Recently, I have been thinking seriously about buying a glycol chiller. But I am hoping to use it with solenoids and this notion is creating problems for me mainly because I don't know if I want to pay the electric bill for a "power-pack" pump that must run continuously - 24/7.
Of course, in most of the Western world, including North America, Australia, and the UK, small home brewery glycol chillers consists of copper cooling coils submerged in a vat/tank of glycol. The home brewer then submerges small plastic pumps in this glycol bath and these pumps are triggered on by a controller which is hooked up to a temperature probe.
Now, I do not like this idea because each vessel must have a separate out and back hose. It seems messy and it is not scalable; that is, one is generally limited to a maximum of 4 fermenters (and if you had more the hose situation would get really messy). Hence, I am inclined to utilize a more professional set up with a single pump and solenoid valves. But I am not sure which chiller would work best for me. I think that, in terms of size, a small chiller would be sufficient because my vessels are only 8 and 15 gallons each. One idea that I had was to purchase a homebrewer (tank-type) chiller and then purchase a separate single pump which would be mounted on the chiller or next to it. The pump would run only when there was a call for glycol and a solenoid valve opened. But for this to work I would need a relay that could trigger both the pump and the solenoid simultaneously and my electrical engineering skills are a bit basic. I could purchase a "power pack"/beer line chiller, but I am nervous about running costs for one of these units versus a homebrew-style chiller. I am hoping that you can help with my thinking.
I am new to the forum. So, I apologize if this topic has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. I did find a post where a fellow had a diagram of such a set up. But I cannot find it any longer.
Of course, in most of the Western world, including North America, Australia, and the UK, small home brewery glycol chillers consists of copper cooling coils submerged in a vat/tank of glycol. The home brewer then submerges small plastic pumps in this glycol bath and these pumps are triggered on by a controller which is hooked up to a temperature probe.
Now, I do not like this idea because each vessel must have a separate out and back hose. It seems messy and it is not scalable; that is, one is generally limited to a maximum of 4 fermenters (and if you had more the hose situation would get really messy). Hence, I am inclined to utilize a more professional set up with a single pump and solenoid valves. But I am not sure which chiller would work best for me. I think that, in terms of size, a small chiller would be sufficient because my vessels are only 8 and 15 gallons each. One idea that I had was to purchase a homebrewer (tank-type) chiller and then purchase a separate single pump which would be mounted on the chiller or next to it. The pump would run only when there was a call for glycol and a solenoid valve opened. But for this to work I would need a relay that could trigger both the pump and the solenoid simultaneously and my electrical engineering skills are a bit basic. I could purchase a "power pack"/beer line chiller, but I am nervous about running costs for one of these units versus a homebrew-style chiller. I am hoping that you can help with my thinking.
I am new to the forum. So, I apologize if this topic has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere. I did find a post where a fellow had a diagram of such a set up. But I cannot find it any longer.