Plate Chillers

[T.D.]

Hi all,

I must say that even though I am now a "no-chiller" convert, I have always liked the look of plate chillers. But then I always get nervous when I hear stories about them getting clogged with hop debris and break material, thereby increasing the chance of infection.

I gather quite a few brewers here have bought plate chillers in the recent past and I was just wondering what peoples' thoughts were on the whole issue. By now people should have had quite a bit of personal experience with them and will know if the stories are just old wives' tales or if there is some truth to them.

What are your experiences with plate chillers???

Cheers :beer:

 

[razz]

G'day TD. I got a therminator from NB about 18 months ago, it is everything they say it is. I must say that had I known about the no-chill method back then I would have tried it. But back to the plate chiller. I do a couple of things that make life easier on the plate chiller. I always use pellets in a Ross sock, the only solid matter that will go through the chiller is trub. And when you realise how small the particles are in trub they are barely solids, I've tipped wort into my hand and tried to pick up the particles of trub but they are so miniscule they are never a problem in the chiller. I follow the instructions and always back flush the chiller immediately, I don't give the wort time to settle. As soon as the wort has gone through to the fermenter I close one tap and open another and some of my sparge water gets washed through the chiller. I then reconnect the fittings and back flush with sparge water. During cleanup I take the chiller out completely and drain the remaining water. I have noticed that when I brew again and I run boiling water through to sanitise the chiller I may get a couple of tiny particles flush out. The chiller still runs as good as the day I got it, and for a 40 lt brew I use approx 175 lts of cooling water which takes 10 minutes to pump through the chiller.

 

[Zwickel]

Hi T.D.

since two years now Im using a plate chiller with no problems at all.

Exactly as razz mentioned, the particles in the wort are that small, they never can obstruct the plate chiller, provided that youre doing an efficient whirlpool.

After use, Im flushing the chiller with caustic soda as Im doing with all of the equipment, afterwards rinsing with hot water and blowing out with compressed air to dry the inside.

thats all.

My plate chiller is one of the equipment I wont miss anymore.

Cheers

 

[BrissyBrew]

I strongly suggest a good prefilter because hops will clog a unit, or a counter flow for that matter. Hot break can be flushed, if you are really paranoid about nasties living inside, you could always pressure cook it, I strongly suggest using distilled water so you dont get scale buildup.