Chilling Options

[tgarland]

Hi all,

I am in the process of building a 3 vessel all grain setup.

I am comfortable with all steps apart from cooling.

I have read many articles on people who have had very sucessful experience with each.

I realise how conveniant immersion is as it is so easy to steralise.

It is also very easy to DIY, but with long cooling times.

Counterflow also looks reasonably simple to DIY (depending on all coper or copper/pvc) but hard to steralise.

A plate chiller seems the best option, however there is a high risk of hops etc getting stuck and contaminating future views.

Can any AG brewers out there give me some assistance with your eperience?

Cheers,
Tony

 

[browndog]

I have a plate chiller and have never had an issue with it becoming blocked with hops. I don't have any kind of filter or screen on the kettle outlet and I use pellets. The hop slurry from pellets flows straight through, if you were using flowers, you would need some kind of a filter to keep them out of the chiller as they would block it up in a second.

cheers

Browndog

 

[mattbrewer]

If you are going to chill, a plate chiller is the way to go. It's too easy. Never had a blockage using pellets and if you whirlpool well enough you have little problems with flowers or even things like chunks of orange peel.

However, they are a great source of infection if you don't clean them thoroughly and get any stuck hops etc out.

Good luck, Matt

 

[Gout]

For the plate chillers out there, apart from a wash in PBW and then starsan, will pumping hot wort through it for 15min before cooling it ensure no bugs mess up a brew?

I have a plate chiller and plan to do this to be extra safe prior to chilling

the biggest advantage for me is the plate chiller size - nice and small and fits the brew stand like a dream

 

[Zwickel]

If you are going to chill, a plate chiller is the way to go. It's too easy. Never had a blockage using pellets and if you whirlpool well enough you have little problems with flowers or even things like chunks of orange peel.

However, they are a great source of infection if you don't clean them thoroughly and get any stuck hops etc out.

Good luck, Matt

same here!

its easy to clean for March pump owners. Just let the caustic soda recirculating for 15min.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[tgarland]

Thanks guys,

I think I am leaning towards the plate chiller however I want to run a theory...

What about a setup with a large all copper counterflow chiller located in the HLT.

This way, the inner tube of the chiller can be used as HERMS during mash, but when ready to transfer to the fermenter, ice and water can be added to the HLT for cooling.

Just putting it out there...

Tony

 

[razz]

I've had an 8mtr coil in my HLT for about 6-7 years Tony. It does get used for recirculating the wort but haven't tried it with ice and water for cooling.