I have a SS Brewtech glycol chiller and I power it off when I’m between brews. Now I’m wondering should it be permanently on and keeping the glycol in the reservoir chilled. Any thoughts on best practices?
I also turn mine off between brews. Which is 30 days ± My opinion is that by turning it off it will increase its longevity. Also, you don’t have to keep the glycol chilled, shelf stable product.
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Cheers, I have always done the same but then had doubts
If you have an SS Brewtech glycol chiller, that thing is on borrowed time as it is. They spend all their money on marketing, no customer service, and do not have any stateside inventory of replacement parts other than a few basic components. Their equipment that doesn’t have any moving or electrical parts (fermenters and kettles) have poor quality components that fail regularly - now consider something as complicated as a glycol chiller. I’m sure they gave the manufacturing bid to the lowest bidder - that uses the cheapest components. I know 10s of people that have these things fail after < 5 years. Best of luck to you with yours. Mine’s a boat anchor now.
What fails on them? Just wondering if it’s something easy to fix or a compressor?
The sealed system develops leaks - probably due to cheaper materials, bad craftsmanship in the brazing, or minimal (if any) vibration abatement. It wouldn’t surprise me if the compressors didn’t last long, either. As you can probably tell, my opinion on SS Brewtech isn’t as shiny as the polish on their kettles. I really wanted to like them because all their marketing was so slick, and the prices were decent. But now I will go out of my way to support any other vendors that actually support their customers after the purchase, even if I have to pay a bit more. SS Brewtech has left me high and dry on more than 3 occasions - having to either fix their stuff myself or find third party components that work with theirs. I do agree that their mash tun design is legendary and nobody has anything like it at our scale. I only hope it lasts long enough for their patent to run out so someone else can make a better one (and support it after the sale).
Thanks. I’m pretty good at fixing things, but that’s a lot of issues!
Well that write up doesn’t fill me with confidence! I have 3 of their fermentors and the glycol chiller. Had them for five plus years with no issues but fingers crossed
I’ve had one of their small “tabletop” glycol chillers for 6 years now and not a single problem - still going strong. I’ve also had a 14 gal Unitank for about as long and no problems with that either.
As for turning off the chiller between brews, I set mine to 60F when not in use but I have no real good reason why. Just seemed better than letting it warm up to my garage temperature especially when it can get pretty warm in a So Cal summer.
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