Brewery Maintenance

[Brew49411]

So, this brewer calls me and tells me that his fermentors aren't cooling down past 38-40 degree range and sometimes not even that far. He said that in his transfers, he can only crank it down to like 78 degrees.

My response was to have him check his glycol chiller and see what its set point was. Maybe the glycol needed to be changed, it was low, or something physically was wrong with the chiller. Other than solenoids on the fermentors, I can't think of anything else that could cause this. (But those wouldn't have control over the heat exchanger). Any suggestions????? Its so hard to troubleshoot when you aren't right in front of the equipment!

[bigdogbrewer]

My tank temps start rising when the "Y" strainer trap on the return line is clogged. This slows down the flow rate of gylcol, because the return flow is restricted no matter what the temperature set point is.

It could be other things, but this is a simple check.

There is a good refrigeration section on the website which is helpful