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Beer Line Chiller for Recirculating Cooling System

bachman
edited April 2015 in Accessories

I want to upgrade my cooling system, and get away from the 55 gal drum, fan and car radiator. A friend of mine has one and wants to trade for a bit of product. It a banner model, not sure of the size. Anybody ever use one? I am thinking that it just a small glycol chiller.

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Comments

  • FloridaCrackerFloridaCracker

    I was using a 55 gallon drum for a while and switched to a 275 gallon "tote". The kind that can be moved with a forklift. I'm sure that the water couldn't keep up with constant use but even in a hot climate it works great for me.

  • CothermanDistilling

    short answer - should work, you will have to mcgyver the temp setup... I do not see a single pump solution not causing headaches though.

    long answer - infinite number of solutions

    like @FloridaCracker says, a tote works great, especially if you can use mother nature to cool it between runs...

    If you want a smaller container you only need really cool water for the product condenser, I would keep the radiator on the RC condenser, where you have a huge differential.. if you go from 80 to 150F in yoru RC, and can cool with the radiator back down to 100, you save over 2/3 the energy needed

    if you have a PC than can handle all the flow you need for the RC, and you have a bypass valve on the RC, you can try one pump to a tank of water that is held at temp by the chiller

    if you chill the drum or other tank below ambient, you are wasting money, if you chill it below the dew point, you will foster mold growth....

    If you get for a trade, then tinker with it and learn, then sell it to a beer nerd if you decide to try something different, it is a win-win...

    if you try to use one pump for everything (PC, RC, chiller), you will not have stability... if you really want to try this, make a decent drawing and several people on here will offer experienced advice I am sure..

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