Hey folks, I have one of these: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/shirron-plate-chiller.html and so far it's worked great. We've used it 6 or 7 times for 10 gallon batches (with 2 immersion pre-chillers in ice water), gravity fed from the boil kettle, and it's done really well. But something strange happened yesterday between cooling a 10 gallon batch and a 5 gallon batch. After chilling the 10 gallon batch, we disconnected the wort in and wort out tubing. I had to clean up a couple things with the garden hose, but it was connected to the plate chiller. No problem, instead of disconnecting it all, I just used the water out hose; so I turned on the water. It went through the water in hose, through the chiller, and out the water out hose. No problem, right? But all of a sudden, water started coming out of the wort in/wort out ports on the chiller. What gives? We've been nailing our target gravities, so I really don't think water is being mixed with the wort as it goes through the chiller. But if water is coming out of the wort ports, doesn't that mean there is a leak or something in the chiller? Or am I missing something? Help! Thanks...
I decided to go directly to the manufacturer with this question. I described the situation and got a response back within about an hour. Just wanted to give props to great customer service from Shirron. Cheers! "Hi Tyler! We've never had a single problem with this. In fact, I've never had a single plate chiller returned in 8 years. That being said, I do want to look at yours to see what is happening. I will send you a new plate chiller with a return label. Can you put the old one back in the box and ship it to me for us to review? Please give me your address and we will get one out to you asap. Cheers, Mike"
