kwmystra98
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- Joined
- May 17, 2021
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my glycol chiller is taking hours to cool down. Trying to get to 70 degrees F and it just won't make it. What happens when I do a Lager?
Do I need to add the whole jug of propylene?
It is a grainfather conical fermenter with the grainfather glycol chiller hooked up to it to cool down the wort and for fermentation. But the chiller has started going up in temp and I turned it off. I cannot get it to 70 so I can pitch my yeast. it is at about 76. I may just go ahead and pitch. What can I do about my chiller? I have been at this since this morning.If you tell us about your setup and how you are using it we'll try to help you sort it out.
Yes, I primed it yesterday. Followed the directions and it worked. When I turned it on today to cool down wort it kept beeping a warning which I looked up and it said propylene was low. I added some and it turned on but only for a few minutes. I added again as it started beeping, turned on a few minutes then did same thing. Finally it stopped doing that. I hear something running but nothing like when it turns on and starts cooling. First time using this. I am so disappointed that I have had so many issues today.OK, I assume you are using a Grainfather chiller. If so, did you prime the pump as shown in the manual?
The holds about 1.5 gallons, which should be a mixture of .5 gal glycol and 1 gal water.
I truly think it was empty! Not sure what happened. It is running and cooling quickly! Strange. I went and almost overflowed the tank. I am wondering if i did the priming correctly.OK, it looks like we need a Grainfather chiller user to help here. I'm running a DIY chiller.
Anybody able to help out?
If there is an air pocket in my March pumps the flow stops. Sometimes it makes noise indicating that, other times I can see the flow is stopped through the clear tubing and don't feel it flowing. I looked at a picture of that setup. I think you could turn off the chiller, take off a disconnect and put it in a bowl or jug and then turn it back on briefly to see if it was flowing. I'm guessing though that the pump is pushing the liquid towards the grainfather unit then back to a reservoir so that the air you are introducing just gets pushed back to the reservoir and won't cavitate the pump. No clue what the insides look like though.I truly think it was empty! Not sure what happened. It is running and cooling quickly! Strange. I went and almost overflowed the tank. I am wondering if i did the priming correctly.
I think it is resolved. Just got to pitch the yeast. Now I can follow online if I am not here. I love this equipment but have much to learn.If there is an air pocket in my March pumps the flow stops. Sometimes it makes noise indicating that, other times I can see the flow is stopped through the clear tubing and don't feel it flowing. I looked at a picture of that setup. I think you could turn off the chiller, take off a disconnect and put it in a bowl or jug and then turn it back on briefly to see if it was flowing. I'm guessing though that the pump is pushing the liquid towards the grainfather unit then back to a reservoir so that the air you are introducing just gets pushed back to the reservoir and won't cavitate the pump. No clue what the insides look like though.
I had done all that yesterday. It is running. Yeast it pitched and it is holding the temperature for the fermentation. At some point I will need to go down to 50 degrees. That will be a good test of the chiller. The lagers will get colder.It's pretty! I'm reading the instruction manual, not sure if this is the exact unit. Did you "...overide the low glycol level warning to prime the pump."? Pg 6, step 6 https://bsgcraft.com/resources/Directions/GF-GLYCOL.pdf. Reading it because I am not sure my suggestion is useful, it may introduce air into the system. If you have clear tubing like on page 5 then you could probably be able to detect the flow. I only saw red and blue tubing in the first picture I looked at.
I'm finally getting my own brew rig under control so I know how frustrating it can be, particularly user manuals. My PID controller instructions are confusing most of the time, and worse when something is going wrong!
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