Divorcing my plate chiller

This thing is nothing but trouble. Constant clogs as I recirc. Might be my fault but I am looking at spending some money to fix the issue so I figure I want to make sure I do it right. I was thinking of going with a b3 50 ft half inch whirlpool chiller. I also am able to use a sump to recirc ice water through the chiller. Will this thing handle 12 to 14 gallons. I have a 20 gallon megapot.

Also thought about a counter flow but if anyone has experience here let me know.

I understand that the problem could be remedied with the plat chiller........but I'm tired of that thing........it needs to go. Thanks

Use a cfc, they are more forgiving. If your water is too warm you can recirc, but I haven't needed to with my well water.

Just one of the copper inside hose ones?

What's the specs on the plate chiller. Number of plates, length, manufacturer, model number?

Rebel brewer 40 plate chillhog

Mail it to me. I'll show it who's boss.

Sale or trade in classifieds

Come on reinstone! No one wants an old broken down plate chiller that is always clogging! If you send it to me I will make it pay for its transgressions!

I went from a 50 foot B3 whirlpool immersion chiller to their Chillzilla convoluted CFC. No regrets. Like mentioned above, you can recirc through it with no trouble and it is very forgiving. When you do your pass through it to the fermenter, keep the pump moving slow.

The WIC will handle the volumes you're talking about. But it's nice to not have to deal with the big chiller dunked in the kettle.

To slow pump you restrict pump inflow?

IME, a hop spider goes a long way to keeping a plate chiller clog-free. Also, Duda Diesel chillers seem to be less clog prone.

And does the counter glow do good with large whole hop bills.

reinstone said:

This thing is nothing but trouble. Constant clogs as I recirc. Might be my fault but I am looking at spending some money to fix the issue so I figure I want to make sure I do it right. I was thinking of going with a b3 50 ft half inch whirlpool chiller. I also am able to use a sump to recirc ice water through the chiller. Will this thing handle 12 to 14 gallons. I have a 20 gallon megapot.

Also thought about a counter flow but if anyone has experience here let me know.

I understand that the problem could be remedied with the plat chiller........but I'm tired of that thing........it needs to go. Thanks

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Went through the same crap with the Therminator. I'm not trying to persuade you in any way, just saying how i solved my problem. I built an IC from two 25 ft half inch copper coils in parallel. I use it as a reverse herms exchanger in a temp controlled mash tun, then rinse and drop it in the BK. It drops from boil to 70* in 15 min. (12 gal).Then switch to ice water and finish at 50* in about 10 min. It will also do step mashes which was a primary reason for making it. Just some food for thought. I recirculate the wort while cooling and wind up with trub and hops in a pile inside the inner circumference of the cooler. Cheers

reinstone said:

To slow pump you restrict pump inflow?

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Restrict your pump outflow. Inflow should always be 100%. For whole hops, I would use a hop bag.

The cfc still needs to be filtered for whole hops. Here's my experience with just trying to drain without any sort of filter. A bazooka will work splendidly.

[ame]http://youtu.be/ZbPT06H2guo[/ame]

[ame]http://youtu.be/6hWisfvMaxM[/ame]

I really like the chilzilla/chillus convolutus.....keep in mind they have a helical internal tube, so if having unseen buildup bothers you, don't get one.

BUT, a 50' 1/2" chiller is a beast. It may take a minute longer than the other models (just as fast for 5 gal batches), but it has none of the difficulties.

Plates work very well, but they are high maintenance.