Alternatives to Glycol Chill Filtering

[Wayward]

After some very disheartening research into chill filtering I have discovered that I can't afford a glycol chiller / jacketed tank set up.

I am looking into alternative methods for chilling. I've got a few quotes back on commercial freezers and am reaching out to the forum to see if anyone has used a setup like this before.

I have 80 gallons (300L) of spirit to chill and filter. I'm thinking a chest freezer with a tank 24" round and 48" long installed in it. The tank would have lots of freezer space around it. Transfer the spirit into the tank and freeze overnight, pump directly from the tank through my plate filter and into my bottling tank.

I could get this setup for about $1200 CAD (I have a pump and filter already). The cheapest chiller quote I got was over $3000USD++ and I'd have to purchase either a jacket for my tank or a new jacketed tank.

Thoughts or ideas? Has anyone tried to use a regular or commercial freezer before?

Any help is greatly appreciated

Dave

[OldSpye]

Get an old freezer. Build two copper coils - one for inside the freezer and one for inside a tank. Connect them with hoses to a pump.

[TetonDistillery]

Get an old freezer. Build two copper coils - one for inside the freezer and one for inside a tank. Connect them with hoses to a pump.

That is exactly what we did also. My brother bought a cheapo $100 deep freezer from Best Buy. There is a now a large block of ice inside the freezer and copper tubing running back and forth through the block of ice. We drilled a hole in the side of the freezer for the entry and exit tubes. We now have 3 of those freezers lined up next to each other being used in the chill filtering process.

The pumps send liquid from the 55 gallon stainless steel barrel into the freezer ---> flows through frozen copper tubes encased in a block of ice (30 feet of copper tube going back and forth inside of ice block) --> (now very cold vodka) pumped up to funnel full of charcoal and garnet crystal ---> drops via gravity back into the 55 gallon stainless steel barrel ---> restart cycle back into the freezer.....

So we just turn the pump on and let it run for 24 hours. Roughly 50 gallons at a time running through that system. We estimate the full volume goes through the cycle about 6 times in a 24 hours period.

We have 3 of those full systems setup next to each other, so we can process about 100-150 gallons per day. It is a very cheap setup overall. It is also very modular as you grow. Just buy another and set it up next to the others.

[3d0g]

Instead of ice, wouldn't a water / glycol solution in the deep freeze be more efficient?

Not to totally derail this discussion, but in the cooling genre, has anyone simply dropped a tank underground and used it for general cooling (condenser, cooker, fermenter, etc)?

[TetonDistillery]

Not to totally derail this discussion, but in the cooling genre, has anyone simply dropped a tank underground and used it for general cooling (condenser, cooker, fermenter, etc)?

We drilled an injection well on our property.

We pull cold mountain water out of the aquifer for cooling, then shoot it right back down into the aquifer.

It doesn't even require water rights because we are not consuming any water.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

I supplied a glycol/air cooler for winter operation in MO distillery. He is putting a cistern underground filled with glycol /water solution.

Ground temp holds cistern at nearly 55F and the air does the rest of the work.

With enough data from winter operation, he plans to be able to buy a smaller chiller than the 10 HP one he would normally need.

I have another job waiting shipment where the customer is using the old farm milkhouse tank and well for mash cooling and if necessary, is going to run a heat exchanger and glycol loop over for any additional cooling if he runs short.

[agporte]

Teton - I thought chill filtering was only for barrel aged products to remove the wood oils, etc to prevent a hazy product (especially when served on the rocks)

Are you chill filtering vodka for taste or for clarity?

[3d0g]

Excellent! My back of napkin BTU calculations must not be so crazy after all.

[TetonDistillery]

Teton - I thought chill filtering was only for barrel aged products to remove the wood oils, etc to prevent a hazy product (especially when served on the rocks)

Are you chill filtering vodka for taste or for clarity?

Taste. Clarity is not an issue.

[Wayward]

Teton,

What size copper tubing did you use? and does the vodka get all the way down to zero C?

Thanks!

[brokenstraw]

Teton:

How big we're the freezer units? 5 cu ft? Did you have them on platforms to gravity feed into the carbon and back to barrel?

I'm very interested in putting something like this together.

Thanks.

[KDI]

I did the same thing. But the new freezer we bought keeps defrosting. Cannot figure out how to stop it. So we cannot get it to freeze the water we put into the freezer. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Bill

[nabtastic]

Instead of ice, wouldn't a water / glycol solution in the deep freeze be more efficient?

Not to totally derail this discussion, but in the cooling genre, has anyone simply dropped a tank underground and used it for general cooling (condenser, cooker, fermenter, etc)?

Unless you have a deep well, the ground will act as an insulator - it should keep the liquid pretty close to the temperature it entered the tank at up to (or down to) the temperature of the soil around it. Keep this in mind if pumping hot water into the holding tank. I would think the hot water should retain a good portion of its heat, though I don't know the thermal capacity of dirt. I would expect it to keep around 50-70 degrees depending on location - some of you guys live in pretty cold areas though. It stays hot here so the ground water comes in upper 70's F.