Plate chiller advice needed

[Moad]

Looking for a new chiller to chill 150L of wort.

I'll have a hop filter as well as a stainless mesh filter at the pickup so plate chiller should be fine from what I have read.

budget of up to $500 - I was looking at the 60 plate chiller here - http://www.dudadiesel.com/heat_exchangers.php

It might be overkill I am not sure. I may not be able to get enough water (mains pressure) or wort (march 815-C @ 30LPM) to make fully utilise this model chiller.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge on what would be the best size chiller to get in my case?

 

[Mardoo]

I totally covet the Duda chillers. Read all their stuff. Longer chiller = more efficiency, more plates = less pressure drop, wider plates = even less pressure drop. Sounds like you'll need a long, wide one. Erm… :/

 

[nathan_madness]

After messing around with chiller setups with my system, I have found that 2 are better than one. Use one chiller with mains water to knock the temp down to about 30°c then have a second chiller inline that has recirculating ice water and you will be able to get your wort from boiling to 5°c easily.

 

[Goose]

or two x 30 plate chillers in series has some advantages depending on cooling reservoirs available.

 

[Moad]

Great idea, for $500 I could get 2 plate chillers and run one with tap water and then a second with ice recirc.

Maybe two 20 or 30 plates

 

[Mardoo]

Just make sure to get the longer ones with the volume you're looking at. I have a 60 plate chiller same length as my old 30 and it doesn't chill that much better than the 30 did. Which is why I keep crapping on about longer and wider. It's not just small man syndrome

 

[Moad]

gotcha!

Any issues with the MashMaster Chillout 30 plate chillers.

I can get two of them for about $250 and run in series, add a little brown pump in to get some iced water through the second one.

For half the price of the 60 plate chiller I am struggling to think this is not a good option...

 

[nathan_madness]

Yeah, I run 2 of the Mash Master 30 plates. I use a submersible fish pond pump. I really don't think that the brown pump will have enough flow.

gotcha!

Any issues with the MashMaster Chillout 30 plate chillers.

I can get two of them for about $250 and run in series, add a little brown pump in to get some iced water through the second one.

For half the price of the 60 plate chiller I am struggling to think this is not a good option...

 

[AJS2154]

.....I have found that 2 are better than one. Use one chiller with mains water to knock the temp down to about 30°c then have a second chiller inline that has recirculating ice water and you will be able to get your wort from boiling to 5°c easily.

I must be missing something. Why would you want to take your wort to 5 degrees....easily? Do you ever pitch at that temperature?

I find plate chillers a royal PITA.....impossible to get properly clean, painful to attach during a brew day. They have driven me to no-chill. So much easier now. Drain the wort into a 30 litre corny keg, put that into the shallow end of my swimming pool and pitch at 20 odd degrees. Too easy.

 

[Moad]

Yeah, I run 2 of the Mash Master 30 plates. I use a submersible fish pond pump. I really don't think that the brown pump will have enough flow.

Yeah I realised after I posted this it would need to be a submersible pump. 2500LPH for $30

 

[Droopy Brew]

It amazes me people still have issues with cleaning a plate chiller. Blast water back through the wort intake/outlet after use for a minute or 2, drain, plonk in the brew kettle with the cleaner and everything else, blast with water to flush and on brew day pour some no rinse through it. It really is that easy. Hooking it up takes me all of 1 minute while the whirlpool is going on. Each to their own I just dont see the hassle.

 

[AJS2154]

Droopy, I think we might have a difference in opinion as to how clean the plate chiller really is with that method. Agree, the way you describe it is simple.

As you say, each to their own. Anthony.

 

[MastersBrewery]

I think the ease of cleaning is directly related to the a mount of particulate matter that makes it to the chiller.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Droopy, I think we might have a difference in opinion as to how clean the plate chiller really is with that method. Agree, the way you describe it is simple.

As you say, each to their own. Anthony.

For sure mate. I have (touch wood) not had any infections in the 30-40 brews I have knocked out with the chiller. I have however had a couple with no chill. For me it works.

 

[klangers]

The thing with any heat exchanger is that they are more efficient the faster you push fluid through them due to the increase heat transfer rate that higher turbulence brings. (note efficiency isn't the same as effectiveness)

It is entirely possible to have a chiller that's too big, and hence the heat transfer rate inside is too low due to laminar (not turbulent) flow. Ones that are too big tend to block up easier too as the velocity through them isn't fast enough to dislodge any bits.

This is why two chillers in series will always beat two chillers in parallel (or one big chiller) - same total heat transfer area but higher velocity. Industrial wort chillers that I've worked with/on are all 2 stage - wort/liquor (heat recovery for next brew) then wort/glycol (ice water in your case).

150L really isn't that much - you can still use the standard 30 plates.

I have no issue cleaning the plate heat exchanger. If they're getting blocked up then it's likely your pump and everything else in your system is too.

 

[Moad]

Pulled the trigger on two mashmaster chillout 30 plate chillers and a pond pump.

Under $300 all up

Thanks for the replies

 

[Mardoo]

Might have to try the two in series myself!

 

[60.lewdogg.9]

I just blast my chiller before n after brewing then hook it up and run it with 15 minutes left of the boil. Seems ok to me