Crash Cooling

[Jay]

Seeking advice for crash cooling. 1000L jacketed mash tank is currently set up for open loop water cooling. I don't want to spend a fortune on the water bill. Looking for solutions to cool without spending 10K+ on a 10 ton chiller.

[Artisan Still Design]

buy a smaller chiller and use a reservoir.

chiller can drop the reservoir down in temps over a longer period of time, then you can crash cool.

3:1 is about optimal, the larger the chiller the smaller a reservoir you can get away with, inverse is also true.

[Sage]

In conjunction with a reservoir and small chiller, you could also dump some of the heat into the air which may be nice if you need any additional heating in your facility. It will also reduce the load on your chiller. You can get small hydronic unit heaters fairly cheap. Similar to this one I found with a quick google search.

http://www.h-mac.com/modine-hc24.html?gdftrk=gdfV26629_a_7c205_a_7c490_a_7cModine_d_HC24&gclid=CLnZ6qaCtLkCFY1FMgodmGYAbw

These can easily be set up with a temp sensor that turns the fan on when hot water starts flowing and shuts it off when the water temp falls below a certain range.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

Jay, matching up the chiller to the reservoir is the key, but also the jacket performance! I am waiting on a couple fellows who are testing their jackets (with city water, figuring out the flow and measuring the Temp in and out with a simulated test run using water. This way I can match all three exchange devices and quote the proper system. Cheapest way on the reservoirs is to gang together several poly tanks (square ones work best for cutting holes and attaching fittings). If you can find a used bulk milk tank to store the water, that may even be cheaper. Right now all I have as far as used chillers go is a 9 ton 460/3/60 and a 2 ton 230/1/60. Let me know if I can be of any further help. Mike

[MG Thermal Consulting]

I am waiting on info on a NSF coil to build an air-cooler as the first stage cooling for the mash which would reduce the size of the water reservoir and chiller both. You could pipe it in series with a shell and tube/jacket if you have well water to finish it off as another scheme. The actual cooler will be set up indoors and hot air ducted out (or in for heat recovery) with intake being from outdoors as well. I hope to have more details in another month. I am testing some small outdoor air/glycol coolers for winter use for clients up North...hoping to test that out this year.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

I have developed an NSF rated fan-coil unit for cooling mash, 5 tons cooling at 95F entering air/ 7.25 tons at 50F entering air, 4 GPM mash flow. Result will be 30 degree TD at 95F air/ 44 degree TD at 50F air. Under $5K for stainless cabinet, less for painted enamel. 385 watt motor, 115 or 230/1/60. Meant as a pre-cooler to reduce chiller size and power input. Give me a call and I can explain the schematics. Mike