The Therminator wort chiller

Anyone know anything about this? Worth the price? How it works etc. got some money burning a hole in my pocket, Thanks, Ken

I love mine. I put quick-disconnects on it and it is really a godsend to my brewery. Uses less water and chills very quick. Easily adapted to a recirculating ice bath for even colder water for lagers. Cleaning is as easy as rinsing good immediately following any use, followed by a good cleaner (PBW or Oxy-Clean), and then a good no-rinse foaming sanitizer like Star-San.

from what i hear it can't be taken apart and is therefore VERY difficult to clean. you could immediately run boiling water through it before and after use, but there are always pockets that crap can get into. you run the risk of infected batches in the future. also, you're not saving much water if you have to run boiling water through it to sanitize and clean.

but i don't know how bad that problem really is. the price isn't bad.

My personal choice is the Jamil style whirlpool chiller. I am using a modified system, but that is a different story. I feared the longevity and my ability to keep the therminator clean over time.

Other than that fear, it kicks major @ss and chills very efficiently.

I plop mine into the pressure canner every 4th or 5th brew after cleaning. I am working on steam injected mashing, so I may do it every brew in the future since I am already making the super-heated water. I used to be a worrier, and after the first two times of using the Therminator I went back to my IC. Now that I have better hop and break filtration, I just run my wort straight-thru on its way to the fermenter. I throttle the pump valve to get my temperature right, and use a Blichmann Thrumometer for my temperature measurement. When I get really into lagers, I am thinking about buying another Therminator or a Shirron as a pre-chiller for my Therminator wort chiller input water. Maybe "that" hooked to a recirculating ice water bath would be perfect for below 50*F water very fast.

I am no longer scared of the inside of my Therminator, so I have to promote the product because it does such a fast and neat job. I will say this, without a pump and a good cleaning regiment I would not touch a plate type chiller.

Hey John Beere, how do you go about cleaning and draining that thing. I was curious when I read that thread. I so need to make me one of those all-in-one type of contraptions. Once again, Nice Rig!!

Mine is not a Thermonator, but I love it. It has two zones. I back flush with caustic to keep mine clean and acid wash once in a while for mineral build-up.

WortMonger said:

I will say this, without a pump and a good cleaning regiment I would not touch a plate type chiller.

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+1. Good advice.

I've been backflushing it with about 15 gallons of Star San that I pump through my entire system after every brew and 5 gallons before every brew. I think I'm going to pick up a cheap pressure cooker to clean it at some point...

I got a great 23qt P-Canner for under $90 delivered. Presto brand and very easy to use. I love it and it is big enough to fit the whole thing in with the disconnects on it (which are polysulphone and rated at 250*F+).

Remove the rubber edge cover or you will have a mess!!!

Love mine... haven't had any infection issues. Keep in mind this is also what many of the micro-breweries use (just larger).

I've used a Shirron for over a year now with no issues. I do gravity feed only. I do the OxyClean+StarSan or Iodophor clean/sanitize routine. Lately I've gone to not throttling the wort flow through the chiller but rather post chilling the wort to pitching temp. That said, I am going to go to a Jamil style re-circ setup as well to get a faster boiling to sub critical temp and follow up with refrigiration of the semi-warm wort down to pitching temp.