Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Two tanks, one cooler

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Two tanks, one cooler

    We have two tanks and one (glycol) cooler to cool them using same glycol. Is it possible, to make a fermentation in one tank (20°C) and cold crash in another (2°C).

    Did anyone had experiences with same equipment setup? How did you manage your cooling?

    Yury

  • #2
    My single chiller unit can handle more than 10 tanks. Yes it's possible.

    It entirely depends on how the cooling fluid is delivered to the tanks. Do you have pictures or a sketch of the piping that feeds and runs away from the tanks?

    Comment


    • #3
      The easiest/cheapest way is probably to buy a Ranco temp controller for each tank and wire them to a solenoid valve to each tank. Make sure your glycol loop has a bypass so the fluid always has somewhere to go.

      Most all breweries make use of one chiller set to -2*C and control each tank separately.

      Comment


      • #4
        My setup:

        Code:
         
        cooler--->------>-----
         |         |         |
         |         x         x
         |         |         |
         |       tank      tank
         |         |         |
         -----<----------<----
        "x" marks solenoid valve, that is controlled by "single tank temperature controller".

        If I understood your answers right: It is possible (and this is a normal setup for breweries). Just set glycol temperature to -2°C and appropriate temperature on tank's temperature controllers.

        I am asking this question, because I had troubles maintaining control of temperature of a 1/4 filled tank (the temperature sensor was just bellow the wort level). That was a test batch, next ones are gonna be 1/2 of a tank or more. Is this setup also appropriate for half filled tanks (I assume that the upper half of the tank's wall is freezing in this setup)? Is big difference in temperatures of cooling fluid and wort / beer not a problem?

        Comment


        • #5
          How big is your glycol back--the storage for chilled glycol? The glycol back acts as a buffer between the load of the tanks and the output of the chiller. Without a sufficiently large GB, you'll struggle to keep a uniform temp.

          If the GB is well insulated, it's pretty hard to have one that is too big.
          Timm Turrentine

          Brewerywright,
          Terminal Gravity Brewing,
          Enterprise. Oregon.

          Comment


          • #6
            While each setup is going to be different, we have our glycol set at -10C. It's going to depend on the size of the jacket and the flow rate through the jacket.

            Comment


            • #7
              Few things, your tanks should be plumbed with a bypass that has a valve on it. That way the fluid has somewhere to go when both solenoids are shut. The valve can adjust flow if needed. Second tanks should be plumbed first in last out, as opposed to the first in, first out shown in the picture. Pro Chillers has a good diagram on their site somewhere. By first I mean closest to the chiller.

              Additional glycol resivoir can certainly help capacity, but you shouldn’t need one with a properly sized chiller. The included resivoir should contain enough glycol for the thermal capacity. If you are setting up a system with a smaller chiller, then use a secondary tank as Timm mentions. Insulate it well, and keep it in your cooler if at all possible.

              As mswebb says, jackets size and flow will make a large impact although -10*C seems quite low for any chiller I’ve ever seen. Even the really big guys will switch to anhydrous ammonia usually before going that low, in my experience. You can easily run into issues with beer freezing in the tanks, and it is probably not as energy efficient overall.

              Your system will have a hard time regulating temp in a non full tank, although half can work depending on the jackets location. A probe in the headspace will result in measuring air temp, which will inevitably leave the solenoid open. You’ll freeze beer or stall yeast quite easily.

              Jim from Pro Chillers is usually floating around on here and I’m sure can comment more on specifics.

              Comment


              • #8
                Yes, I should correct my number. A while back I adjusted my chiller temp to the -4 range.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thank you for the answers, but it looks like my problem lays elsewhere:

                  I have problem with cooling half filled tanks. Tanks have cooling jackets or spirals almost from the bottom of the cone till the top of the tank, so the whole tank is chilled evenly. But I get following problem: For the first few days (when yeast is most active), the chilling is working as it should, but afterwards, the wort cools slowly bellow set point (20°C) (and no chilling is activated anymore). I have to worm the tank. The tank is in a room where is 10°C, wort should be at 20°C, but I assume, that the upper half of the tank is acting as passive chiller - it cools down and it consequently also cools the wort bellow the 20°C (and yeast has no longer the capacity to produce so much heat, that it would keep the wort at 20°C).

                  Had anyone of you had such situation? How did you solve it?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    If I am understanding correctly you mean your fermenter is in a room at 10*C? Then you will of course have a hard time keeping the fermenting wort at 20*C. It is going to cool unless you pump a warm glycol solution through the jackets. First suggestion in that case would be to heat the room your fermenters are in to at least 20*C to stop the parasitic loss of heat. The other alternative is to heat your glycol solution and pump it through.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X