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Fermenter chilling


Thatch

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We hope to have somewhere between 4 and 7 300 gallon jacketed fermenters that will be temperature controlled with water from a large tank that is chilled from a glycol chiller.  I am trying to decide how to chill only the fermenter which needs its temperature brought down.  I am thinking of a temperature controlled valve mounted to each fermenter that would either let the water into the jacket if necessary via a T fitting or if closed would bypass this fermenter.  Any better ideas?  If this is a good idea any suggestions on where to get this type of valve?

 

We will be an all malt shop and we will be fermenting off grain.

 

Thanks!

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You can go with something like a Johnson Controls A419, plus a solenoid valve. Here is a pretty much complete setup https://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/ftss-pro-modular-temp-control as an example. There are other controllers available for remote monitoring, logging and alerts. If using a 2 way valve in each tank you would want to have a bypass somewhere on the loop so your pump doesn't dead head.

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why not just use your glycol chiller to control temps in the fermenters instead of a separate water tank.  we use our glycol chiller to control four 2000L fermenters ( with upper and lower jackets), two 2000L conditioning tanks, and a 3000L bright tank for our cidery.  We have two manifolds, one feed and one return, with a main loop like you would use in a home heating system.   I have no problem keeping my fermenters at 58 during fermentation and cold crashing them down to 32, and keeping the condition tanks and bright tanks at 32 all at the same time.  

 

Our manifolds have zone valves for each zone on the feed lines and they are controlled by programmable Johnson controls. 

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Thanks guys,

Good stuff. 

mjduheme - the tank already exist for another purpose.  It is 5000 gallons and we keep it at 52 degrees.  For the time being it is an easier plumbing job until we get to the point where we need another chiller.  I didn't consider using manifolds but that seems to be a great solution.  

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