Number of fermenters on DIY glycol chiller

[BrewRunning]

I’ve been thinking about building one of the DIY Glycol chillers. If I build it using a 5,000 BTU A/C how many 14 gal SS Brewtech Unitanks could I expect to to ferment off of it?

How does a 5,000 BTU DIY unit compare to a 1/5, 3/8, or 3/4 HP SS Brewtech chiller?

Thanks for any input!

 

[Bobby_M]

It's hard to compare DIY against a commercial chiller. Those who successfully made a DIY wouldn't buy the commercial one to have contrasting experience. It's also going to depend on the average ambient temps in the room as well as plans for cold crashing and the like. My 5kBTU DIY has a 3.5 gallon tank on it and I maintain 26F most of the time. When I cold crash two 7 gallon unitanks at the same time, the AC will start up and run about 2 minutes on, 10 minutes off (10 is my time delay). In any case, it recovers very quickly so I couldn't imagine needing a bigger unit. Granted, this is in a 75F room, not a garage in summer.

 

[BrewRunning]

So would a bigger sized cooler equal more efficiency for multiple fermenters?