Glycol chiller installation

[RBBMO]

A question for all of you existing breweries with glycol chillers.
I have a small brew house with 3 7bbl jacketed ferm tanks and a 7bbl jacketed brite. The chiller is as close as it can be to the tanks, say 25 feet. I got a quote from a commercial HVAC company to install said chiller and it was absolutely outrageous! I was just wondering what a typical install should cost and from experience what was the best way to go about finding the best installer for the best price.

[kugeman]

What is outrageous about their quote? Are they running all the glycol piping or are they just getting the chiller operational? What materials are they going to use?

[RBBMO]

It was for getting chiller operational, pipping and labor. They quoted both copper and ABS as the materials.

[jimvgjr]

I’d contact your chiller manufacturer or supplier and see if they might have a contractor to refer that’s familiar with their equipment and is in the area. Another good source for referrals are the other breweries or wineries in your area.

It is common for contractors to come in high because they really don’t understand what is involved. I'd suggest getting a bid for the piping only, from a plumbing contractor, and ask the refrigeration contractor to split up his bid with glycol piping in one bid and chiller system start up in another.

We have some articles on our website that might be helpful regarding glycol systems, covering piping and layout, etc.- http://www.prochiller.com/files/AllAboutGlycol.pdf


Hope this helps,

Good Luck

Jim

[kugeman]

Copper or ABS are the best materials for glycol piping. But they're also the most expensive. PVC is an option although it's not as good as abs or copper. Price it out using schedule 120 PVC (the grey pvc.) it holds up better to cold temps than regular white schedule 80.

There's really no reason you can't install the piping, solenoids, shut off valves yourself. It's not that hard. Just have an electrician to the electrical stuff and the HVAC person help you get the system working.

[protector]

A question for all of you existing breweries with glycol chillers.
I have a small brew house with 3 7bbl jacketed ferm tanks and a 7bbl jacketed brite. The chiller is as close as it can be to the tanks, say 25 feet. I got a quote from a commercial HVAC company to install said chiller and it was absolutely outrageous! I was just wondering what a typical install should cost and from experience what was the best way to go about finding the best installer for the best price.

I would contact Chris Enegren @ Enegren Brewing Co. He did all the work at their Brewery. www.enegrenbrewing.com

[thatjonguy]

Copper or ABS are the best materials for glycol piping. But they're also the most expensive. PVC is an option although it's not as good as abs or copper. Price it out using schedule 120 PVC (the grey pvc.) it holds up better to cold temps than regular white schedule 80.

There's really no reason you can't install the piping, solenoids, shut off valves yourself. It's not that hard. Just have an electrician to the electrical stuff and the HVAC person help you get the system working.

Have you installed the piping before? Is it just like installing water pipes? And the solenoid valves are just attaching to the pipe and temp controllers?

[kugeman]

It is comparable to installing water pipes. For each tank connection you're going to end up wanting a solenoid, shut off valves on both the send & return and pressure gauges. you'll also want a vacuum relief valve at the highest point of the piping to allow any air to escape from the system.

If you have no experience at all with glycol systems then I would visit a couple of local breweries to see how they are set up and get some advice from the brewers there. It isn't all that complicated for a small brewery/brewpub but it would be good to see it in person. There are a couple of very good discussions on this forum about glycol piping, but nothing really replaces seeing a system in action.

If you have a good plumbing contractor they should be able to help you design the flow of the system correctly. Then your HVAC guy can help you with the actual performance of the chiller. Jim from Pro Refrigeration (who posted above as jimvgjr) is a great resource and much more knowledgeable than I am.