Plate Chiller Woes

[puffer555]

Hey Guys,

It all started a few weeks ago when I did an IPA with about 150 grams of pellets in the boil.
Pretty uneventful really until I tried to chill which unfortunatley, blocked my plate chiller (beerbelly 30 plate).
I managed to get the brew finished, but I had to continously reverse the flow through the chiller.
I had whirlpooled before anyone asks, but I think the amount of hops still got sucked into the pickup tube.
First lesson I have learnt is maybe I should be using a hop bag in future.

Anyway, ever since then I have tried practically everything to clean the chiller and I am still getting debris coming out.
I have tried about 4 caustic soaks, 3 PBW soaks, 2 hrs in 200 degree oven, and 4-5 dozen rinses and still little bits are coming out.
Debris has been significantly reduced, however there is still more than I would like.
Sometimes the soaks come out a brown colour (like tea).
I am trying a diluted bleach soak now.

Just for clarification, Caustic soaks are typically 15 mins with hot tap water.
PBW soaks are sometimes with boiling water.
I also typically always rinse the chiller with cold tap water 3-4 times each direction after a brew.
Sometimes it gets a PBW recirc, and always the 10 min heat sterilization prior to chilling.

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

 

[razz]

Accidentally let my chiller clog once after a slip of the wrist while adding hop pellets to the boiler puffer, never again. I've always used a hop bag for my brews. In regards to cleaning your plate chiller, just recirc hot PBW through it for an hour or two. 30 mins always gets mine nice and clean but sounds like yours needs quite a bit of action. You may need to leave it to soak for several days. Avoid going over 80 degrees with the PBW, read it somewhere, manufacturer's website maybe.

 

[seravitae]

Puffer, three options i can see here.

One is, grab a hopsock, a bucket and a march pump if you have one. Connect the march pump to the plate chiller and use the bucket as a reservoir - reciculate water thru the plate chiller using the hopsock as a filter. that way you can recirculate it for hours if need be, without requiring a huge wastage of water. hopefully you can push the blockages through and they'll be caught in the hopsock-come-filter.

Two, find someone with a jewelry cleaning bath (ultrasonic cleaner) and give it a good zap, this may help loosen up the suck hop particles or break them into smaller bits which can find their way out easier.

Three, soak it in vodka or pure ethanol (don't use denatured!) as the hop oils are nonpolar, they won't dissolve in water, but they will dissolve in alcohols. It may be that some of the hop oil is making everything gooey/sticky.

In absence of vodka/pure ethanol you could try soaking it in citrus based cleaners- these are food grade/natural and will definately dissolve all the gunk.

 

[Wolfy]

Does anyone have any ideas for me?

Be careful with bleach it's not really the best thing for cleaning stainless steel.

Would oxalic acid based cleansers, as recommended by JP here be worth a try? http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter2-2-2.html

 

[alowen474]

You need a hop screen - try beerbelly.
Give it a good wash with PBW or caustic.

 

[kevin_smevin]

I'll second the hopscreen.

Could always try a high pressure hose.

For the PBW and caustic, make sure you use them hot and continuously circulate.

Shit of a thing to have to fix. Good luck. Let us all know the best solution, i'm sure it will come in handy for someone in the future.

 

[Maheel]

In absence of vodka/pure ethanol you could try soaking it in citrus based cleaners- these are food grade/natural and will definately dissolve all the gunk.

if going citirc, what about powdered citric acid into hot / warm water and use that circulating

easy to get at grocery store

cleans out copper and coffee oils (and gunk) really well in coffee machines, not sure on hop oil but....

 

[Thirsty Boy]

re-circ with hot pbw for a long time (24hrs) - pbw for an extended period of time really breaks down organics, might loosen and knock off the hop chunks. The re-circing will give you some mechanical action as well, much more helpful than just soaking. The hopsock to catch debris is a great idea sera.

 

[yardy]

this seals the deal for me, i'm going to build Jamils whirlpool chiller.

 

[Sammus]

if going citirc, what about powdered citric acid into hot / warm water and use that circulating

easy to get at grocery store

cleans out copper and coffee oils (and gunk) really well in coffee machines, not sure on hop oil but....

citric acid is (but shouldn't) be used to descale a coffee machine, that is, remove calcium and other salt deposits from the boiler and plumbing.

The stuff that cleans out the coffee oils and gunk is basically just sodium percarb.

 

[mikem108]

Whilst circulating PBW through it keep knocking it on the ground, brick or cement, then reverse the flow and do the same, follow with high pressure tap water may take some time for it all to loosen up and the liquid to eventually run clear.

 

[domonsura]

dUDE......Who's idea was the 200 degree bake off? I wouldn't be doing that, it will just cook any solids inside to a crisp and make them even harder to remove - which I suspect you may never actually be able to do now completely in all honestly...I'm just thinking of all the cooking trays I have had to clean in the past, baking residue on has only ever made it harder. Like Thirsty, I would be making up a big bucket of either hot PBW or maybe caustic and dropping the whole thing in there, leaving it in there for 24/48 hours at a time. Pump it through if you have a pump. Alternate this all with mains pressure flushing in both directions. I wouldn't really recommend banging it on the ground nor anything else - they're not made for that. It's going to take some time, whatever the method I think. I don't really have any 'workshop grade' solutions for you unfortunately - although I'm sure Hydrofluoric acid would probably make short work of it..(makes short work of everything else)..:lol: