Ultimate Brewing Companion: Unboxing new glycol chiller

Ultimate Brewing Companion: Unboxing new glycol chiller
After a ton of research for the perfect Glycol Chiller to ferment my many homebrew creations. My primary goal was something that could handle my batch brewing of 2 to 4 brews over a long weekend with lots of versatility while also being backed by a great beer brewing company.
There were two front runners, but I had to choose one that would meet my long-term needs. I also ordered 3 Temp Twister Cooling Coils, FermZilla Thermowells, FermZilla All Rounder Insulating Jackets, and tools to modify my Fermonster fermenters.
MoreBeer - Glycol equipment
www.morebeer.co...
Amazon Links to Glycol Chillers
BrewBuilt IceMaster Max 2
amzn.to/3Hi5Qsa
BrewBuilt IceMaster Max 4
amzn.to/3mZ4Lyx
BrewBuilt IceMaster 100
amzn.to/424n6ZX
Grainfather glycol chiller
amzn.to/3AsK29g

[@wd6358]

Very cool. 15 taps here we come!

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

I've got of beers on my brew list and if my boss will EVER approve me some time off, I'll get them completed but as of late, getting time off is like pulling teeth from a turtle. (Turtles don't have teeth.)

[@eprohoda]

Hi-bestie~ professional unboxing! 😮

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

Thank you, as that is greatly appreciated, as I'm far from a professional video editor but constantly learning.

[@robertgustaf6108]

Love my glycol chiller. Living in the sauna that we call Florida, it’s a pricey necessity to brew consistent batches of multiple styles. Also, hook up your Tilt hydrometers to a raspberry pi and push that data to Brewfather. Literally can be completely hands-off my fermentation until it’s time to keg.

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

Awesome suggestion. I love my Tilt Hydrometers, as I'm currently at 5 at the moment. I'm also in Jacksonville, Florida, but grew up in Jupiter, so I'm all too familiar with the weather, heat, and humidity

[@thedadchronicles]

Congrats!!! I look forward to seeing the upgrades. I've been daydreaming of a glycol chiller but my budget says otherwise. I may be building one soon...

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

I really considered on doing a DIY configuration, but my oldest son is the one that pushed me to buying a prebuilt system. Beyond affiliate money, I buy, clean, test, and resell electronics online from time to time which helps me pay for my hobby/KZbin channel expenses. (My wife would kill me if I used our personal money, aka day job money for my beer expenses.)

[@Lazydawg5000]

I'm sorry to be off subject the reason why I'm subscribing to your channel is because I think your information could be beneficial to my future PC watercooling projects. And yes I would like to make my own beer so it's a 2 bird. Thank you

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

I fully get it as I'm an IT person, and I've had several water-cooled systems. What is funny is that before I purchased this system, I was debating on building my own glycol system, and I have several really old and kind of large radiator/fan combos from my very first water-cooled computer. One is a large radiator with a 120 mm fan, and the other is a dual 120 mm fans with a much larger radiator. I was considering using those as heat dissipation systems to reduce the stress on the chilling. (Essentially I was overthinking it.) Brewing beer is a bit like building a custom computer rig as it isn't hard once you know what you are doing (the steps) but there can be lots of parts involved.

[@SankaraHomeBrewing]

Thanks for sharing. Congrats on your purchase. I have heard great results from people buying that glycol chiller. Cheers!

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

Excited but trying to find free time (getting time off approved seems to be crazy hard as of late) to get everything set up and tested.

[@christiann.7195]

Looks great. I hope to see the performance test soon. How often do you need to replace the glycol? Is the glycol chamber sealed when the lid is closed? (other than overflow pipe) I saw a gap from behind the unit and I was wondering if it could be considered as thermic loss such as an open door on a fridge.

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

I may have to ask Blichmann about the frequency of replacement, but you are correct about the opening to the rear as that is where the tubing is supposed to go. I looked at a lot of other home brewing level glycol chillers and that all appear to have some area that is open allowing for both evaporation of water and for thermal temperature loss. I will say that the Blichmann system appears to have a gap that is designed to keep immediate moisture and some of the cooling inside, reducing some of the loss.

[@BlichmannEngineering]

@@BitterRealityBrewing it should last for a year, if not several, pending on your usage frequency. :)

[@sirenbrewingco.3235]

I wonder if the specs on the brewbuilt factored in the built in pumps, which may account for the difference in power ratings.

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

That is a great question. I may have to do research but the BTU was still a major difference even if that was true. Either way, the BrewBuilt is an amazing system and a good value.

[@bigreedinkc]

Hey thanks for the video! How long did it take you on the original cooldown? I bought one after watching this review and it’s dropped maybe 3 degrees F in 3 hours (after letting it sit for the 24 hrs). Is this normal or any troubleshooting tips?

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

That really doesn't sound normal at all. I usually have mine sitting around 27 F (glycol & water mix), I use the Blichmann submersible pumps with 8 mm OD, 5 mm ID tubing. What fermenter are you using as I use mine mainly with the Kegland All Rounder with the coil. I will say the Anvil Crucible with the small chiller tube does appear to take a lot longer, but I didn't time it last time I used it, but I could see that taking a long time. I actually use the the Blichmann chiller to cold crash my 80 F+ temp wort to 55 F+/- for lager temps before pitching the yeast and it usually gets in their in a mater of minutes. If I had to guess, I'd say about 15 to 20 minutes and that was with 2 All Rounders at the same exact time. Sounds like I might need to start doing some timings to help figure out what is normal for me. I do wish the Anvil Crucible had a spiral type coil type chilling coil like the All Rounder does.

[@DavidTowles]

I'm thinking about this one, how do you like it after a year? Would you still recommend it or do you wish you went with a different option?

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

Actually I would recommend it more now that I've had a year, than when I first got it. The specs bragged about being extremely efficient and low noise levels. I can honestly say with the power monitoring I have had attached since day one, it is extremely efficient using very little power and I rarely ever notice any noise unless I'm cold crashing at least 2 fermenters and then it is still very quiet compared to what you would expect. The only issue I have had was with 2 Blichmann pumps which I notified them about, which they said was very uncommon based on support calls. I still have 2 Blichmann pumps, 1 Anvil pump, and 2 generic pumps that all have been doing very well. I prefer to use duotight tubing and screw on connectors. I am pretty sure I've shown them in other videos. These are the generic pumps I use, but they do require a basic 12v DC plug, which I had a few of already. - amzn.to/3V2mMci

[@suwirwong]

Can the pump survive the freeze ?

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

The pumps seem to be o.k. with the cold as the glycol keeps the liquid from freezing.

[@thomasterry4126]

Meh... I was looking for Icemaster 100 info. Watched to find out it was about the Blichmann, Misleading since I searched on Icemaster 100. Don;t get me wrong... i have an Anvil Foundry 18 and Blichmann pumps but feel that Icemaster was noted just to get some hits.

[@BitterRealityBrewing]

The BrewBuilt IceMaster name, as I referenced the max 2 and 4 (not specifically the 100) was included due to this previous video being a continuation of - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmm9pJh7r96XfLc Where I compared the majority of the most popular Glycol Chillers for home brewers. As for the hits, they are appreciated, but I would think Google's algorithm would help to put anyone's video about the 100 above mine when doing a specific search. If you already have the temp controllers and pumps, the IceMaster 100 is a very nice system. If not, the IceMast Max 4 seems like the better value. I wish I could have done a comparison of the noise levels for all of them as the Blichmann system is crazy quiet and now I wonder how loud others might get when in operation.