN
    www.yazoobrew.com

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    • #3
      Thanks for your help. I get the gist of it. But am confused a bit about the logistics on the flow. I drew a diagram of how mine will be set up. I feel like the "T"s on the out lines will not allow it to flow right, or is that what the high/low pressure valve will solve? and 1 of them all I need? If so, where on the diagram do I place it?

      (The boxes are the solenoid/motorized ball valves.) and the "T"s are T splitters.
      Attached Files

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      • #4
        The 'T's are fine. The liquid will only travel in the return direction. If you are concerned about glycol flowing back to the preceding tanks consider that they are either open and pushing towards the chiller or physically closed and the glycol can't move that way. Easiest path for the glycol is the return line to chiller.

        I'll have to check to confirm but I believe the valves in our system are on the return side which is added protection from back-flow but may increase pressure inside the tank jacket.

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        • #5
          Returns

          Originally posted by NicaHops View Post
          Thanks for your help. I get the gist of it. But am confused a bit about the logistics on the flow. I drew a diagram of how mine will be set up. I feel like the "T"s on the out lines will not allow it to flow right, or is that what the high/low pressure valve will solve? and 1 of them all I need? If so, where on the diagram do I place it?

          (The boxes are the solenoid/motorized ball valves.) and the "T"s are T splitters.
          The diagram you drew is correct except that you show the return tying into the supply line on the down hill side. The supply only goes to the inlet port on each tank and then dead heads. The return line starts at the first outlet and continues to each fermenter and then back to the glycol tank. We put a shutoff valve at the end of the supply and and beginning of the return. This will allow you to add tanks with out having to drain the system.

          I would also recommend using motorized valves which run on 110 Volt. They are far more dependable than solenoid valves. We used individual temperature controls on each tank rather than a control panel. That way if one goes bad it does not effect the other tanks.

          Good luck!

          Joe Hallock

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          • #6
            Originally posted by jhallock59 View Post
            The diagram you drew is correct except that you show the return tying into the supply line on the down hill side. The supply only goes to the inlet port on each tank and then dead heads. The return line starts at the first outlet and continues to each fermenter and then back to the glycol tank. We put a shutoff valve at the end of the supply and and beginning of the return. This will allow you to add tanks with out having to drain the system.

            I would also recommend using motorized valves which run on 110 Volt. They are far more dependable than solenoid valves. We used individual temperature controls on each tank rather than a control panel. That way if one goes bad it does not effect the other tanks.

            Good luck!

            Joe Hallock
            Don't I need the supply line and return line to connect? If all 3 valves are closed, how would the glycol continue to loop?
            I like the shutoff valve at the end for adding on more tanks. Will make a note of that.
            Motorized Ball Valves sounds like the way to go.

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            • #7
              You can just add a small loop with a pressure valve that goes from the supply to the return. This way, when all of your solenoids close the glow will be diverted to this pressure valve and open it to create the loop back to the chiller. On mine this is right off of the chiller.

              Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Crosley View Post
                You can just add a small loop with a pressure valve that goes from the supply to the return. This way, when all of your solenoids close the glow will be diverted to this pressure valve and open it to create the loop back to the chiller. On mine this is right off of the chiller.

                Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
                What Crosley said.

                Here's a photo of our loop. Click image for larger version

Name:	glycol loop.jpg
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ID:	191422

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Crosley View Post
                  You can just add a small loop with a pressure valve that goes from the supply to the return. This way, when all of your solenoids close the glow will be diverted to this pressure valve and open it to create the loop back to the chiller. On mine this is right off of the chiller.

                  Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
                  So would I need a manifold for the Out and Return? Is that what people are calling Headers? There is only 1 line IN and line OUT on the unit.

                  Attached is what i drew up today which is similar to my 1st design. but has a bit more to it:
                  There is a manual ball valve before and after each fermenter, this is to lock off a fermenter incase we run into a problem with said fermenter or motorized ball valve. It also has, after the 3rd fermenter, the Pressure Relief Valve. https://www.mcmaster.com/#adjustable...alves/=17yvazq
                  So when any of the valves are open, the PRV would then close so the glycol will be only flowing through the fermenters. When all are closed, the pressure would build up to a certain PSI, open that valve and continue to flow through the loop.Click image for larger version

Name:	Glycol Loop valves.jpg
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ID:	191423

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                  • #10
                    I will try to draw up a schematic of my system tomorrow and post it. I am on a 3 bbl system double batching into (3) 6bbl fermenters. I use a 3/4hp glycol chiller for my tanks.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by NicaHops View Post
                      So would I need a manifold for the Out and Return? Is that what people are calling Headers? There is only 1 line IN and line OUT on the unit.

                      Attached is what i drew up today which is similar to my 1st design. but has a bit more to it:
                      There is a manual ball valve before and after each fermenter, this is to lock off a fermenter incase we run into a problem with said fermenter or motorized ball valve. It also has, after the 3rd fermenter, the Pressure Relief Valve. https://www.mcmaster.com/#adjustable...alves/=17yvazq
                      So when any of the valves are open, the PRV would then close so the glycol will be only flowing through the fermenters. When all are closed, the pressure would build up to a certain PSI, open that valve and continue to flow through the loop.[ATTACH]48802[/ATTACH]
                      I have built a loop for 5 vessels, 2 - 4bbl fermentors, 2 - 5bbl fermentors and 5bbl brite. I use solenoids which from my experience are much more reliable. My loop consists of 3/4" line out from the Glycol pump, with a Tee at each drop for each tank. The solenoid is on the Tee leading to each tank plugged into a Johnson controller. On the return side I also have a Tee but with a manual ball valve at the Tee. I only use this ball valve if the fermentor is going to be offline before refilling. To balance the system for even flow, it is setup as first out, last in. So the first tank off of the line from the glycol unit is the last tank connected to the return line and so on. My out and return lines are only connected with a pressure relief valve. Has worked perfectly for a year with even chilling in all vessels. That's my 2 cents.

                      As a side note, we are upgrading from 3bbl to 7bbl still using 4 bigger fermentors and 2 brites. All I will have to do is uncap the ends of the feed and return and add an additional Tee for the extra brite. Should take about 30 minutes.

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                      • #12
                        You should have ball valves at both sides of the solenoid valve for isolation maintenance of the solenoid diaphragm.

                        Also, helpful to put ball valves at the glycol headers supply/return in case you need to isolate a whole tank for removal or for future installation.
                        Todd G Hicks
                        BeerDenizen Brewing Services

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                        • #13
                          The most recent drawing shows valves on both sides of the FV. This is fine, so you can take one out of service (as others have said), but make sure you don't close off a tank's glycol jacket, in particular if you're likely to use hot liquids to CIP it. You need to account for the expansion of the water/glycol mix, and the force on the jacket and inner wall can be extremely high. I saw an FV for sale once that looked fine on the outside, but looking inside you could see the vessel wall had dimpled in quite a bit. Probably lost about 5-10% of the tank volume. Best practice would be to disconnect at least one connection to the jacket if you need to close both valves for any reason.

                          Regards,
                          Mike Sharp

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                          • #14
                            pressure switch?

                            I've always wondered why it isn't common to use a pressure switch to shut off the pump. I know there are pumps for this purpose. Feed and return lines would then be discontinuous. The pump would only be running when a vessel calls for cooling.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Surfmase View Post
                              I've always wondered why it isn't common to use a pressure switch to shut off the pump. I know there are pumps for this purpose. Feed and return lines would then be discontinuous. The pump would only be running when a vessel calls for cooling.
                              That sounds awesome. I didn't know that system existed

                              Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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