My Shirron plate chiller performed great the first 5 batches of 10 gallons. Fast forward onto batch 13, and this thing flows like a slug. I have soaked it in PBW for over 24 hours, flushed, and used, same result. This weekend I decided to put it in the over at 400 degrees for an hour. My house smelled like burnt sugar, I then soaked in PBW again, flushed, and on today's brewday, my flow was slower than ever. I am at the point now where I'm about to scrap this thing and go with a counterflow chiller. Some specs for people:
1) Boil kettle is about 1.5 feet above plate chiller AND CHILLER AND PUMP
2) Only about 12" of tubing between pump and chiller
3) fermenters are lower than both pump, chiller, and boil kettle.
What can I do at this point to clear this thing out to where it flows like it did when it was new. Granted, I'm getting great cooling results, but wasting an @$$ ton of water, eg, 15 gallon batch, 40 minutes from boil kettle to fermentors.
1) Boil kettle is about 1.5 feet above plate chiller AND CHILLER AND PUMP
2) Only about 12" of tubing between pump and chiller
3) fermenters are lower than both pump, chiller, and boil kettle.
What can I do at this point to clear this thing out to where it flows like it did when it was new. Granted, I'm getting great cooling results, but wasting an @$$ ton of water, eg, 15 gallon batch, 40 minutes from boil kettle to fermentors.