wbutler

Recipes 

So maybe this is a naive question, but I was thinking about my new therminator the other night and the fact that I need to build a backflush hose for cleaning when I thought, "Why do I need to clean out the coolant side? Beer doesn't touch it, and it's just water anyway."

So why do I? Plenty of stores are selling those hoses for $19, so somebody must be doing something with them, but I'm damned if I can figure it out. It seems like I can just run hot PBW through the wort side in both directions and then just let it drain. As for the coolant side... why bother?

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Commercial on Tap: None
Drinking: 90-Minute Redhead
Secondary: Sweetwater 420 Clone
Primary: Spiced Winter Ale

Buford

Recipes 

Backflushing isn't for the coolant side, it's flushing water through the wort side backwards to the normal flow to get any hop bits and trub out that got caught in the plates.

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Flying Dutchman Unlimited Ale Works
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FERMENTING: ---
KEGGED/IN STORAGE: ---
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DIY STUFF: Sanyo 4912 kegerator conversion

ScubaSteve

Recipes 

Yeah, what he said

Also, if you can manage to pulse the flow (like kink/unkink a hose) you'll probably get better results. That agitating motion has unclogged a lot of my gear when continuous pressure never could.

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UNIBREW 5500 SINGLE VESSEL BREWERY
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wbutler

Recipes 

AHHHHH it's so simple!!! Greatness, that sorts that out. Thanks for the tip on the agitation, that's a very clever idea.

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Commercial on Tap: None
Drinking: 90-Minute Redhead
Secondary: Sweetwater 420 Clone
Primary: Spiced Winter Ale