kegtoe

Recipes 

I bought this about a month ago. Today was the first time i had a chance to use it. I have the small, 30 plate model. I can't say enough how well this worked. I turned on my hose water for a minute before hooking up the wort and turning on my march pump. I only turned the valve handle maybe 1/2 turn open. and barely cracked the outlet of my pump. The wort coming out was actually too cold so i opened the valve on the pump for faster flow. I have a blichman Thrumometer between this chiller and the fementor so i know what temp the liquid is.

With the money i saved, i was able to equip it with PolyS - Quick Disconnects and i still came out cheaper. The QDs allos me to switch from hose water in to wort out and backflush the unit in no time.

Thanks for a great product at such a reasonable price.

__________________
Nate's Keezer Project
Bag in a Turkey fryer method - hybrid
Fermentation Chamber
Motorized my grain mill

kegtoe

Recipes 

I forgot to add, that i was going to use this to gravity feed my wort through it; but decided to "out it to the test" and pump through it. I cooled 5.5 gal ow 180 wort to 74 in 9.5 minutes. I'm sure if i would have opened the flow of the hose water further i cold ger the time down lots. I am even thinking of using my old imersion chiller as prechiller that sits in an ice bath.

__________________
Nate's Keezer Project
Bag in a Turkey fryer method - hybrid
Fermentation Chamber
Motorized my grain mill

Sherpa FE

Recipes 

Glad it works well for you. I also have one and love it, it has been on my brutus rig for over a year now.
They are a great price for what you are getting.

__________________
No matter how much money you THINK you are saving by brewing beer, you are still just pissing money away

RiverCityBrewer

Recipes 

I'm interested in one of these as well, I've been reading that most people backflush the chiller with a cleaner of some sort, but is that all the cleaning that is necessary? Do you all sanitize it in the oven? Pump boiling water/wort through it? What has worked for you with this particular chiller?

Thanks,

Joe

Sherpa FE

Recipes 

When using, I flow boiling wort through it for 15 minutes before flame out. After brewing is done I backflush the crap out of it, then during clean-up I pump pbw through it, rinse then pump star san through it.

I probably need to oven bake every 10-15 batches.
Josh

__________________
No matter how much money you THINK you are saving by brewing beer, you are still just pissing money away

kegtoe

Recipes 

I boilwater through it pre and post brew day. Before i use it i send Starsan through it to my fermeter, sanatizing everything.

__________________
Nate's Keezer Project
Bag in a Turkey fryer method - hybrid
Fermentation Chamber
Motorized my grain mill

Tom

Recipes 

I backflush mine with the garden hose and then pump hot PBW through it for 30 minutes. This doesn't add any time because I pump PBW through the pump and hoses anyway.
I sanitize with StarSan or bake it in the oven at 285F for 3 hours. Timebake for 3 hours and it's sterilized, cooled and ready to go in the morning.

Cpt_Kirks

Recipes 

Sounds like a lot of work for clean up. I just got mine, haven't had a chance to try it out, probably won't until I get my pump, QD's and hoses.

I wonder how much cleaning and sanitizing is really needed? I guess the fact you can't see inside tends to make everyone cautious about it.

cw_racefan

Recipes 

Hmmm, I have one and have used it on about 5 batches so far. No pump so everything is gravity feed. I simply backflush with the garden hose until no more gunk comes out, then gravity feed Starsan through it. I store it filled with Starsan. On brew day, I dump it, flush it with fresh Starsan and use it. No issues to date, though as I said I've only used it about 5 times. Definitely one of the best time savers I've added.

Craig

ultravista

Recipes 

Is it safe to leave Star-San inside the chiller for extended periods of time? You can't see what it is doing to the insides if prolonged ...