Industrial brewery chillers are the heartbeat of refrigeration systems used in beer-making. These systems have many applications, from cooling wort to maintaining fermentation tank temperatures.
When purchasing a glycol chiller for your brewery, there are many essential factors that you need to consider.
Essential Factors to Consider When Choosing a Glycol Chiller
Glycol beer chillers are refrigeration systems that combine water and propylene glycol. Unlike ethylene glycol, which is used in cars, propylene glycol is a safe substance that can be used in the food industry. Industrial glycol chillers feature a reliable digital temperature controller, which removes heat during beer processing in stages such as fermentation.
Beer glycol systems are among the most common ways breweries control fermentation temperatures. With a freezing point of minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, glycol is the perfect cooling agent.
Though glycol systems may seem complex, their workings are similar to those of most heat exchangers, such as immersion chillers or plate chillers. There are reservoirs of glycol inside these chillers, where the combination of glycol works as a heat transfer fluid. This mixture gets pumped through piping between vessels as fermentation tanks and mash tuns to keep them cool.
What to Know Before Purchasing
Making a delicious brew using the freshest ingredients is both a science and an art that requires time, effort and skill.
However, one of the most important parts of the process is managing temperatures at every stage of the brewing process, especially during fermentation — this ultimately affects the final product. If you’re the manager or owner of a brewery, selecting the right industrial-grade beer chiller is paramount.
Why Glycol?
Purchasing a new brewery chiller is a significant investment, so it is wise to analyze whether or not glycol is the right choice.
In the most basic terms, glycol is essentially an antifreeze. It provides freeze protection for your cooling system by lowering the freezing point of water and enabling liquid to flow at temperatures below freezing. Brewers often face the issue of their fermentation tanks freezing, which negatively impacts the beer’s quality and the brewery’s operations.
As many breweries usually operate with process set point temperatures ranging from 25 to 27 degrees Fahrenheit, their refrigerant temperatures can range from 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Using the correct glycol-to-water ratio can help ensure freeze protection — in most instances, this would be 35% to 40% glycol.
Using glycol to cool the vessels in your brewery may be much more cost-effective and efficient than using water alone. Additionally, glycol systems can cool greater volumes in less time.
How Can You Select the Right Cooler?
As all breweries have different needs, a customized solution that suits your operation is key. Before you purchase a cooler, consider the following to help ensure you select the right one:
- Location: Outdoor applications are susceptible to temperature shifts, whereas those indoors can be exposed to excessive heat. Based on whether your brewing equipment is inside or outside, you may need a chiller of a specific size or additional accessories like insulated components.
- Voltage: Chillers can have voltages that require specific electrical work. To decide which glycol chiller to purchase, determine which voltage your brewery’s facility is compatible with and the extent of electrical work your budget allows.
- Cost: This is a crucial consideration for many brewery managers and owners. Understanding the initial, operating and possible maintenance costs can help guide your decision.
- Life span: A chiller’s life span determines your return on investment. Though some models have high upfront costs, these systems offer longevity and are worthy assets.
Calculating the Correct Size
In addition to the above factors, you must consider the size of your brewery’s glycol chiller. For most applications, size and efficiency are closely linked. If your operation’s chiller is too big, it may use more energy than necessary, affecting your profit margin and causing higher electricity bills. Conversely, a chiller that is too small might be unable to keep up with your facility’s demands.
A chiller sized to your needs will allow you to cool your equipment energy-efficiently and cost-effectively. Follow the steps below to get a basic idea of which size chiller is right for your brewery.
1. Analyze Your Brewery’s Capacity
Before calculating your ideal chiller size, analyze:
- The frequency at which your facility brews.
- The amount of time in between brews.
- The pace at which your facility brews.
2. Determine the Specifics
Next, look at sizing specifics. Choosing the correct size for your brewery’s chiller depends on these critical factors:
- The volume of your tanks: This impacts how many barrels your brewery can produce, which is measured in brewery barrels (BBL). One BBL equals two kegs or 31 gallons.
- The delta temperature: This is the difference in temperature from the initial temperature before cooling to the final temperature after cooling.
- The cooling period: This is the number of hours it takes for your beer to reach the desired chiller temperature.
3. Calculate the Equation
Now, put all the elements in the equation together to figure out which size chiller you need:
- Determine your tank’s volume and convert it to gallons. Again, one BBL is 31 gallons.
- Convert the gallons to pounds. For most beverages, one gallon is equal to 8.33 pounds.
- Calculate your total heat load. You can do this by multiplying the Delta Temperature by the pound volume.
- Establish your British Thermal Unit (BTU) per hour rating by dividing your total heat load by the number of hours in your cooling period.
- Add 15% as a safety buffer to account for heat lost by components such as pumps and pipes.
While you can use this final figure to guide your selection of a chiller size, these calculations are only estimates. Before ordering a chiller, consult a professional, such as Smart Family of Cooling Products, to ensure you have chosen a size that will support your unique needs.
Our Glycol Chillers
While many industrial chiller manufacturers offer mass-produced products, you should seek a partner offering customization. Smart Family of Cooling Products is an experienced manufacturer of customized glycol systems. We firmly believe that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Using the most cutting-edge technologies and our knack for innovative engineering, we can build a portable glycol chiller suited to your operations and requirements.
To design the best solution for your brewery, we have a skillful team of experts who will strive to understand your business. You can also expect our support at every step, from designing a customized system to its implementation.
Get an Instant Quote for a Glycol Chiller
Whether your brewery is a small startup or a large facility, Smart Family of Cooling Products is here to be your trusted partner. Our mission has always been to help our clients’ businesses thrive. With an impressive list of elite clients, we pride ourselves on offering trusted solutions.
Get started on the process of building the perfect chiller for your business and request an instant quote. If you have any questions about our products or the design process, contact us today.
