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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2018 3:03 pm Post subject: MoreBeer Conical - add coil chiller? |
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Hi all,
I've had a MoreBeer 14gal conical for 6 years and for the most part I'm pretty happy with it. Recently I got another conical/unitank that uses an immersion coil to chill. I just built a glycol chiller from an old AC unit and I'm very impressed with how well it chills so I'd like to install an immersion coil in the MoreBeer conical but unsure where to source a coil. SSBrewtech uses a 6" TC cap and Spike uses a 4" TC cap (The MoreBeer uses a 3" tc cap). At first I thought I could use the Spike one and get a reducer (in this case an expander) to make it fit but they made the immersion coil a bit off-center so I'm not sure it will fit. The 3-4" reducer is almost $50 dollars...
TL;DR; has anyone used an immersion coil in their MoreBeer conical?
Thanks as always,
perogi.
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mvakoc
Joined: 19 Sep 2011 Posts: 152 Location: Evergreen, CO
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Link Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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I am in the exact same boat with 2 morebeer conicals and 1 Ss unitank. Blichmann to the rescue. I bought their chiling coil.
https://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/fermentor-cooling-coil
I haven't yet installed it due to not being able to find my punch but it seems like it will work as well as the Ss. I CIP clean and rinse with 180 degree water before sanitizing so am not super concerned about using weldless connections.
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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This looks like the solution I've been searching for. Thank you!
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JMD887
Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 120 Location: Akron, Ohio
Drinking: Two Hearted Ale
Working on: American Red IPA
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Link Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: MoreBeer Conical - add coil chiller? |
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perogi wrote: | I just built a glycol chiller from an old AC unit and I'm very impressed with how well it chills so I'd like to install an immersion coil in the MoreBeer conical but unsure where to source a coil.
perogi. |
Where/how did you figure out this dark magic of a converting an old AC unit?!?
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Ozarks Mountain Brew
Joined: 22 May 2013 Posts: 737 Location: The Ozark Mountains of Missouri
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Link Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 3:18 am Post subject: |
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perogi, just curious how low can you get on your unit? I was thinking of building the same thing
_________________ "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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I have it set to 28 degrees F right now. I could easily get it colder. I used this chart to figure out what ratio glycol to water: https://www.mychiller.com/GlycolChart.html
I usually only chill down to 36-40 degrees for cold crashing. My ambient is 64 degrees in my basement.
hth!
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Ozarks Mountain Brew
Joined: 22 May 2013 Posts: 737 Location: The Ozark Mountains of Missouri
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Link Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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so with it that low does it run constantly or off and on
_________________ "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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Definitely not constantly. The cooler I chose is insulated really well. There's about 9 gallons of liquid in the cooler and it holds temps really well. Building this was one of the best things I've done for my brewery.
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JMD887
Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 120 Location: Akron, Ohio
Drinking: Two Hearted Ale
Working on: American Red IPA
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Link Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 12:55 am Post subject: |
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thanks for the info- looks like something worth looking into... at some point.
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:44 am Post subject: |
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It's probably the one thing that I wished I did a long time ago. Buying ice and swapping ice packs got old very quickly. It was really easy once I started to play around with it. Be careful though, there's a lot of electricity going through there.
From what I hear, if you can get an analog one (non-electronic board), it's much easier.
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wscottcross
Joined: 03 Jul 2015 Posts: 212 Location: CT
Drinking: Launch IPA, Double Sunshine clone, Maple Coffee breakfast stout
Working on: expanding my beer horizons (and my beltline)
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Link Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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And that's what the Coolbot does for you without having to take apart an AC unit. Not the cheapest option, but does work VERY well. I ran one in an insulated shed and it would keep the whole shed below 40F even through the summer months with an 8000 BTU window unit and all you have to do it attach a small heater wire to the room air sensor to trick the AC unit into going below 60F.
_________________ Kal clone controller, 30 gallon Spike Brewing kettles, 6 tap keezer
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perogi
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Posts: 850 Location: NH
Drinking: Perogi Pale, NEIPA, Nutter's Crossing Nut Brown Ale, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone
Working on: Max's Maibock
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Link Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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I've heard great things about the coolbot. Sadly, I don't have a good dedicated space for that and I like the ability to control each fermenter separately (I've fermented saisons and 'normal' ales at the same time). If I can convince SWMBO to let me create a cold room in my basement for a Coolbot to store kegs, I think that would be ideal.
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