glycol system sizing help

[defenestrate]

just another guy working on plans for a small brewery. the plan i'm working on right now would be a 3bbl system, using 2 jacketed 3bbl fermenters and a jacketed 3 bbl brite. i'm kind of lost when it comes to finding a glycol system that would work for this size, all i'm seeing is info for beer line cooling. obviously i would like a system with some growth potential but not overkill (maybe adding a couple fermenters down the road, or 1 double batch fermenter). can you all help with recommending a size or a specific system that would work? thanks in advance.

[dfalken]

just another guy working on plans for a small brewery. the plan i'm working on right now would be a 3bbl system, using 2 jacketed 3bbl fermenters and a jacketed 3 bbl brite. i'm kind of lost when it comes to finding a glycol system that would work for this size, all i'm seeing is info for beer line cooling. obviously i would like a system with some growth potential but not overkill (maybe adding a couple fermenters down the road, or 1 double batch fermenter). can you all help with recommending a size or a specific system that would work? thanks in advance.

You need to specifiy if you will use glycol for the heat exchanger and also whether you'll be producing ales or lagers and what your average ambient temps (and tap water temps) are. Andrew Logan at prochiller can give you great info.

[defenestrate]

this will be for ales on the cool end, looking to run primary ferments in the low 60's. ambient temps will peak around 80 in the summer, thats more of a guesstimate as i have not been in the building through the summer months. average temps will most likely be about 70 degrees. tap water will be a fairly cool 55 degree year round.

[defenestrate]

and i sent an email to pro chiller a few days ago and have not recieved a reply yet. also- at this time i dont think i would be using the chiller to chill the wort from the BK- but am contemplating. i know that is a huge load/factor.

[ArmstrongBrew]

Using glycol for chilling from BK

To cool the wort to pitching range post boil, we use two heat exchangers. One is used to chill tap water with the glycol and the second uses this cold water to chill the wort.

I would not use just one HEX to chill the wort with glycol because I believe that would blow the compressor.

We've found that we use well under half the water we normally would be doing this. We run the hot water (post wort chiller) into the HLT for the second brew or for cleaning. We run a 2BBL system and the chilling is done in about 20-30min.

Just a thought.

[defenestrate]

To cool the wort to pitching range post boil, we use two heat exchangers. One is used to chill tap water with the glycol and the second uses this cold water to chill the wort.

I would not use just one HEX to chill the wort with glycol because I believe that would blow the compressor.

We've found that we use well under half the water we normally would be doing this. We run the hot water (post wort chiller) into the HLT for the second brew or for cleaning. We run a 2BBL system and the chilling is done in about 20-30min.

Just a thought.

i'm liking this idea- much lighter load cooling tap water down 30-40 degrees than boiling wort almost 200. what size exchanger are you using for this?

any opinion on size of a glycol system for the tanks i mentioned earlier?

[dfalken]

and i sent an email to pro chiller a few days ago and have not recieved a reply yet. also- at this time i dont think i would be using the chiller to chill the wort from the BK- but am contemplating. i know that is a huge load/factor.

If your tap water is 55 degress I don't even think you need a second stage for glycol in the chiller. You'd have to make sure but I think your water should be able to get your wort down to 70 degrees. If not, a 2 stage heat exchanger would use glycol in the second stage to finish the job.

[ArmstrongBrew]

We use two of these:

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX2330BWC

You could certainly chill with water and then glycol. We choose to chill the water to drive the deltaT.

[defenestrate]

We use two of these:

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX2330BWC

You could certainly chill with water and then glycol. We choose to chill the water to drive the deltaT.

nice, i have a 50 plate from duda

[defenestrate]

bumping,

so no one can give a general size idea? or maybe a link to a system?

[BlackLocustHops]

Brazed Exchanger

I am curious how the flow is through the 1/2" wort side ports? also what size pump you are using with this setup. How much water do you collect in the HLT to cool 2BBL in 30 min? What water temp are you delivering to the second stage? Thanks, I am looking into similar setups, but wasnt sure about a brazed plate exchanger.

[ArmstrongBrew]

I am curious how the flow is through the 1/2" wort side ports? also what size pump you are using with this setup. How much water do you collect in the HLT to cool 2BBL in 30 min? What water temp are you delivering to the second stage? Thanks, I am looking into similar setups, but wasnt sure about a brazed plate exchanger.

When I cool 2BBL of wort, I collect about 100gal of water in the HLT and MT (HLT has an 80gal capacity). I drop the cooling water from ~16C to 8C and it goes to the HLT at ~35-37C. I set the glycol compressor at 4C. I'm still optimizing the cooling loop and I think I could chill the water even further down to the 1C range and either increase my wort flow rate or decrease my cooling water.

Thanks
Nick

[BlackLocustHops]

When I cool 2BBL of wort, I collect about 100gal of water in the HLT and MT (HLT has an 80gal capacity). I drop the cooling water from ~16C to 8C and it goes to the HLT at ~35-37C. I set the glycol compressor at 4C. I'm still optimizing the cooling loop and I think I could chill the water even further down to the 1C range and either increase my wort flow rate or decrease my cooling water.

Thanks
Nick

What temp is your hot water at the end of the run?

Thanks for the info, deffinately helpful.

[toddlandon]

In MN or WI you wouldn't be able to use that flat plate, because you can't take it apart and clean it.
I would check with your proper gov't officials. Todd

[protector]

just another guy working on plans for a small brewery. the plan i'm working on right now would be a 3bbl system, using 2 jacketed 3bbl fermenters and a jacketed 3 bbl brite. i'm kind of lost when it comes to finding a glycol system that would work for this size, all i'm seeing is info for beer line cooling. obviously i would like a system with some growth potential but not overkill (maybe adding a couple fermenters down the road, or 1 double batch fermenter). can you all help with recommending a size or a specific system that would work? thanks in advance.

You should check out ENEGREN BREWING CO and their 3BBL system. Im sure they would be helpful since they developed the entire system including glycol. www.enegrenbrewing.com