Hi all I’ve aquired a maxi 210 cooler but the ice bath thermostat is shot,I plan to replace it with an stc1000 unit,my question is as a rough guide what should I set the target temp to,the cooler will be running 2 king kegs over a very short distance and only for a couple of times a week. Thanks in anticipation of replies,ged
Beer cooler stat setting
- Thread starter gedmac57
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Short answer is 0C
Longer answer…
This will depend on the type of beer you’re cooling (eg lager needs to be cooler than bitter), the ambient temperature where the kegs are stored (warmer beer needs to be cooled more), and the length of the cooling coils in the glycol bath (eg 3m, 6m, or a combo, longer=cooler).
Assuming you have 3m coils (cool the beer by up to 7C) and 6m coils (cool the beer by up to 15C) you should route your ales through the shorter coils and lager through the longer coils. This would result in say, 5C for your lager and 12C for your ale.
If the ambient temperature where your kegs are stored is 18C then a glycol bath of 3C should theoretically allow for the full 15C cooling. I’d go at least a couple of degrees lower because there are always losses. You can adjust the setting up or down based on your own temperature measurements from there.
If you want to take the glycol bath below 0C you should add monopropylene glycol (food-grade antifreeze) to the water in your glycol bath. There are tables on-line that tell you what ratios are needed, I use 40/60 glycol/water which allows me to go to -20C.
Longer answer…
This will depend on the type of beer you’re cooling (eg lager needs to be cooler than bitter), the ambient temperature where the kegs are stored (warmer beer needs to be cooled more), and the length of the cooling coils in the glycol bath (eg 3m, 6m, or a combo, longer=cooler).
Assuming you have 3m coils (cool the beer by up to 7C) and 6m coils (cool the beer by up to 15C) you should route your ales through the shorter coils and lager through the longer coils. This would result in say, 5C for your lager and 12C for your ale.
If the ambient temperature where your kegs are stored is 18C then a glycol bath of 3C should theoretically allow for the full 15C cooling. I’d go at least a couple of degrees lower because there are always losses. You can adjust the setting up or down based on your own temperature measurements from there.
If you want to take the glycol bath below 0C you should add monopropylene glycol (food-grade antifreeze) to the water in your glycol bath. There are tables on-line that tell you what ratios are needed, I use 40/60 glycol/water which allows me to go to -20C.
Wow fantastic reply very informative thank you. The ice bath is just water I’ve had the cooler working with the stat controller bypassed,it brings the beer temp down nicely to a nice temp for bitter and mild but I don’t like the idea of leaving it running without some control. I will try at 0 degs as a start point with a couple of degs differential and a 5 min compressor delay. For future I will look into the glycol idea thank you again for the info cheers,ged
