Cooling a fermenter jacket with city water
We recommend glycol for fermenter cooling. If you want to use city water anyway, you need a pressure regulator set to 5 psi or less. It isn't included with our water kits.
Why you need a regulator
The cooling jacket on every Unitank, including the one in every BräuPro, is rated to 5 psi. Household water usually runs at 40 to 80 psi. Without a regulator, city water pressure can damage the jacket.
What to buy
Use a Watts water pressure regulator set to about 5 psi:
- Watts LF560, 1/4", for the 8, 13 and 26 gal Unitank and the BräuPro 5–20 gal. It supplies about 10 liters (2.5 US gal) per minute, plenty for holding fermentation temperature.
- Watts LF263A, 1/2", the low-pressure version (0–25 psi) with a 0–25 psi gauge, for the 1 BBL or when you want more flow. It supplies about 25 liters (7 US gal) per minute.
Plumbing suppliers carry both. Brewha sells them ready to use with 1.5" tri-clamp connectors. If you buy a bare regulator, add a low-range gauge (0–25 psi) and fittings to suit your hoses. Don't use an RV or garden-hose regulator: most only go down to 25–40 psi.
Not sure what to buy? Email us a photo of your setup and we'll help.
How to install it
- Install the regulator on the supply line, before the jacket inlet, with the arrow on its body pointing toward the fermenter.
- Connect the supply line of our water connection kit to the regulator's outlet. Don't connect it to the fermenter yet.
- Put a valve on the end of the supply line and open it slightly so trapped air can escape. Open the tap slowly and set the regulator to about 5 psi, never more. The gauge may read nothing until there is some back pressure. Then close the tap.
- Connect the supply line to the jacket inlet (through the solenoid valve) and run the return line from the jacket outlet to a drain.
- Keep the ball valve on the jacket outlet fully open, and never fit anything that restricts the outlet. Use an outlet hose at least as large as the inlet hose.
- Open the tap slowly and check every connection for leaks.
Before you rely on it
- City water only cools when it's colder than your fermentation temperature. It works for ales at 60–70°F (16–21°C) in many places, but not for lagers, cold crashing, or summer in warm climates.
- On a BräuPro, drain the jacket before the boil. A full jacket pulls heat away from the element.
- Every cooling cycle sends tap water down the drain.
- Check your local plumbing code. Many areas require a backflow preventer, such as a hose bib vacuum breaker, on any hose connected to drinking water.
The better option: glycol
A glycol chiller recirculates its own coolant at low pressure, holds any temperature including lager and cold-crash temperatures, and wastes no water. See our glycol chillers and use the sizing calculator to pick one.