Cooling Trunk Lines - Need Opinions

[WIBrewer83]

I have a tap tower on the first floor of my house with a keezer in the basement. A 20' trunk line runs from inside the keezer up to the tap. The height is about 13' from the bottom of the keezer to the taps.

In a separate chest freezer I have a 5g bucket of water/glycol and a pump that runs in the trunk line. The freezer is on full freezer mode and the glycol gets down to about 40ish degrees. (No idea why it won't go lower) the end result is a cold trunk line and cold to the touch tap tower, but not cold enough. The beer in the lines still turns to foam. So it's almost like my setup isn't any better than doing no cooling since first 1/2 glass goes down the drain. Once that beer is out of the lines it pours perfect.

I've done my research and a real glycol chiller for what I need is $825 brand new and delivered. Worth it?!

Are there other options I'm missing?

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

You have to assume the thermal loss rate of the loop outside the freezer exceeds the thermal transfer rate of your glycol vessel inside the freezer.
If you can't get that into balance by increasing the insulation of your trunk line, then you need a bigger hammer.

I would assume a purpose-built glycol unit has far superior BTU capabilities than a tub sitting in a freezer...

Cheers!

 

[WIBrewer83]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking also. Trunk line is already fully insulated to the max.

 

[maazak]

Can you check the temp of the cooling liquid leaving the freezer vs the temp returning ? Have you tried increasing the liquid reservoir volume ?

 

[WIBrewer83]

Coolant in the freezer is 43.5 degrees. Coolant returning is around 44.3, so not much temp loss. Seems the coolant in the freezer just can't get any colder. Maybe it has to do with my glycol to water percentage...? (2 gallons of glycol and 3 gallons of water)

 

[maazak]

SS BREWTECH has a recommended glycol mix of "mix rate: 1/3 100% Propylene Glycol to 2/3 Distilled Water" so adding one more gallon of water matches that. Maybe someone can chime in with glycol mix rates and how thy effect the coolant chilling ability

 

[milldoggy]

I had a similar problem. 25' of line. I used a mini fridge and coldest was 47 ish. I lived like that for 2 years. Beer was fine, I like a little warmer beer. I solved it one day. Built a glycol chiller from a dehumidifier. Been running for 5 months and is awesome. I run at 35 now. Cost me almost nothing. I can dig up my thread.

 

[milldoggy]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=540939

 

[WIBrewer83]

milldoggy - thanks for the idea. I think I will go this route! Any suggestions on a specific brand and model that would be easy to do this? I'm a little concerned about breaking the copper line when trying to pull out the cold side radiator/condenser. I'm willing to buy a new dehumidifier if there is an easy one to modify. Thx again!

 

[milldoggy]

Not sure, I just used one I had

 

[milldoggy]

I think you run the same risk with any. A small one would work fine I think. Mine runs for 3 mins every 40 mins. Seems to not really need thar much. I

 

[WIBrewer83]

Purchased a brand new 5k BTU window air conditioner and have it connected in with my glycol bucket. There was some complicated plumbing I had done previously, so I reused my 5g plastic bucket to see how it went. Obviously a cooler will hold temp better, but wanted to try this out before completely starting over. So far it works great! Cooled room temp glycol/water to 42f in under 10 minutes. Currently have it set to 1C, or 33.8f. Any suggestions on what I should set as the temp differential? Min time between cycles? I currently have 3c as the differential and 10 minutes between cycles. I think this will have it run 1-2 times per hour with temp ranging between 1c and 3c. Or would a tighter, more frequent running setup be better? Thx

 

[WIBrewer83]

Well, that didn't last long. 5g bucket was losing too much cold, too quickly. Converted to a cooler. Much better.

From what I'm seeing, it will run every 30 minutes for about 8 minutes to cool from 4c to 1c. Not bad.

So, I only drink beer on weekends. If I were to link this up to a smart controller that only let it run fri-sun...what would happen to the beer in the lines that would get warm during the week? Would it be fine once it cools back down? Or would it get skunky?

 

[day_trippr]

The beer in the lines will lose carbonation as the beer warms.
True "skunking" can't happen without UV light, but the couple of ounces of warm beer likely won't taste great. Good thing you'll be dumping it...

Cheers!

 

[jddevinn]

I'm with milldoggy and WIBrewer83, window a/c with the condenser( nope Evaporator) removed and placed in a cooler reservoir works great as a glycol chiller.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm with milldoggy and WIBrewer83, window a/c with the condenser removed and placed in a cooler reservoir works great as a glycol chiller.

"evaporator"

Cheers!

 

[jddevinn]

"evaporator"

Cheers!

Yep!