We have been having problems with our tanks not getting down to the correct temperature. I am certainly not a refrigeration expert, but I will try to explain our problem the best I can.
We have 4, 20 bbl fermenting tanks, and one 15 bbl bright tank. We have a 5ton chiller located on our rooftop that chill's our glycol. We have a stainless steel vessel located in the brewhouse that holds our glycol. That is where the pump is located as well. Right now we have our glycol diluted to 33% propylene glycol, and 66% water. I did not do the original mixing of the solution, but any suggestions on mixing ratios would be helpful. Can I measure my current mixture by taking a brix reading on the solution?
Our main problem right now is that we cannot get our bright tank cold enough. Our glycol reading on the rooftop chiller can read as high as 40F sometimes, and I know we need it at preferrably the upper 20's. Apparently our chiller should be able to handle the load. We have had refrigeration people come out here recently to check out our system and they claim everything is working properly. Any Suggestions Anyone???
Important Note: Our bright tank is not so good. It had some addition weld work done and the glycol does not flow freely in one direction, and all of our tnaks are NOT double jacketed. I know this also has an affect on our product getting down the the desired temperature for bottling. I would like my beer to be as cold as possible, and we can't even get fully carbonated beer into bottles right now. We have dried ice baths and even dryice, but the beer is at 45F and just won't go into bottles.
Could it be our glycol mixture is off? Can our 5 ton chiller handle this load? What could be causing our glycol NOT to get below 38. I've seen it only once get into the lower 30's / upper 20's. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Jon Christiansen
Joseph James Brewing Company
Henderson, NV
We have 4, 20 bbl fermenting tanks, and one 15 bbl bright tank. We have a 5ton chiller located on our rooftop that chill's our glycol. We have a stainless steel vessel located in the brewhouse that holds our glycol. That is where the pump is located as well. Right now we have our glycol diluted to 33% propylene glycol, and 66% water. I did not do the original mixing of the solution, but any suggestions on mixing ratios would be helpful. Can I measure my current mixture by taking a brix reading on the solution?
Our main problem right now is that we cannot get our bright tank cold enough. Our glycol reading on the rooftop chiller can read as high as 40F sometimes, and I know we need it at preferrably the upper 20's. Apparently our chiller should be able to handle the load. We have had refrigeration people come out here recently to check out our system and they claim everything is working properly. Any Suggestions Anyone???
Important Note: Our bright tank is not so good. It had some addition weld work done and the glycol does not flow freely in one direction, and all of our tnaks are NOT double jacketed. I know this also has an affect on our product getting down the the desired temperature for bottling. I would like my beer to be as cold as possible, and we can't even get fully carbonated beer into bottles right now. We have dried ice baths and even dryice, but the beer is at 45F and just won't go into bottles.
Could it be our glycol mixture is off? Can our 5 ton chiller handle this load? What could be causing our glycol NOT to get below 38. I've seen it only once get into the lower 30's / upper 20's. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Jon Christiansen
Joseph James Brewing Company
Henderson, NV
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