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Sorry I did not make the meeting. I really wanted to go but lost and argument to my wife.
Wife:
“So you want to go drinking and then drive on streets covered by a sheet of ice! Gee, I wonder what could go wrong.”Me with a snappy come back…
“……”
So I stayed home.
Really Nice setup, David.
I hope you can make it to our meetings. They are highly secretive, look for the chalk mark on the fire hydrant on 58th and independence or just make sure you are on Evan’s email blast.
Aaron: Nice try but I think I will keep it.
Jim: Some of the problem is a mental issue I have called German hard headedness. By Golly, I am going to make it work. The small room has a couple of features that really make it good for brewing – a 240V circuit and a utility Sink. I was actually pleased with how my brew day went so the room will work.
Aaron’s suggestion of mounting the CFC and pump has given me an idea of moving the SS table out and replacing it with a smaller wood structure for a Brew Stand with everything strategically mounted. I would then use the SS table as a brew prep table in the other room.
If you still have the plans for the Bier Barn, I could always up my game and build a brewing structure in the yard…
Jim:
Penguin recommends 40-50% glycol mixture. The specific heat of a 40% glycol mixture is about .9 where water is about 1.0. At a homebrew scale it is not enough to worry about the thermodynamic properties.
Tubing, I use just plain vinyl tubing. I use 1/4 and 3/8 inch ID. I would not go too big because you will start having a lot of volume of coolant in the tubing. Most of your submersible pumps are probably only pumping 400 gph, should not be much resistance or line loss at those flow rates. Wrap the tubing with insulation. I am only going 6 feet.
Leakage – I use the SS Brewtech Quick Disconnects with valves. When you disconnect the valves close and prevent leakage – I highly recommend. Expensive but I have priced others and these are in the ball park. US Plastics sells them also.
Jim:
I go through the same thing with the cost of things but usually end up spending the money because I justify it by believing I am avoiding a hassle of something failing.
Spike has a pump for $42 they claim they thoroughly tested.
Jim:
I do not think the glycol mixture would have to be in contact with the freezer walls. You just have to keep it at the right temperature. My chiller is a half horsepower and it has no problem. The highest thermal load is during cold crashing, maintaining a low temperature in the fermenter is not usually a problem. You cellar is cool anyway so you are not fighting to maintain a low temp in a high ambient situation.
After Christmas you are welcome to come over and see my chiller in action. It is not very exciting – about the same as watching paint dry.
Chuck
Jim:
As you know I have a glycol chiller. I have two reasons I prefer the chiller over a temperature controlled chamber. The first is I can control multiple fermenters at different temperatures and the second was I am getting too old to move full fermenters in and out of a chamber.
Your question seems to be a hot topic from time to time on Homebrewtalk. The real answer is whatever works for you.
You are correct, none of this is cheap (is anything cheap in this hobby).
There are a lot of plans around to make your own chiller using a small window AC unit.
You could certainly purchase a small chest freezer and put your glycol reservoir in there. Probably put a Johnson control on it to hold the temp around 28 degrees F.
I was wondering if you could get a refrigeration unit to help cool your cellar.
Downtown Denver is going to have a hard time coming back. Before covid an average of 110k employees commuted to downtown, that has decreased to 25k now. And a lot of it will not come back.
I don’t know about a downtown replacement but Colorado Tap House is opening in the fall in West Arvada by the Ralston Creek trail. I will be able to walk to it.
Evan:
I think Colter and Aaron were doing some research into brands. My own research has shown 3 brands on the homebrew scale – Oktober, All-American, and Cannular. Of those 3, Oktober makes a homebrew version for about $879 which seems to be sturdier than the Cannular according to a couple of Youtube reviews. All-American seems to be sturdy but is all manual at a $800 price point.
Maybe someone has some first hand knowledge of pros and cons.
Jeff:
Congratulations, I really liked what you did with the beer.
I did not make the cut but it was a learning experience.
Jim:
I have not done this yet but am planning to and have seen some people do variation on you tube. Take your hop back, put rice hulls in a mesh bag and place in your hop back. It should act as a filter.
I came across this because I have a Blichman Hop Rocket and they say only use it with whole leaf hops which are getting harder to find. I found some videos on the Hop Missile (an exact clone of the Hop Rocket) and they use pellet hops mixed with rice hulls in a mesh bag. If you recipe does not call for hops at that point I don’t see why you could not just use the rice hulls. Worth a try since you already have the hop back. Link to youtube video.
