Ask The Brewmasters

Hello Forumites, 

I came across this item, and we are looking into the feasibility of this. The theory sounds great, reducing our vaporization electrical use to 0 kWh, but I have never heard of this tech, never seen it in a brewery. Does anyone out there have any familiarity with this? Product info here. 

We could get some incentives on this project, both grants and utility rebates, which makes it even more attractive.  

Cheers,

Travis
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Travis Hixon
Director of Continuous Improvement/Operations
Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago IL
travis.hixon@halfacrebeer.com
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I've been looking into this myself.  Pentair sells one and includes them standard with their CO2 recapture systems to offset the massive energy required to convert the CO2 into liquid.  From the research I've done it looks like a no brainer if your Bulk CO2 is in close proximity to your glycol chiller.  If not, the process piping can be prohibitively expensive to pull off.  Essentially your glycol return piping gets rerouted to a shell and tube heat exchanger at your bulk CO2 outlet to vaporize the liquid CO2.  The glycol is your warming medium for the heat exchanger and then returns to glycol reservoir about 6 degrees cooler than it would otherwise.

It does almost seem too good to be true so I'd also be interested in hearing some first hand accounts from people that have used them.  There is a testimonial from Founders Brewing in Pentairs literature on their unit that claims something like a 6 month ROI from Alec Mull when he was working there.

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Jason Weihbrecht
GM of Brewery Operations
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC
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Thanks, Jason. Yes, this is a Pentair unit. And our bulk tank and chiller are about 5' apart max. This thing could slide right in between or at one end with a tiny footprint. Could you send a link to Alec's testimonial? I haven't seen that. He may have been on a larger (different) model, although the theory is the same, the one on Pentair's main website is a different design than the one in the link above (Pentair/Union). The main difference I see is the former (ReVap) looks like it uses plate and frame HEXs while the latter utilizes a tube and shell design. 

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Travis Hixon
Director of Continuous Improvement/Operations
Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago IL
travis.hixon@halfacrebeer.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2024 13:58
From: Jason Weihbrecht
Subject: Glycol heated CO2 vaporizer

I've been looking into this myself.  Pentair sells one and includes them standard with their CO2 recapture systems to offset the massive energy required to convert the CO2 into liquid.  From the research I've done it looks like a no brainer if your Bulk CO2 is in close proximity to your glycol chiller.  If not, the process piping can be prohibitively expensive to pull off.  Essentially your glycol return piping gets rerouted to a shell and tube heat exchanger at your bulk CO2 outlet to vaporize the liquid CO2.  The glycol is your warming medium for the heat exchanger and then returns to glycol reservoir about 6 degrees cooler than it would otherwise.

It does almost seem too good to be true so I'd also be interested in hearing some first hand accounts from people that have used them.  There is a testimonial from Founders Brewing in Pentairs literature on their unit that claims something like a 6 month ROI from Alec Mull when he was working there.

------------------------------
Jason Weihbrecht
GM of Brewery Operations
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC
------------------------------

I attached a PDF from an info packet that Pentair shared with me that has a short testimonial from Alec.  He's no longer with Founders, but it may be worth trying to connect with him to hear about his experience with the technology first hand.

------------------------------
Jason Weihbrecht
GM of Brewery Operations
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2024 18:00
From: Travis Hixon
Subject: Glycol heated CO2 vaporizer

Thanks, Jason. Yes, this is a Pentair unit. And our bulk tank and chiller are about 5' apart max. This thing could slide right in between or at one end with a tiny footprint. Could you send a link to Alec's testimonial? I haven't seen that. He may have been on a larger (different) model, although the theory is the same, the one on Pentair's main website is a different design than the one in the link above (Pentair/Union). The main difference I see is the former (ReVap) looks like it uses plate and frame HEXs while the latter utilizes a tube and shell design. 

------------------------------
Travis Hixon
Director of Continuous Improvement/Operations
Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago IL
travis.hixon@halfacrebeer.com
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2024 13:58
From: Jason Weihbrecht
Subject: Glycol heated CO2 vaporizer

I've been looking into this myself.  Pentair sells one and includes them standard with their CO2 recapture systems to offset the massive energy required to convert the CO2 into liquid.  From the research I've done it looks like a no brainer if your Bulk CO2 is in close proximity to your glycol chiller.  If not, the process piping can be prohibitively expensive to pull off.  Essentially your glycol return piping gets rerouted to a shell and tube heat exchanger at your bulk CO2 outlet to vaporize the liquid CO2.  The glycol is your warming medium for the heat exchanger and then returns to glycol reservoir about 6 degrees cooler than it would otherwise.

It does almost seem too good to be true so I'd also be interested in hearing some first hand accounts from people that have used them.  There is a testimonial from Founders Brewing in Pentairs literature on their unit that claims something like a 6 month ROI from Alec Mull when he was working there.

------------------------------
Jason Weihbrecht
GM of Brewery Operations
Oskar Blues Brewery
Brevard NC

Greetings Travis,

I caught your forum thread about the Pentair glycol-heated CO2 vaporizer. You hit the nail on the head-when a bulk tank and chiller are practically side-by-side like yours are, the economics of this technology make total sense.

If you are still trying to determine if the tech is "too good to be true" or need data for your grant applications, I can help you through a free consultation to model the exact savings. We just need three quick variables to run the numbers:

CO2 evaporation rate (per day or per month).

Peak CO2 consumption during evaporation.

Current electricity cost for glycol cooling ($/kWh) or your chiller nameplate specs.

This lets us correctly size the unit and map out your exact energy offset. We have active user references for these vaporizers and can help you confirm the real-world performance.

Please see my contact information.

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SANTIAGO
CÁRDENAS DELGADO
Brewery Innovation Consultant
707 Thomas Drive Bensenville, Illinois, 60106
+1 224 591 2621
sales@rovi-us.com
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Not sure if you're still looking into this, but for what it's worth we at Deschutes Brewery use a glycol heated CO2 vaporizer and it's pretty awesome.  I'm not familiar with the Pentair unit, pretty sure we designed our system in house a few months before I started in 2018.  So while I cannot vouch for the Pentair system, I can say the technology works well.

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David McClung
Deschutes Brewery
(541) 385-8606
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David, 

Thanks for the input. We ran a study on this with our electricity supplier for a custom rebate project, but unfortunately the current electric heater was not running enough to go forward with that. They measured the chiller kWh as well, and just didn't think the savings would warrant it. That is particular to our setup. I agree it is a cool technology, and fundamentally fairly simple; mostly just a passive tube and shell HX with some controls. At your size, I'm not surprised you made your own; I am surprised it isn't more common in the industry.

Cheers,

Travis 

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Travis Hixon
Director of Operations
Half Acre Beer Co.
travis.hixon@halfacrebeer.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-08-2026 13:29
From: David McClung
Subject: Glycol heated CO2 vaporizer

Not sure if you're still looking into this, but for what it's worth we at Deschutes Brewery use a glycol heated CO2 vaporizer and it's pretty awesome.  I'm not familiar with the Pentair unit, pretty sure we designed our system in house a few months before I started in 2018.  So while I cannot vouch for the Pentair system, I can say the technology works well.

------------------------------
David McClung
Deschutes Brewery
(541) 385-8606
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