Loyd
Well-Known Member
Put this together for a friend who does much larger batches than I do. It keeps two 200 gallon fermenters below 80 degrees during fermentation. With no cooling batches have hit 107 degrees. The chiller is outdoors with the controls indoors. All the original electronic controls were removed. if you plug it into a wall it is wired to high cool. The temperature is currently controlled with a Rand controller. I have also run it with an Inkbird controller with no issues. The water re-circulation pumps are controlled by Inkbirds. It only runs during the first day or two of fermentation or on a really warm day. The fermenters are not in a climate controlled environment. Currently he is using tap water in the chiller. When it gets colder he will ad glycol to avoid freeze ups. The water is chilled to 55 degrees. I found if you try to go below 42 it starts freezing up the evaporator coil. I removed the aluminum fins to avoid electrolysis. He will still have to deal with the steel end plates rusting and falling apart. A filter will be installed on the pick up tube to avoid getting bits in the pumps. Currently it has a 12 gallon tank that is working well. This setup is not used for cold crashing. The unit is producing 11k BTU down to 50 degrees. I cant tell you how efficient it will be at lower temperatures but it is capable of dropping into the 20's with glycol. The btu output will be much lower at sub freezing temperatures.
