Counterflow Chiller Woes

[Tony M]

My brews have been a bit off lately ( some will immediately chorus Whats new?) so, heeding Dean McLeods excellent advice that he passed on at the WCB meeting last Monday ---- you cant sterilise a dirty surface I put a mild sodium hydroxide soln thru my CFC. Well, you should have seen the shite that I flushed out of it. There must have been a million hiding places for microbes. Lets hope that was the problem and I start enjoying my beers again.
I should add that I always flush it with iodoform after use and always with boiling water to get the spiders out before I transfer the wort from the mash.

 

[tangent]

mild sodium hydroxide soln thru my CFC

sounds good, can you elaborate on making the solution?

 

[Tony M]

sounds good, can you elaborate on making the solution?

I made it up at 50gm/litre which is about the rate on the can of NaOH but I still got troubles as I just put a beer thru and and the first litre still had lumps of black poop coming with it. I ran that first bit into a slop bucket but I think this will be another strange brew. I shall go thru the whole exercise again tomorrow.

 

[Tony]

I have been wondering what would be a good solution to run through the pipes of my brew rig to clean up the pipes.

They are copper.... and get flushed with 50 deg water on clean up of each brew but i want to clean them a bit better than this.

what is sodiun hydroxide (sounds like bleach) and where can i get it.

cheers

 

[enoch]

what is sodiun hydroxide (sounds like bleach) and where can i get it.

That will be caustic soda - handle with care!

 

[ausdb]

I made it up at 50gm/litre which is about the rate on the can of NaOH but I still got troubles as I just put a beer thru and and the first litre still had lumps of black poop coming with it. I ran that first bit into a slop bucket but I think this will be another strange brew. I shall go thru the whole exercise again tomorrow.

TonyM thats a pretty high concentration of caustic from my reading/research most sites have worked on a warm 2-3% solution at about 60degC, which is only 20-30g per litre. It must be all those crimped convolutions in your chiller! are you flushing/cleaning in the opposite direction to flow?

I know your chiller has crimps in the tubing but I have had good success with blowing a few of the disposable foam earplugs through the uncrimped 3/8" copper tubing of my chiller to give it a bit of a scrub through. I just poked them in the end of the tubing and then clamped a mains pressure hose over the end of the chiller and opened the tap up. Wait a few seconds then watch the little yellow or orange rockets fire out the open end of the chiller, when they don't have any black crap on them then you know its reasonably clean

 

[ant]

I know your chiller has crimps in the tubing but I have had good success with blowing a few of the disposable foam earplugs through the uncrimped 3/8" copper tubing of my chiller to give it a bit of a scrub through. I just poked them in the end of the tubing and then clamped a mains pressure hose over the end of the chiller and opened the tap up. Wait a few seconds then watch the little yellow or orange rockets fire out the open end of the chiller, when they don't have any black crap on them then you know its reasonably clean

Pigging with earplugs... I love it :beerbang:

+2

 

[ausdb]

Pigging with earplugs... I love it :beerbang:

+2

Geez I didn't even realise it had a teckernerlogical term!.

 

[ant]

Geez I didn't even realise it had a teckernerlogical term!.

Not even knowing it had a term is an extra +1

 

[ausdb]

Not even knowing it had a term is an extra +1

I have a whole box of these things, maybe I should be selling them on ebay as "ChillerPigs"

 

[ant]

I have a whole box of these things, maybe I should be selling them on ebay as "ChillerPigs"

(that little trademark made me laugh so hard I almost became incontinent...)

 

[fraser_john]

Before & after each use of my CFC I use one of those small steam generators for cleaning/sanitising, seems to work an absolute treat!

Though the idea of a ChillerPig may have to be something I look into for forcing a bit of a scrub!

 

[Darren]

I recirculate warm dishwashing machine tablet for 15 or so minutes. Let it sit then do the same. Rinse with a blast of water from the tap.

cheers

Darren

 

[tangent]

dishwasher powder/tabs are quite caustic anyway aren't they?

 

[Tony M]

I soaked that CFC again in caustic, this time for about 4 hours and then flushed out twice as much gurp as I did the first time. I then flushed an Ausdb chiller pig thru in both directions until the flush was clear. Then I wrapped the pig in steel wool and removed even more. It is still not bright shiney but it's nearly there. I shall do it all once more. At least the flow rate thru the coil is back where it was when new.

 

[ant]

... I then flushed an Ausdb chiller pig thru...

You forgot the TM. h34r:

Yo have got me worried about the state of my CFC though; might have to give everything a good run through...

 

[Randall the Enamel Animal]

Guys who are using recirc pumps for their rigs: try to fashion things in such a way that you can use the pump to circulate a caustic soultion backwards through the chiller for twenty minutes after each brew day, using the kettle as a caustic resevoir. Follow with a hot flush forward and you're set for the next brew.

Consider dividing up a bulk puchase of a commercial caustic solution such as Ecolab's 'Avoid' or Cleantech's 'Auto Kleen'. In addition to NaOH, these preparations include surfactants and chelating agents and they are very effective.

 

[randyrob]

hmm... i got my cfc secondhand

all i have been doing at this stage is recirculating boiling water for 20 minutes prior to use!

you guys have got me thinking now, going to give No Idea's ChillerPigs a go just to see

how much muck is in there then recirc some caustic solution through it just for good cause.

is there anything caustic isn't good in contact with, will my march pump and stainess gear be ok?

Rob.

 

[Shunty]

Just keep the caustic away from brass and you'll be fine

 

[randyrob]

Just keep the caustic away from brass and you'll be fine

Thanks Shunty,

that poses a problem for me since my cfc has brass connectors welded onto it and my pump has brass quick disconnects ah well if i get an infection i'd better get used to the taste quick smart!