Doubling Down: SS Brewtech Conical + FTSS + Glycol Power Pack

[martianpc]

I just moved a 12 gallon batch of a Czech pilsner lager to kegs, second keg only filled about 4 gallons. I couldn't imagine I took that many samples but nothing else was coming so not sure what I did wrong. Just opened up the fermenter to clean it for the next batch, the coils have a massive Frozen block around them. I'll have to check my gravity on the beer I kegged because it must be stronger than I thought. I've been using my own homemade glycol cooler which seems to work great. However I really don't know what I could have done that would have made it freeze so bad. I obviously have the temperature too cold for the glycol bath. However when I was trying to lager at 32 with the glycol at 29 it wasn't getting there. So I dropped the temperature to somewhere between 15 and 20 for the glycol. I have no idea how to improve this because the unitank isn't well enough insulated to lager at 32 with a just slightly cooler glycol. I see this as a major shortcoming of this fermenter now and definitely a warning to all to make sure you're keeping an eye on your temperature and beer for ice if you're using glycol.

 

[Morrey]

It doesn't look like you have an insulator jacket on your tank and I think you'll be well served to invest in the neoprene jacket Ss produces for your tank.

I use a Penguin glycol chiller with 33% glycol in the mix set at 28F in the chiller. When I crash the beer to 35F, my system brings temps down with no issues.

I use a Ss FTSs2 system (includes neoprene insulating jacket) to control the fermenter temps, and of course the Penguin has it's own controller to set temps for the glycol mix set at 28F as mentioned above. Looks like something is a bit off balance with your system in that beer with a typical ABV% generally doesn't freeze until it gets down to or a bit below 30F. The "stronger" a beer is with a higher ABV%, means the freeze point goes down as the alcohol content goes up.


If you crash your beer to 35F that is generally a safe zone, gets the beer to clear and flocculate, and is typically a temp most brewers feel will be satisfactory w/o risk of freezing.

 

[martianpc]

It doesn't look like you have an insulator jacket on your tank and I think you'll be well served to invest in the neoprene jacket Ss produces for your tank.

I use a Penguin glycol chiller with 33% glycol in the mix set at 28F in the chiller. When I crash the beer to 35F, my system brings temps down with no issues.

I use a Ss FTSs2 system (includes neoprene insulating jacket) to control the fermenter temps, and of course the Penguin has it's own controller to set temps for the glycol mix set at 28F as mentioned above. Looks like something is a bit off balance with your system in that beer with a typical ABV% generally doesn't freeze until it gets down to or a bit below 30F. The "stronger" a beer is with a higher ABV%, means the freeze point goes down as the alcohol content goes up.


If you crash your beer to 35F that is generally a safe zone, gets the beer to clear and flocculate, and is typically a temp most brewers feel will be satisfactory w/o risk of freezing.

I do have the neoprene jacket

 

[czmkid]

I crash to 35 as well and sometimes hold for weeks and condition in the unitank if all of my kegs are full and that has never happened. On another note I am brewing two easy drinking Mexican lagers....with one in the tank chugging away at 53.5 degrees now.

Crazy shot with the ic echunk bro....guess you made some of that old school ‘ice’ beer

 

[prosperbrews]

I just finished my first brew using the unitank - a German hef. I originally thought that a single 7g fermenter would do the trick, but it looks like I’ll be needing a second unitank to keep up with demand and keep all 6 taps full.

Question is, do I get a second 7g, which would give me the flexibility to do two different 5 gal batches or a 10 gal batch split between 2. Or, for 200$ more, I could just get the 14 gal unitank, which allows the flexibility to do a full 10 gal batch while only preparing and sanitizing a single fermenter and having a total capacity to ferment 15 gallons at a time.

My only concern with the 14g is that it seems a bit large. Right now I can easily clean the 7’s in my sink. With the 14, I’d probably have to go CIP. Surely I’m not the only one to go through this thought process...interested in others opinions

 

[Morrey]

I was asking your same questions this time last year. My first tank was a 14G and brewing double batches of 11G was good for making 2 kegs holding 5G each. My intention would be to also use this tank to brew half batches so I'd only need this one tank. Once I found that only 30% of the cooling coils in a 14G tank reached the wort and cooling problems could exist if I wanted to do a half batch in the 14G tank, my hopes of half batches diminished. I bought a 7G to solve this followed by another 7G for flexibility. I use CIP for all and love CIP once I started using my Harbor Freight sump pump with a micro CIP ball.

Making 2 kegs (5G kegs) of the same beer from the 14G tank is great, but unless you burn thru a hoppy beer more quickly than I do, the beer tends to fade by the end of keg two. This is where I use the 7G tank for a single keg and don't want that second keg sitting around too long. I like the big tank to brew Lagers, English Bitters and Stouts where aging is a good thing and not detrimental to the beer.

Rumor has it that Ss will be introducing longer coils for their tanks that allow efficient cooling for smaller batches in larger tanks, but I haven't looked too closely at that yet. You may want to check on that to make sure, and a 14G tank that can also do half batches effectively may be worth your consideration.

I totally understand your need for additional tanks...ask my SWMBO, grumble, grumble.

 

[czmkid]

Myself as well. In the end I went with two smaller unitanks because really how many times do I brew a double 10 gal batch? Having said that I just did this past weekend hahaha. I have 12 taps and these 2 keep my kegs filled. Sure would be nice to have two more

About Ss, it only makes sense that they would offer an extension solution for the coil. Seems like a no brainer and good way to move the higher priced 14 gal uni for those brewers who have the same question as well all did.

On another note.....anyone see the monster glycol cart chiller they put up yesterday. Only a few hundred more and you can chill 6 of something!

https://www.ssbrewtech.com/products/glycol-chiller-3-8hp

 

[Tozzi]

anyone see the monster glycol cart chiller they put up yesterday

Yea, that's the one they just made available in Europe, too. Finally.
Can't wait to finally get my hands on this. Ordered a 2nd 1/2 BBL Unitank alongside.
They're already shipping here. Mine is underway.

What I don't like about the smaller fermenters (7 Gal) is that they have only 3 legs.
That's asking for desaster. I'd always go for at least the 14 Gal. Version, as its cost is only slightly higher.
But I get it, for split batches and such these are a little oversized.
I so far didn't have any problems cooling 7 Gal batches in the larger ones, however.

 

[czmkid]

So cool (pun intended) you got one on the way and another tank! I brought up the same fact that I wish they would have had 4 legs and not 3 a few pages back. All the butterfly bling on the front makes it heavy on one side. I have been toying with welding a counterweight on the back side of the bottom plate. That might help? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the new chiller.

Yea, that's the one they just made available in Europe, too. Finally.
Can't wait to finally get my hands on this. Ordered a 2nd 1/2 BBL Unitank alongside.
They're already shipping here. Mine is underway.

What I don't like about the smaller fermenters (7 Gal) is that they have only 3 legs.
That's asking for desaster. I'd always go for at least the 14 Gal. Version, as its cost is only slightly higher.
But I get it, for split batches and such these are a little oversized.
I so far didn't have any problems cooling 7 Gal batches in the larger ones, however.

 

[Tozzi]

Yea I'll report. I'm enthusiastic about it. I was completely taken by surprise, they suddenly became available, no pre-order, no announcements whatsoever. It's already on its way from UK and I'll probably be able to unbox it by Monday.
Got the GF one a few weeks ago and felt happy but I can already tell it's not really up to the task, as it has only 6 Liters of reservoir, while the new Ss Brewtech model has got 37 (10 Gallons), at a just 300 bucks higher price tag.
Being able to cold crash at 32F is mandatory for me, which, I can already tell, would take forever with the GF Chiller.
Also, chilling the wort from ~45˚C to pitching temp will be very nice-to-have, using the built-in sleeve chiller of my Braumeister 50 Plus and leaving the Therminator on the shelf.
I'm happy and will sell the GF Chiller as soon as I get the Ss one.

I'll post a little review here as soon as I get my hands on it.

//EDIT:
And yea, the 3 legs make these things really unbalanced.
One of my 7 Gal. Chronicals was already very close to disaster once. Luckily a friend with good reflexes was around at the time. In my opinion, this is a serious design flaw.

 

[marjen]

SO I have to say the combination of the unitank + the glycol chiller has really gone a long way to helping me with my brewing. I start a little over a year ago. I started off ok and made a few real good beers out of the gate. Then things went south quickly and good batches became rare. I had no idea what the issue was, thought it was all sorts of things. It got to the point that by mid November I stopped until mid February just to try and regroup as I felt it was not worth the effort, time and money to just be dumping the beer.

I now realize it was simply the hops not dropping out of the beer and thus when I tried to drink these batches they were terrible and full of hop sludge. No idea why batches drop at such different rates. Not knowing that was really the issue I was not able to take steps to correct it. I suppose if I had waited a lot longer to transfer to keg it might have helped, but NE IPAs also have a short shelf life so leaving them in the fermenter for weeks would not really help their cause any.

My first batch this year started out the same way. Beer was at FG for several days but still tasted horrible. In comes the chiller to save the day. After a couple days of cold crashing it was a totally different story. Beer was not murky green it was a nice yellow/orange haze and started tasting great. With the chiller I have consistently been able to crash the beers to force the hops out of suspension and thus so far this year I have 4 straight good to great batches of beer. Each one seems to get better as now I that I fixed my big problem its down to tweaking things here and there to try and improve the beer. It also has allowed me to pretty consistently turn beers around in a similar time line. I did have one batch that was a little slow, but it still turned out great.

Additionally starting the carbonation process naturally during the end of fermentation and then finishing off with the carb stone prior to transfer seems to have made a difference in the overall beer quality. Hard to explain but just seems to have a better feel than just carbing in the keg at the end.

And finally the clear beer drought system in my kegs has been another great piece. No more sludgy pours. Comes right off the top and I get great beers all the time.

NE IPAs are tough in many respects due to all the hop matter during and post completing the product but the combination of these products have really helped and now I am feeling much more confident that I can turn around a great product. Some people can make great beer in a carboy with no temp control, and the more power to them, but for me it took some help but the result is worth it.

 

[Morrey]

Well done! I know you were struggling, now glad to know things have taken a turn for the better.

 

[prosperbrews]

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone on this thread for all of the great advice so far. I am nearing the end of fermentation on my first brew using the unitank and was hoping ya'll could help me work through the final steps to get this brew into a keg.


Here's my plan (and questions):

* Cold crash to 35F for 48 hours and then do a final dump prior to carbonation
* Carbonate for 24 hours with regulator set at 20 PSI. Do I run the valve wide open on the carb stone or only partially?
* When sampling the carbonated beer, should I relieve all the pressure in the tank before pulling from the sample port?
* When transferring to a keg with carbonated beer, what pressure do you have the unitank set and and what pressure at the keg? I do have a spunding valve on the keg which is set at 15psi.
* Any other tips for a successful transfer? I'll be using a 1/2 inch barb fitting on the racking arm to a 1/4 MFL to 1/2 inch barb on the keg side.
* I assume the beer will be drinkable as soon as transferred to a keg or do I need to let it condition longer? Its a germen hef.

Thanks!

 

[Morrey]

Just wanted to say thanks again to everyone on this thread for all of the great advice so far. I am nearing the end of fermentation on my first brew using the unitank and was hoping ya'll could help me work through the final steps to get this brew into a keg.


Here's my plan (and questions):

* Cold crash to 35F for 48 hours and then do a final dump prior to carbonation
* Carbonate for 24 hours with regulator set at 20 PSI. Do I run the valve wide open on the carb stone or only partially?
* When sampling the carbonated beer, should I relieve all the pressure in the tank before pulling from the sample port?
* When transferring to a keg with carbonated beer, what pressure do you have the unitank set and and what pressure at the keg? I do have a spunding valve on the keg which is set at 15psi.
* Any other tips for a successful transfer? I'll be using a 1/2 inch barb fitting on the racking arm to a 1/4 MFL to 1/2 inch barb on the keg side.
* I assume the beer will be drinkable as soon as transferred to a keg or do I need to let it condition longer? Its a germen hef.

Thanks!

My process may be different, but the concept is basically the same:

Do a final yeast clearing dump after crashing to 35F which is an ideal temp.

Before crashing, I will have usually closed off the BO valve with a few points of gravity remaining...this will self-carbonate (or at least start carbing) the beer. Or you can totally carb with a CO2 tank and the carb stone...your choice...or a combination of both. I have used the carb stone, and the results are usually pretty quick. At 20 psi, watch closely so you don't over carb. I don't think it will take a full 24 hours, however it may, so be watchful. Gas valve wide open, CO2 valve on your tank's stone wide open. Control your process with the regulator pressure adjustment.

No need to relieve head pressure before sampling. Open slowly, foaming is likely to result.

I prepare the keg(s) by filling with sanitizer, then pushing sanitizer out with CO2. Save the sanitizer for later use, and your keg will be purged with CO2 and sanitized. Make sure to contain the CO2 in the keg by having the keg's relief valve closed. **Low foaming sanitizer like Sani-Clean is good for this application.

Bleed off head pressure if in excess of the pressure you plan to push beer with. I like to push with 5 psi (in through the BO tube), then set the spunding relief on your keg to be slightly lower...say 2 psi. Some counter pressure as in this example keeps the beer from foaming during the transfer. My 5 gallon keg holds 42.5 pounds of beer and I sit the keg on a scale to know when its full which is helpful if you have more than one keg to fill with larger tanks.

Hefe's are best served young, so enjoy right away! Good luck!!

 

[prosperbrews]

Thanks for the reply Morrey. So the keg pressure must be lower than tank pressure? Ok...how do I set my spunding valve to 2 psi? Just start the transfer and turn the knob until it gives at 2 psi?

Seems simple enough but I’ve read many people have foaming issues with carbonated transfers. Also, is it ok to use star San to sanitize and push out of the keg?

What should be the ideal pressure on regulator to ensure I don’t overcarb?

 

[Morrey]

Thanks for the reply Morrey. So the keg pressure must be lower than tank pressure? Ok...how do I set my spunding valve to 2 psi? Just start the transfer and turn the knob until it gives at 2 psi?

Seems simple enough but I’ve read many people have foaming issues with carbonated transfers. Also, is it ok to use star San to sanitize and push out of the keg?

What should be the ideal pressure on regulator to ensure I don’t overcarb?

Yes, the keg (receiving unit) must have a slightly lower pressure on it than the tank (donor unit) so flow will happen. But you want some pressure in the keg to offer resistance which will control foaming. Start the transfer and slowly open the spunding valve until you hear a faint hiss meaning beer going into the keg is pushing CO2 out of the keg slowly.

Sure, star-san works fine just creates a ton of foam. Wont hurt a thing so go for it. Next time you order beer supplies, try some sani-clean which is a low foaming sanitizer which does the same thing as star-san.

20 psi on your regulator is fine, just watch your tank's pressure gauge and stop the carbing process when you see the carb level you want....say 12 psi or 13 psi...around there. Just keep an eye on it. The other method would be to set the regulator at the pressure you want to end up at...say 12 psi and just let it carb and you'll never overshoot. Takes longer but its pretty safe...set and forget method.

 

[prosperbrews]

Yes, the keg (receiving unit) must have a slightly lower pressure on it than the tank (donor unit) so flow will happen. But you want some pressure in the keg to offer resistance which will control foaming. Start the transfer and slowly open the spunding valve until you hear a faint hiss meaning beer going into the keg is pushing CO2 out of the keg slowly.

Sure, star-san works fine just creates a ton of foam. Wont hurt a thing so go for it. Next time you order beer supplies, try some sani-clean which is a low foaming sanitizer which does the same thing as star-san.

20 psi on your regulator is fine, just watch your tank's pressure gauge and stop the carbing process when you see the carb level you want....say 12 psi or 13 psi...around there. Just keep an eye on it. The other method would be to set the regulator at the pressure you want to end up at...say 12 psi and just let it carb and you'll never overshoot. Takes longer but its pretty safe...set and forget method.

Thanks for all the great info...very helpful. I am slowly creeping down to 35 for a 2 day crash. Plan to carb on Sunday and transfer to keg on Monday.

So far so good with the unitank. Getting ready to order a 2nd 7gal to complete my setup.

 

[prosperbrews]

Unfortunately the cold crash is not going well. I started last night at 72F and the crash has stalled out at 48F. I opened the PRV and didn’t see any ice on the coils at first glance.

I then checked the glycol bath with a thermo pen and it comes in right where the thermostat reads - 29F. I even removed the rubber nipple from the pump in case it was restricting flow.

Nothing. It’s actually increased from 48 to 48.4 over the last 2 hours. Ambient temp is 75.

Is it possible the coils froze from 72 to 48 and I’m just not seeing it? I don’t want to pull the coil out to check.

I’m stumped, any ideas ?

 

[Tartan1]

Unfortunately the cold crash is not going well. I started last night at 72F and the crash has stalled out at 48F. I opened the PRV and didn’t see any ice on the coils at first glance.

I then checked the glycol bath with a thermo pen and it comes in right where the thermostat reads - 29F. I even removed the rubber nipple from the pump in case it was restricting flow.

Nothing. It’s actually increased from 48 to 48.4 over the last 2 hours. Ambient temp is 75.

Is it possible the coils froze from 72 to 48 and I’m just not seeing it? I don’t want to pull the coil out to check.

I’m stumped, any ideas ?

Do you have flow through the coil and back to the gylycol bath? What proportion water to glycol have you used? Just wondering if the coil has frozen or partially frozen internally due to its restrictive size compared to the bath volume.

 

[prosperbrews]

Do you have flow through the coil and back to the gylycol bath? What proportion water to glycol have you used? Just wondering if the coil has frozen or partially frozen internally due to its restrictive size compared to the bath volume.

I have 33% glycol to water. Yes I have perfect flow through the coil.

 

[prosperbrews]

I have 33% glycol to water. Yes I have perfect flow through the coil.

Just pulled the coil - no ice. Now I am really stumped.

I did find one thing that seems odd. I have braided vinyl tubing to and from the glycol chiller. Right before the connections to the unitanks I use quick disconnects very similar to others in this thread. On the input side, the tubing appears to fully pressurize, or be full with glycol. On the output side, the first part of tubing before the quick connect is fully pressurized but then it turns to less flow just after the quick connect fitting going back into the glycol chiller. I’d say the tubing is maybe 30% full just after the quick connect fitting. I pulled up the lid on the glycol chiller to see the glycol return and it seems like a pretty good flow. There’s not much else I can troubleshoot

I’m sitting at about 46 F right now and it won’t budge. I read others are hitting crash temps in 8 hours.

 

[Tartan1]

Just pulled the coil - no ice. Now I am really stumped.

I did find one thing that seems odd. I have braided vinyl tubing to and from the glycol chiller. Right before the connections to the unitanks I use quick disconnects very similar to others in this thread. On the input side, the tubing appears to fully pressurize, or be full with glycol. On the output side, the first part of tubing before the quick connect is fully pressurized but then it turns to less flow just after the quick connect fitting going back into the glycol chiller. I’d say the tubing is maybe 30% full just after the quick connect fitting. I pulled up the lid on the glycol chiller to see the glycol return and it seems like a pretty good flow. There’s not much else I can troubleshoot

I’m sitting at about 46 F right now and it won’t budge. I read others are hitting crash temps in 8 hours.

When you say there is 30% after the fitting that would indicate to me you have air in the line which needs to be purged. That would explain the lack of cooling efficiency.

 

[prosperbrews]

When you say there is 30% after the fitting that would indicate to me you have air in the line which needs to be purged. That would explain the lack of cooling efficiency.

I’ve switched fittings from side to side and even reversed the flow of glycol to rule out any issues with the fittings. The result is the same in any configuration. I suspect the flow is less when exiting the coil simply due to head loss from traveling the distance of the coil. The flow of glycol into the chiller is smooth and consistent.

 

[Tartan1]

I’ve switched fittings from side to side and even reversed the flow of glycol to rule out any issues with the fittings. The result is the same in any configuration. I suspect the flow is less when exiting the coil simply due to head loss from traveling the distance of the coil. The flow of glycol into the chiller is smooth and consistent.

The fittings may not be the problem. I'm thinking of the whole system from chiller thru the coil back to the chiller may have air in it somewhere. Along the same line as when wort is moved throughout the system using pumps and air in the lines causes cavitation. In that case an air bleed valve is used to purge a particular pump.

 

[prosperbrews]

The fittings may not be the problem. I'm thinking of the whole system from chiller thru the coil back to the chiller may have air in it somewhere. Along the same line as when wort is moved throughout the system using pumps and air in the lines causes cavitation. In that case an air bleed valve is used to purge a particular pump.

The tubing is clear and there doesn’t appear to be any air bubbles flowing through. When I turn off the pump some air bubbles rise up from the return piping - but as soon as I turn it back on the air bubbles are quickly purged and it’s back to smooth flow.

 

[Tartan1]

The tubing is clear and there doesn’t appear to be any air bubbles flowing through. When I turn off the pump some air bubbles rise up from the return piping - but as soon as I turn it back on the air bubbles are quickly purged and it’s back to smooth flow.

If there is air anywhere between the start and end points it will affect the cooling efficiency. You indicate that by shutting off the pump, air (bubbles) is sucked back thru the return line. Is the return line submerged in the glycol bath. It needs to be a closed system from end to end, in that once air is completely purged from the system no air (bubbles) should be present.
You can have what is perceived as a good flow exiting the return line and still have air in the system. That could explain the 30% line volume after the first fitting.

 

[prosperbrews]

If there is air anywhere between the start and end points it will affect the cooling efficiency. You indicate that by shutting off the pump, air (bubbles) is sucked back thru the return line. Is the return line submerged in the glycol bath. It needs to be a closed system from end to end, in that once air is completely purged from the system no air (bubbles) should be present.
You can have what is perceived as a good flow exiting the return line and still have air in the system. That could explain the 30% line volume after the first fitting.

Return line is completely submerged. What I am seeing may not be air bubbles and just be the purging of glycol from the return line once the pump is shut off as the result of gravity

Anyone else with a similar setup have any guesses as to what’s amiss? Is your glycol return line fully pressurized with glycol using the ss brewtech Ftss pump?

 

[marjen]

Are you doing a full batch or half batch in the unitank?

 

[prosperbrews]

5.5 gallons in 7 gallon unitank

 

[marjen]

Hmm ok. Yeah you should be fine. I have been having some issues getting much below 40 f but I am doing 6 gallons in the 14 gallon tank.

 

[prosperbrews]

I gave up on the cold crash and started carbing last night. Plan to move to a keg today.

The unitank never made it below 45F - pretty disappointing. I tested and re tested every single variable and there really is no explanation as to why. The glycol chiller had no problem keeping the glycol at 28F.

 

[Morrey]

Something is not exactly right somewhere. With my Penguin chiller, I can chill a 7G Uni tank and hold it at 35F as long as desired. And this is with the ambient temps in the mid-90F's in my non-temp controlled outside brew cave. Gut feeling is that your glycol flow is restricted.....have you checked the pump impeller to see if any trash is wrapped around the shaft or otherwise blocking or restricting flow?

 

[prosperbrews]

Something is not exactly right somewhere. With my Penguin chiller, I can chill a 7G Uni tank and hold it at 35F as long as desired. And this is with the ambient temps in the mid-90F's in my non-temp controlled outside brew cave. Gut feeling is that your glycol flow is restricted.....have you checked the pump impeller to see if any trash is wrapped around the shaft or otherwise blocking or restricting flow?

That’s what I’m thinking too. It’s not the chiller itself. It has to be something with the pump or the coil itself. I will get a chance to inspect everything in more detail tonight.

Edit: disassembled the pump to inspect and everything looked good. I noticed when I started it back up I had air in the lines which i was able to correct by adjusting the pump and turning it on and off. I had the air in the line problem during my initial crash although this has since been corrected, I’m wondering if air in the coil somehow made it ice up inside the coil which may be insulating the glycol.

The glycol flow is smooth - no air and no obstructions. Pump is good. It’s got to be a frozen internal coil or a faulty coil.

 

[marjen]

Have you contacted SSBT yet? They are usually pretty good about helping out.

 

[prosperbrews]

Have you contacted SSBT yet? They are usually pretty good about helping out.

Yes, I logged a ticket with ss brewtech. Will see what they say.

As I was cleaning the unitank tonight I stared at the coil for a moment trying to figure out what might have happened. It looks as though I may have had the glycol entering the loop through the wrong way. From the picture, I had the glycol entering from the right side, which drops it all the way to the bottom of the coil and then forces the pump to push the glycol up through the coil. This would create significantly more head loss than the other way and slow flow. This might be it? Any validation to this theory?

Although this first batch was frustrating with the cold crash, the beer turned out amazing!

 

[marjen]

Hmm I have mine connected the same way you do. I just looked at what documentation I could find from them and do not see any recommendations on which way is correct. I have had trouble getting much below 40, maybe I will try switching and see if it makes a difference.

And that beer looks good.

 

[Morrey]

I never gave it much thought that the pump has to work any harder (or less work) depending on the direction of flow. I don't think that Ss says the inlet is on the left and the outlet is on the right...or vice versa. This factor may make a small amount of difference in the flow rate with gravity aiding as you say, so that's worth a look.

Now that you have an empty tank and can inspect w/o exposing beer to O2, all should be easier to track now. I'd start with the pump and carefully take off the cover to expose the impeller. The shaft may be binding so see how easily the pump turns. You can also force water thru the tank's cooling coils to make sure there is no obstruction...it could easily be an obstruction there as a manufacturing defect. And double check your lines/hoses from your chiller to the tank to make sure nothing is crimped or bound up.

I'll be interested in the response you get from Ss.

EDIT: I just looked at my tanks inlets and outlets and direction of flow. I have two setup dropping down then pumping back uphill, with the other tank the opposite with gravity aiding. I have never seen a disparity between the cooling potential with either setup. I honestly believe this makes little or no difference.

 

[Tartan1]

Found this link.... https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0..._Product_Guide_FINAL.pdf?14033054371399362451 (Page 2 Figure 1)

Is there a correlation between your thermowell location and direction of glycol flow in the coil itself? In other words could you be measuring the warmer bottom portion or top portion depending on the temp inversion of the wort as discussed in the article. It appears there could be a difference cold crash temps and fermentation temps depending on which side of the coil the flow enters.

 

[Tozzi]

Interesting! I've never heard of this phenomenon before.
It explains the differences in measurement between the readings of my iSpindle (which floats on top of the beer/wort) and the readings from the thermowell.
Will keep that in mind.

From perspective of flow rate, I don't see why this would make any difference, however.
But I guess connecting it as shown in the picture on the right (which is what I have always done so far) could help initially getting rid of air bubbles.

By the way, my 3/8 HP Chiller arrived today, finally.
It looks awesome, really nice craftsmanship there. Simple, sturdy design.
I'll test it thoroughly as soon as I get a friend over to help me carry it down to the basement.
It came without printed manual, but the Quick Start Guide is online now:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...ick_start_guide_5-11.pdf?16130065885485982426

 

[Tartan1]

Interesting! I've never heard of this phenomenon before.
It explains the differences in measurement between the readings of my iSpindle (which floats on top of the beer/wort) and the readings from the thermowell.
Will keep that in mind.

From perspective of flow rate, I don't see why this would make any difference, however.
But I guess connecting it as shown in the picture on the right (which is what I have always done so far) could help initially getting rid of air bubbles.

I agree I don't think flow rate in this instance would make a difference however when you look at the coil as 2 different lengths (the shorter piece being the straight piece to the bottom of the coil) it makes sense that when the warmer area of the beer is at the bottom of the fermenter as when temps under 40F are achieved and the inversion has taken place then you would want the coldest temperature of the glycol to spend more time making it's way thru the coil (the longer part) from the bottom up when cold crashing. You are then targeting the warmest part of the fermenter with an express route of cold glycol to the bottom. With the small volumes we ferment (5-10Gal) I'm not sure how influential the inversion factor would be, however I believe that is the theory they are using.