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Plate Chillers kick ass
dropped my 10 gallon batch using nothing but my new plate chiller and gravity. The plate chiller brought my batch from boiling to 57.8 degrees F in 18 minutes. Dropped into two 7 gallon fermenters as it was chilling. FREAKING AWSOME. I can't say enough about this way to chill I mean, it is really the way to go.
Aren't they just the cat's ass? I am sure you already know, but make sure to give it a good backflush in both directions, and either boil it, or run some pbw through it regularly. If you clean it right away you are good to go!
which plate chiller are you using?
i'm considering getting one but not sure which one.
i'm also a little worried about getting them totally clean.
has anyone ever run into problems with keeping them sanitized?
osky777 wrote:
i'm also a little worried about getting them totally clean.
has anyone ever run into problems with keeping them sanitized?
This is a pic of my shirron with the qd's:
First off, I highly recommend using qd's if only for the sake of saving your knuckles from bleeding (at least w/ the shirron, therminator has different port setup) If you screw your connections on and off each time, you are bound to bump a knuckle into the other port's threads, and they are razor sharp, qd's avoid that. Second they make hook up and take down easy, and third, you can easily perform a back flush.
Now if you look at mine, it is pretty self explanatory, wort in comes from the pump (or gravity fed off the kettle, wort out goes to the fermenter (I have an inline blichman thrumometer- I believe a must have, I control the temp by the ball valve off the kettle for speed). The other 2 ports water in gets the hose from the source, which is connected by that qd pictured on the left, and the water out just gets a cheapo qd to a wastewater hose that dumps into the yard.
Now to backflush, I remove all connections as soon as chilling is done, connect my water in hose and qd to the wort in port. This blows hose water through the wort side and out the wort out port. Once it comes through as clean water, I reverse ports hooking the hose to the wort out, and a spare male qd to the wort in (allowing an exit). This whole process takes less than 1 minute. Then I put the chiller into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes while I do the rest of the cleanup. Once I am done w/ brewday cleanup, the plate is ready to go for the next week, and the qds keep anything from getting in there.
I also have the shirron plate chiller. I was originally going to get the therminator, just because I thought that doing 10 gallon batches meant you needed a lager chiller. I was invited to a brewday at thirstys, and he does 13 gallon batches, and uses the shirron. When I saw how fast it chilled, and that you could just chill it right into the fermentor, I was sold, I knew that was the way to go.
I use a bazooka tube, and a hop sock over that to get everything out. I just backflushed both ways on the cellar sink faucet, stuck it into my 5 gallon bucket of star san, cleaned up the rest of my equipment, and then pulled out the plate chiller from the bucket, drained it, and then capped it with the end caps it came with. I had a problem with my Propane burner, I took it apart, and found a spider web in there, so I keep everything capped now. By the way, at that brewday, thirsty turned me on to Star San, I really like that you can use it as a spray, and keep it handy, for all those times you stuck your hand on something that you shouldn't have, you can give it a quick spray, and it's fine.
bruguru wrote:
I also have the shirron plate chiller. I was originally going to get the therminator, just because I thought that doing 10 gallon batches meant you needed a lager chiller. I was invited to a brewday at thirstys, and he does 13 gallon batches, and uses the shirron. When I saw how fast it chilled, and that you could just chill it right into the fermentor, I was sold, I knew that was the way to go.
I use a bazooka tube, and a hop sock over that to get everything out. I just backflushed both ways on the cellar sink faucet, stuck it into my 5 gallon bucket of star san, cleaned up the rest of my equipment, and then pulled out the plate chiller from the bucket, drained it, and then capped it with the end caps it came with. I had a problem with my Propane burner, I took it apart, and found a spider web in there, so I keep everything capped now. By the way, at that brewday, thirsty turned me on to Star San, I really like that you can use it as a spray, and keep it handy, for all those times you stuck your hand on something that you shouldn't have, you can give it a quick spray, and it's fine.
Our little bruguru is growing up!!! Sniff sniff. Now that you have totally cooler equipment than me, I don't expect to sample anymore American Vinyl Brown Ale.
Ha ha, yea Santa was good to me, I guess my wife thought making beer was the lesser of two evils,either beer or football. I just wanted to wait to see if I needed that chiller, I could chill with ice, but it took about 45 min to bring 10 gallons down to 80 degrees.
for fathers day, i'm going to push for a March pump.
" I'll get it one piece at a time, and it won't cost me a dime, you'll know it's me when I drive through your town.....".
Johnny Cash
bruguru wrote:
" I'll get it one piece at a time, and it won't cost me a dime, you'll know it's me when I drive through your town.....".
Johnny Cash
That is perfect quote man... perfect quote....
I nominate you for quote of the year. I am a big Cash fan and that song just cracks me up.
brewchez wrote:
bruguru wrote:
" I'll get it one piece at a time, and it won't cost me a dime, you'll know it's me when I drive through your town.....".
Johnny CashThat is perfect quote man... perfect quote....
I nominate you for quote of the year. I am a big Cash fan and that song just cracks me up.
+1 Mike...if you didn't say that, I probably would have. Not a huge Cash fan, but you absolutly must respect and appreciate the Man in Black....
My brother is a drummer for a band out of Seattle, and he turned me on to Johnny about 4 years ago. I find myself singing in my loudest voice all the time at stop lights, and people laughing at me as they pass. What the hell, i't's Johnny, what do you want me to do, not sing? Is that it, you don't want me to sing to Johnny Cash you Commies!
How are all those shiron chillers working out? I am in the process of adding on to my brewstand, and with the 85 degree + tap water here in texas i need a better way to chill than my copper tubing. I was going to set up two pumps, one to pump cold water from my CLT (mash tun) and one to pump wort out of the boil kettle, and back to it setting up a whirlpool.
I was going to buy the Therminator but if I can get the shiron at less than half the price I would rather do that. Any comments out there. Any advice is more than appreciated.
Thanks
ID
I have a Shiron, and love it. I have one March pump, and QDs for everything. They are worth the money, undoubtably. Don't get a backflusher either. With QDs, you can just run water through either side to flush it out. A quick boil or rinse with sanitizer, air dry, and it's good to go. I'd also recco a Thru-mometer, so you can know the temp going to primary. I built a small wooden frame to mount the pump, and I use a couple of 90* flat elbows to hold the Shiron along with a long twisty tie to secure it. Yeah, my setup is pretty ghetto. I'd take a pic, but as you're dealing with 85 degree groundwater, I'm dealing with 6 feet of snow in my backyard. So all the brew stuff is put away until Spring....
I can honestly say without the plate chiller for large batches, it would add another hour onto my brew time. I don't know how i'd chill without it. I have yet to find a suitable platform for my brew stand, so I have my pump, and chiller, just on the ground as I chill. Talk about Ghetto, ha ha. I'd rather wait, and do it right once, then to make 3 or 4 different stands, and have them not be what I want. You can also gravity feed, this works great, just takes about 10 minutes longer. This is the way to do it if you don't have a pump yet. I think all chillers are the same though, I have a shirron, but I've seen great deals on large chillers at Kegcowboy.com
I ended up getting a Thermonator over the weekend. Like you I wanted to get one and done so i just went with the nicest one. Over the weekend I have added it onto my brewstand and got everything plumbed in and ready to go. I will let everyone know how the first brewday goes.
Thanks
ID
I love my therminator! I can chill 11 gals in less than 15 minutes! However it causes me to be a bit OCD when cleaning and sanitizing it. It also makes it a bit more important to minimize trub and hop material exiting the BK.
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