It would be much nicer if you could control the pump separately, so the cooler can keep your glycol cold and pump cold glycol when needed.
Your calculations are correct.
The integrator winded up, because your proportional settings were not doing the trick so it needed to compensate with the integrator. The integrator will not wind up if your cooler is already maximally on, even though it is slow…
@Elco , i would agree with Elco.
I’m currently experiemnting with a Maxi 110 from Cornelius.
there is a small reservoir, with an integrated tap line pump, and a spiral inside. I connected the fermenters spiral’s pump to the spiral of the tap line cooler, and only ran the pump when needed. i tried using the tap pump, but i ended up disabling it and let the reservoir freeze up.
this worked really well and I can even cold crash beers now.
I am trading this one in for a Maxi 310, since it has a higher cooler capacity and 2 sp-irals, since i have 2 fermenters…
The BrewPi is doing what it is supposed to do again. Temperature regulation as precise as the thermometer allows:
The cooler is running about 3-4 times per hour for about 5-10 minutes.
What advantages do you expect by only controlling the pump? The liquid is cooled so fast with these coolers I don’t know if it really makes sense to keep the glycol temperature down.
I would see and advantage… I have 1 TAp Cooler with double spiral… so I can run 2 of these fermenters on a single tap cooler…
True. But no advantage in my use case.
so all the credits go to Chixxi for his ideas…
but this is how far I got;
2 fermenters connected to a Gamko cooler. the water (54 liter) inside the Gamko is kept at 1 degrees and there is a 12 meter long stainless steel coil in each of them through which i can pump water and then through the stainless steel coil of the fermenter.
there is a pump in the Gamko to rotate the water, and a possibility for an additional line to cool something else 
my tests so far have proven it’s extremely easy to keep the liquid in both fermenters chilled, i can actually keep both of them at 3.5 degrees celsius
I know ss brewtech will release a big glycol chiller and some Brite tanks as well, perhaps I’ll upgrade in a year or so… till then i’m a happy camper
Looks like an impressive setup! No need for credits, I like when my ideas are succesfully used by others 
i actually finished it this weekend
added some coolboxes for the water storage so I would not loose any temperature there… it was hot over the weekend, around 25 to 27 degrees outside, Gamko managed to get the fermenters from 20 degrees to 8 degrees and 1.5 hours…
so yeah I’m happy.
For some reason I don’t get the purpose of the coolboxes 
Patrick, I guess it is the desired power to cool down 12°C in 90min (stored cooling energy)? In my setup I def. dont’t manage to cool that quick but is it really necessary to cool down so fast?
My setup anyhow is much less sophisticated, I’m also using a similar Python cooler. I have removed the big stirrer-pump, using instead a small silentless 5W circulation pump is sufficient (running all the time). And then there is space to isolate the cover of the water basin to save energy.
It finally works smooth in a fridge-like setup, Two stage regulation keeps beertemp within resolution of the sensor (+/- 0.1°C) even when having cooling cycles more than 30min. I guess thats what you’re also having or had?
I have to admit that when cold crashing / storing to beertemp below 2°C you have to take care not to get a thick layer of ice a the top of the cooler. Anomalies of water will show temp around 1.5°C when measuring at the bottem and already building a thick layer at the top. Placing inflow and outlet of the at the top of the basin should avoid this.
I once made a quick experiment with glycol but I was not having enough glycol and then you get a daiquiri-like thick thing which blocks the pump.
Offtopic: When is your next session to come over to assist a bit?
Cheers, Andy
Hey Andy.
I don’t manage to get a cooling rate of 12°C within 90 minutes. My setup is about 7°C per 90 minutes. I don’t really know if the cooling rate needs to be so hight. When cold crashing a keg in the fridge I was not even getting 2°C per hour, so I suppose almost all of the non-proffesional setups are below that rate. The beer gets very without any clearing agents at all, so I don’t see a problem.
Most of the liquid coolers are capable of building ice and even have an ice bank mode. When I coldcrash I get some ice too, but not on the surface, rather around the coils from the compressor in the liquid, I guess this is due to the stirer.
I have no clue when my next session will be. I will let you know. Tomorrow I will be here, offering my beer. If you got time come visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/478379249014686/
A new SS Brewtech Glycol-chiller: http://www.ssbrewtech.com/collections/accessories/products/glycol-chiller-1-3-hp
Looks interesting, but not cheap…
nice has anyone reviewed that unit yet?
not that I know… they only added it to the store a few days ago I believe… waiting for the 220 volt version… also waiting for the Brite tanks and will combine them in 1 go…
but the concept of it being powerfull enough to forgo a CFC and directly cooldown in the chiller… I’m thinking of doing that since I believe the Gamko has enough power for it… but will be interesting.
not sure what the customization of this unit is but this is the glycol unit. Probably can just buy direct and save $100
http://rapidswholesale.com/3-gal-glycol-unit-1-3-hp-120v.html?gclid=CL6LpMqS-MwCFZNgfgod1AQDdg
I am patiently awaiting the fix for glycol control to purchase the brew pi. I’m running 2 SS Brewtech brew buckets with FTSS and a Bru gear 14 gal conical with cooling coil lid. Pumps are controlled with the temp controllers to switch on pumps to circulate 29F glycol (in the picture it had heated up to 31F) when temp raises beyond set point. It’s a micromatic 1/3 HP glycol unit with 5 gal glycol reservoir. Would love to control all this with the brewpi.
Any update on the Glycol control? I’m considering to buy a BrewPi and would like to know the current status controlling the Glycol temp with the BrewPi as well.
there should not be a problem there…
what I’ve done is I’ve placed a temp probe in my glycol tank and called this “fridge temp” and I added a thermowell temp sensor inside my fermenter.( I use a couple of SS Brewtech Chronicals btw…) .
i then just reused the SS Brewtech Chiller coil with pump, and the SS Brewtech heater pad and attached that via a MOSFET Board (i used this one http://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4-Channel-4-Route-MOSFET-Button-IRF540-V2-0-MOSFET-Switch-Module/32445180883.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.67.ra3wtF ) to switch them on and off via digital 1 and 2.
then I added everything to Brewpi, set it to beer constant mode, so that the glycol temp is a nice to see, and then you have to change the KP values… but @elco can give you a better advise there…
for me, this works perfectly. brewpi runs the pump when i needed cooling, and runs the heater pad when I need heat…
That sounds great, thanks. Forgive my ignorance though, as I’m new to this type of hardware. But are you using the MOSFET Board in stead of the SSR’s?
correct!
the SSR is for AC, the pump uses DC. if you have a glycol pump that uses AC you could use a SSR. what kind of glycol pump are you trying to control?
