SSBrewtech “Support”

[marjen]

So not sure if I should be as upset about this as I am but...
Been a customer of SS Brewtech for 2-3 years. I have spent several thousand dollars with them. In the past support has been good, no issues. But I am currently having a couple issues and the support I believe is lacking.

It’s been about a year since I have brewed. We built a new house and so I have been really busy getting the old house sold, planning and building the new one etc. I am finally at a point where I am brewing again. As I was working on getting my equipment in order I came across 2 issues.

1. My SSBT temp controller is ones again having issues with the power cord is not securely staying tight with the controller. This causes the controller to just randomly shut off during fermentation which is obviously a big issue. I had this issue before and they sent me a new controller but once again its happening. I think they need to look at a better connector or something.
2. My Unitank is not holding pressure. I filled the tank up with some water and pressure tested and its losing pressure. It takes about 5-6 hours but its going from 15 psi to 0. I just purchased all new o-rings and all connections are tight. I filled the fermenter all the way to the very top, no leaks water wise but pressure is not holding. So of course I am worried about oxidation.

So I sent them a couple of support tickets and this was their response:

“Thanks for reaching out! We are getting blown up with questions about our new Grain Mill and upcoming SVBS in our support tickets right now, but I want to let you know we are working on your ticket and will get back to you shortly!
Cheers,”

So let me get this straight. They are more concerned about getting back to potential customers instead of customers who have already layer out a Tom of money for their gear? Am I wrong about being pissed about their response? I ended up brewing anyway this weekend but worried about Oxygen getting into the fermenter or the controller just shutting off in the middle or the night or when i am at work. I feel like they really left me hanging here.

 

[day_trippr]

It might be interesting to do that pressure testing dry as unless you're using argon or nitrogen the water will absorb at least some of the headspace gases over time...

Cheers!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

This is strange as I've always gotten helpful/decent support from SS Brewtech. This as recently as Saturday, November 9, 2019 (from a question I submitted on Friday late afternoon).

Maybe they are currently overwhelmed with the unbelievably expensive mill?

 

[CodeSection]

I wouldn't get riled up about it. I look at their response accomplishing two things...first, acknowledging they received your ticket, and secondly, announcing their new grain mill and upcoming SVBS. I interpret the "questions" they have been receiving on those two items as just marketing hype to create a demand.

Changing the order and wording slightly gives a different perception. Perhaps it could have been worded differently such as:

Thanks for reaching out! We want to let you know we are working on your ticket and will get back to you shortly. In the meantime, have you heard the great news of our new grain mill and upcoming SVBS? We have been getting a number of questions about those items. It's worth checking out!

 

[Rodent]

here's where some Starsan is your friend in searching for and identifying where even small leaks are occurring. you can do the same checking with soapy water, but why not use Starsan since most of us likely have it sitting in a spray bottle and ready to go

if you're losing that much pressure in that short of time, it should become pretty obvious where it's happening if you pressurize a fully assembled system filled only with air/CO2/nitrogen or some other gas to a few PSI. your leak(s) might not be where you're expecting

armed with this precise knowledge of where your leak(s) occur, it's easier to interact with customer support (or the collective here)

 

[BarleyPopBrewer]

I'm in the SS Facebook user group (LINK). Since they sold out to Middleby I've seen countless threads about poor product quality as well as shoddy customer support. I think SS has moved on from the home brew market. Their new $800 grain mill which is touted as a nano brewery mill is more evidence to that.

 

[Qhrumphf]

It might be interesting to do that pressure testing dry as unless you're using argon or nitrogen the water will absorb at least some of the headspace gases over time...

Cheers!

Can't speak to the rest, but with the pressure part, this.

 

[speavler]

my approach would be to systematically eliminate each valve as the source of the leak, starting with the PRV

 

[Vale71]

If you fill the fermenter with water, pressurize and wait several hours pressure is supposed to go down to zero as water will absorb all CO2.

 

[marjen]

Appreciate some help. I did spray star san over all the ports and did not see any obvious leaks. Also when I filled the fermenter completely to the very top, no leaks were observed as far as water leaking anywhere. I did think that maybe the pressure was getting observed by the water. If that is the case you would think their tech support would have thought of this and at least said hey could be this. Seems based on their response they didn't really even read the ticket.

 

[marjen]

I have used the unitank many times without issue. These are new issues, one reocurring. Is it my fault that their power cable does not hold a connection to the temp controller and constantly shuts off? IF the pressure issue is simply water absorbing the CO2, sorry I did not know that. Also never noticed it having issues prior and I have done many fermentations including under pressure, pressure transfers etc and never noticed issues holding pressure.

 

[speavler]

no leaking water means all the fittings and valves under the water line are good. pressure test again without liquid and see if it holds.

 

[marjen]

no leaking water means all the fittings and valves under the water line are good. pressure test again without liquid and see if it holds.

Yeah once I am done fermenting this batch going to try that. Also I did a pressure test twice. Once with it filled with water to the very top of all ports so even the top ports had water half way up and then I took out about 3-4 gallons of the water and tried again.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If it's filled to the brim (ie a VERY negligble headspace) and put to 15PSI with flat water, yes, it'll drop to near 0 PSI when a negligible amount of gas is absorbed into a comparatively massive volume of water. It won't actually reach 0 PSI, but it'll probably get close, close enough that if you were just glancing it you'd think so, especially if you were expecting 15 PSI.

That issue is all but assuredly just physics, not equipment failure.

The power supply is another issue, yes, you're right.

And in any event, while the critique above of the OP was definitely unnecessarily harsh, the OPs expectation of the company isn't reasonable either.

 

[Jtvann]

So not sure if I should be as upset about this as I am but...
Been a customer of SS Brewtech for 2-3 years. I have spent several thousand dollars with them. In the past support has been good, no issues. But I am currently having a couple issues and the support I believe is lacking.

It’s been about a year since I have brewed. We built a new house and so I have been really busy getting the old house sold, planning and building the new one etc. I am finally at a point where I am brewing again. As I was working on getting my equipment in order I came across 2 issues.

1. My SSBT temp controller is ones again having issues with the power cord is not securely staying tight with the controller. This causes the controller to just randomly shut off during fermentation which is obviously a big issue. I had this issue before and they sent me a new controller but once again its happening. I think they need to look at a better connector or something.
2. My Unitank is not holding pressure. I filled the tank up with some water and pressure tested and its losing pressure. It takes about 5-6 hours but its going from 15 psi to 0. I just purchased all new o-rings and all connections are tight. I filled the fermenter all the way to the very top, no leaks water wise but pressure is not holding. So of course I am worried about oxidation.

So I sent them a couple of support tickets and this was their response:

“Thanks for reaching out! We are getting blown up with questions about our new Grain Mill and upcoming SVBS in our support tickets right now, but I want to let you know we are working on your ticket and will get back to you shortly!
Cheers,”

So let me get this straight. They are more concerned about getting back to potential customers instead of customers who have already layer out a Tom of money for their gear? Am I wrong about being pissed about their response? I ended up brewing anyway this weekend but worried about Oxygen getting into the fermenter or the controller just shutting off in the middle or the night or when i am at work. I feel like they really left me hanging here.

Couple things ....

1- I've contacted Ssbrewtech support a few times lately for various issues. Their canned response about the grain mill is just that ... an automated canned response. They always respond with a real customer service rep, lately it has been Linc. He answers directly not just telling you what you want to hear, but what is actually the case.

2- Try the pressure test without water. As said above, the water absorbs CO2 and your pressure will fall.

 

[Kent88]

Lets all try to stay on topic and get along, shall we?

 

[brewbama]

The one and only time I contacted SS Brewtech they were dismissive of my request. So.. I voted with my feet. Happy I did. Haven’t been back.

 

[Beardless]

Got a very similar response from them when I put in a ticket. As was said- automated response to let you know they got the request, but literally no person has looked at it. Took a few days, but I got a response from a live person.

 

[marjen]

So I heard back from them again late Tuesday. Also to clarify some comments from above, this was not an automated message. I already got one of those after submission. It was signed by a support engineer.

For the controller they said I was out of warranty so I could buy a new one if I wanted. SO going to try playing around with the connector on the unit to see if I can somehow get better contact so it does not power off during fermentation. I currently have the power cord looped around the controller and when pressure is coming from the front it has so far stayed on. Frustrating as that was the 2nd unit they sent me as the first also had the same problem so seems more them using a cheap connector than anything.

For the pressure issue I asked if the water could be absorbing it and got no response, just to try and spray water on all ports (which I had already tried). I am currently fermenting and closed the ports near end of fermentation and its holding pretty good so will let it ride, take it all apart and reconnect everything and do an empty pressure test when I am done with this batch.

 

[kh54s10]

If it is the same people that handle all the requests, including questions about an expensive grain mill, they SHOULD address each one in order of receipt.

 

[Tim H]

I actually had a positive experience with SS recently. Purchased a Chronical through Craigslist and the guy ruined the jacket. Fortunately it was within its 1 year warranty period and I had the order number, but it didn’t do much good since I wasn’t the original buyer.

they happily responded and said it was against standard protocol, but they would sell me a replacement. I understand why they don’t keep heaps of these laying around and sell them individually, but it was an easy and pleasant experience. YMMV