Homebrew Glycol Chillers

All brewers know that temperature control is crucial when it comes to producing good-quality beer. You can get the right flavor only if the temperature is stable and regulated throughout the whole fermentation process.

Fermenter glycol chillers give you just that. They are designed for cold crashing or controlling the fermentation temperature of the beer - however, there may be a winery glycol chiller as well.

BeverageCraft offers you a fine choice of conical fermenter glycol chillers that will satisfy the needs of the most demanding beer makers and homebrewers. Feel free to browse our catalog and let us know if you need any help choosing the best glycol chiller for homebrewing.

Why Is Fermentation Temperature Control So Important?

Controlling your fermentation temperature is one of the main things you can do to improve the final quality of your beer since there are a few processes here that require temperature control, such as:

• crash cooling the beer after fermentation;
• keeping a steady temperature during the fermentation process;
• cooling the wort after the initial boiling process.

The ambient temperature of your place (along with the outside) is never good and stable enough for quality homebrewing. It may be too cold to ferment during the winter or too warm to ferment during the summer time. Keeping a stable temperature of your fermentation during the first few days of this process is key to producing good beer so you definitely need to have your fermentation temperature under control.

Or, you could be an ale brewer who suddenly decided to start brewing lagers. Lagers require much more precise temperature control to produce a good beer. Also, ale yeast typically ferments at room temperature while lager strains need a cooler temperature, usually in the low 50s (Fahrenheit). Plus, certain strains like Belgian yeast won’t produce their signature flavor unless them in a very narrow temperature range.

These reasons are already important enough to get a fermenter chiller, but there’s one more. Maintaining the stable ambient temperature of your room might not be enough for proper brewing because the process of fermentation can actually heat up the wort.

You may have a room temperature that’s stable at 670F but the wort itself is fermenting in the low 70s. Of course, you can use simple methods like an ice bath or wrapping your fermenter in wet towels to keep the temperature down. But they all have one fundamental flaw - you don’t have control over the temperature unless you’re constantly checking fermenter.

Considering all these arguments we have listed, it’s best to have equipment that will monitor the temperature of your fermentation and can turn on either a heating element or a fridge. Now we’re back full circle to fermenter glycol chillers.

How Does Conical Fermenter Glycol Chiller Work?

Homebrew glycol chillers function in a way that’s similar to refrigerators. Construction-wise, they include a compressor, evaporator, condenser, and a metering device. Once al the connections are made, you dial in a precise temperature and when the temperature fluctuates, your conical fermenter glycol chiller will begin adjusting it accordingly.

Fermenter glycol chillers use a chemical compound called “propylene glycol” as the cooling agent (hence, the name), which is a food-grade antifreeze.
Certain home brew glycol chiller models allow you to control the fermentation temperature or cold crash the liquid separately for up to 4 individual stainless steel tanks/fermenters - however, for many amateur homebrewers a small glycol chiller system would be more than enough.