Glycol questions

[obts000]

Is there a practical difference between "food-grade" glycol and "automotive-grade" for a home installation (i.e., one without city inspectors)?

What is the proper glycol/water mix?

Is it possible to control the pump speed on the 1/3 hp power pack to reduce power usage? I only have a 25 foot run and it seems like it shouldn't need to move as much coolent as with a longer run.

Thanks,
Scott Erie

"Now son, you don't want to drink beer. That's for Daddys, and kids with fake IDs." - Homer J. Simpson

[Lou Marconi]

obts,

I am very new to a glycol home system and have one through a recent vacation home purchase. I have researched it as much as I could but do not know if there is really a difference between the food-grade and automotive grade glycol other than the price. The food grade does not seem to be "fatal if swallowed" and there is no major warnings on the label. I recall the automotive grades of antifreeze being poisonous. I went with the food grade because it just seemed to be appropriate and safer. I paid about $30.00 for a gallon and mixed it with a gallon of water.

I also have 1/3 hp pump that is moving the glycol through a 15 foot vertical line but my system is not a professional power pack, just a submersible pump. It is not perfect but I get good results as long as the pump does stay on for more than an hour at a time. If so it begins to heat up the glycol even though the whole setup is in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. I turn it off for about a half an hour for each hour it is running and that seems to be okay.

Good luck with yours

Lou

[Scott Zuhse]

Ethylene glycol is poisonous and should never be used in a food zone. Propylene glycol is a food grade anti freeze and is appropriate for use in glycol systems.

To acquire an ideal freeze point, mix glycol two parts water to one part glycol.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[Scott Zuhse]

Ethylene glycol is poisonous and should never be used in a food zone. Propylene glycol is a food grade anti freeze and is appropriate for use in glycol systems.

To acquire an ideal freeze point, mix glycol two parts water to one part glycol. Contact the power pack manufacturer for specifications on power usage.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[Ohaodha]

I have a glycol question and could use some help figuring this out. I have a keg fridge with an insulated beer line out the top with a 5-6 foot unrefrigerated but insulated run to a tower faucet. As the temperature gets warmer the foam in my keg increases. I have narrowed to cause down to the line as the first beer I pull is foamy and if I pull a second immediately after, it is not. Let the keg sit for 10 minutes and you get 3-4 inches of foam again. All this tells me that I need to refrigerate my lines.

I have looked on this site for ideas on how to do this but when I built my bar I made the tolerances very tight so anything I do must fit in a small space. The beer line runs out the top of the kegerator and makes a 90 degree turn, follows a channel to the edge of the kegerator, through an opening, across about 3 ft undercounter, then up to the tower though an opening in my bar.

I am looking for suggestions and ideas of how to accomplish this feat. I am interested in putting a glycol system and while your cooled beer lines look good, spending $900 on a pump for one beer at 5-6 feet is out of the question. Someone once suggested an aquarium pump in a chamber in the fridge with glycol alcohol. Would this work? Can you give me any specifications for pump and tubing types? Would the container need to be glass or will plastic do?

[joeyD]

quote:Originally posted by Ohaodha

I have a glycol question and could use some help figuring this out. I have a keg fridge with an insulated beer line out the top with a 5-6 foot unrefrigerated but insulated run to a tower faucet. As the temperature gets warmer the foam in my keg increases. I have narrowed to cause down to the line as the first beer I pull is foamy and if I pull a second immediately after, it is not. Let the keg sit for 10 minutes and you get 3-4 inches of foam again. All this tells me that I need to refrigerate my lines.

I have looked on this site for ideas on how to do this but when I built my bar I made the tolerances very tight so anything I do must fit in a small space. The beer line runs out the top of the kegerator and makes a 90 degree turn, follows a channel to the edge of the kegerator, through an opening, across about 3 ft undercounter, then up to the tower though an opening in my bar.

I am looking for suggestions and ideas of how to accomplish this feat. I am interested in putting a glycol system and while your cooled beer lines look good, spending $900 on a pump for one beer at 5-6 feet is out of the question. Someone once suggested an aquarium pump in a chamber in the fridge with glycol alcohol. Would this work? Can you give me any specifications for pump and tubing types? Would the container need to be glass or will plastic do?

[Scott Zuhse]

There is a reason that the existing systems that are available cost so much. They work. No clue as to whether alcohol / water bath pumped with a aquarium pump would work. Only one way to find out.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[John Rios]

The main difference is that the food grade gylcol is made to be used as a "winterizer" in potable water lines such as those in RV's and Marine or boats or in our case, in systems which will be used near food products such as around beer lines in a insulated and wrapped trunk. As Scott Zuhse states, Ethlene glycol is poisionous and should not be used and Propylene Glycol can be used in a food zone. I always recommend using the appropriate manufacture's recommeded brand and ratio mix since the manufactures warranty for all systems is usually tied in to proper grade and brand usage of glycol. Granted the price may be high but lets not forget that the system was engineered using that particular glycol. Hopes this helps.

[Scott Zuhse]

Do not confuse RV antifreeze with the propylene glycol used in remote beer systems. RV antifreeze is designed to be static and not circulated during use. Normally this product is already diluted. Glycol used in beer systems should be of a grade that is designed to be continuously circulated hydronically while inhibiting growth such as bacteria.

[darck1]

Originally Posted by Scott Zuhse

There is a reason that the existing systems that are available cost so much. They work. No clue as to whether alcohol / water bath pumped with a aquarium pump would work. Only one way to find out.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

Unfortunately... not everybody has the wherewithal to spend that kinda dough on a home system. I only wish somebody would post a "home glycol system" that worked. Length of run, how much glycol, what pump they used... all that sort of thing.