Duda Diesel - 30 Plate Chiller

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clblittle

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Just finished a brew with my new 30 plate chiller from Duda Diesel. I was absolutely the worst customer ever (changing my order twice, and returning once) because of poor planning on my part. However I received the B323A 30Plate and just finished a batch.

I simply cannot explain how awesome these guys were, or how great this chiller is. I just cooled 10gal. to 72 deg. literally in about 8 minutes. wow. I have dumped a lot of money into my new hobby, but this takes the cake as far as investments go. Seriously, coming from the most indecisive person to ever walk the face of the earth: Do your self a favor and order one of these things today. You will not regret it. :ban:
 
I have the 40plate chille from duda diesel and I love it. Once you go plate chiller you never go back!! Don't drop it because it can dent FYI.
 
Just about to order from him,I've been looking at them all week. I'm just not sure which fittings I want to get, any suggestions
 
...I'm just not sure which fittings I want to get, any suggestions

Don't recall the exact threads/diameters, but a suggestion: set-up all connections to the chiller using quick disconnect fittings. This allows the hoses to be easily removed. Handy for cleaning and storage. These fittings you can typically get on a visit to a good local hardware store.
 
Just about to order from him,I've been looking at them all week. I'm just not sure which fittings I want to get, any suggestions

The fittings are really going to depend on your setup. I got the hose connectors for the water in/out and male threaded fittings to attach wort in/out as I use camlock QD fittings. Works great.

I also got the longer chiller with 20 plates - longer = faster cooling. It's awesome.
 
Mine came with hose fittings for the city tap water in and out. That saved a lot of money. You have to think about what supplies and returns you are going to have and at what pressure? Correct me if I am wrong, the how many plates question is about pressure in and out? What is city water pressure and what pressure is the hot wart?
 
I believe the number of plates refers to surface area, not pressure. The more plates, the greater the surface area where heat is exchanged.
 
I believe the number of plates refers to surface area, not pressure. The more plates, the greater the surface area where heat is exchanged.

It's is pretty much all about surface area, but volumes (both wort and water) typically increase with the number of plates, providing a potential increase in throughout - with the caveats including having the water and wort flow rates to take advantage.

"Pressure" per se isn't much of a factor with plate chillers...

Cheers!
 
I'm not 100% clear on this, but it seems like the more plates will allow for less tap water pressure drop = cold water filling most plates at a higher pressure. Read the intro to the plate chiller page and tell me what you think about pressure and temp and amount of plates vs longer plates with the same cooling times. I don't mean to hijack this thread.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/files/beerwortchart.pdf
 
I don't, the break and some bits of hops all get sent through the plate chiller. When I'n cleaning up hot PBW gets pumped around the system, then I back flush, then flush every possible way. Before each brew day, I pressure cook it at 15psi for 15min.
 
Just about to order from him,I've been looking at them all week. I'm just not sure which fittings I want to get, any suggestions

I got mine with garden hose fittings for the water side, 1/2 male NPT for the wort side. Then went ahead and put some quick connectors from bargain fittings on it. Couldnt be happier with it.

Like I said earlier I returned one, it was garden hose on the water side and hose barbs on the wort side. I decided that I didnt want to mess with removing from the hose barbs and sent it back. It too, is an option that may work for some.

By the way, with garden hose outlets on the water out side I hook it up to a sprinkler in my garden. ZERO waste IMO.

IMAG0186.jpg
 
mikescooling said:
I don't, the break and some bits of hops all get sent through the plate chiller. When I'n cleaning up hot PBW gets pumped around the system, then I back flush, then flush every possible way. Before each brew day, I pressure cook it at 15psi for 15min.

Pressure cooking is a great idea and obviously gets rid of any "bugs" that might be lurking. I try to keep as much break material out of my fermentor as possible. I always get some in there, which doesn't hurt the beer, but I don't like losing volume to it when I'm done in primary. I'm also starting to harvest yeast and want to avoid break material for that as well given I'm in carboys and not a conical. What loss do you usually have when all is said and done?
 
Picked one up last month and love it. Now I'm done with cleanup where I used to be pulling my immersion chiller out of the brew pot!

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Funny you should ask that Makomachine, my only brew day this summer, because the weather turned hot, was today. I'm feeling lazy and didn't want to hook up the pumps. I did gravity feed to the plate chiller then into the carboy; so I only used short runs of hose 12"-18" (no pump) it worked great!!! I even used my kitchen sink as a cold water supply, still worked great, Plate chiller cooled the boiling wart down to 80F as fast as it could go in the carboy! My losses were small, what was in the lines and plate chiller was about a 1L max. Keep in mind at the end of each brew I save some wart for the next starter. So the last 32oz in the keggel was put in mason jars and canned for the next APA starter. So I lost one 32oz and saved 32oz.
 
I also use the big 30 plate like yours. Mine has 1" socket weld fittings on it, so that I could weld in some tri clover fitings. I also had to weld in some 3/4" pipe fittings for the garden hose fittings. He has new models like yours that are more "beer friendly". I don't believe that was available back when I got mine. I was able to cool down to just above 70 degrees because my ground water was only that temp. I used a small ice bath to get below 68 degrees, which is usually my target before pitching yeast. I love my chiller. In the spring and fall, my ground water is cool enough on its own. This summer has been especially warm, so the ground water is warmer than normal.
DSC02329.jpg
 
I was just about to post a thread about the Duda Diesel Platte chiller just used the 40 Platte chiller for the first time...wow! It was instant...great product...can't believe I've been brewing for two years like an animal using an immersion chiller :)
 
How do you keep the break material out of the fermentor when you use a plate chiller?

Lots of options but here's what I do to avoid clogging:

1) Whirlpool for 5min and then let wort settle for another 10 (adjust IBU calc)
2) Use side kettle pickup tube to limit hops, etc
3) Hot wort flows to a hopback that really catches break material
4) Lastly, if I'm in the mood...I use the BH hop blocker - gravity feed

...then the plate chiller.

One other trick I've learned is to let gravity do the work as long as possible..before turning on the pump. Unless you get the pump flow just right, it's easy to force too much wort (and some inevitable break/hop material) into the chiller.

I just received the B3-23A 60 Plate chiller and am completely satisfied. With 58F ground water I can get the wort cooled and transfered fast. Ususally 16-18 gallon batches so the B3-60 cooling capacity is nice.
 
I'm looking at one of these right now. Which one should I get? Should I get one with the fittings on it?

Also, I do 5 gallon batches as of right now. It's say it will chill 10 gallons in 12 minutes. so will it only take 6 minutes to chill mine.

It take over 29 minutes for me now, so 6 minutes would be awesome
 
What do you do to filter hops, trub, ext... From the clogging the chiller?
 
Kmcogar said:
I'm looking at one of these right now. Which one should I get? Should I get one with the fittings on it?

Also, I do 5 gallon batches as of right now. It's say it will chill 10 gallons in 12 minutes. so will it only take 6 minutes to chill mine.

It take over 29 minutes for me now, so 6 minutes would be awesome



If you are going to stick with 5-10 gallon batches then the 30 plate chiller is probably a good option. Also, check out Keg Cowboy.com they have some excellent prices on plate chillers ...not 60 plate versions but lots of others.

Regarding fittings, don't worry about it. You can buy fittings at HD or Lowes for about the same price.

Chill times are based on source water temp and then adjusted for plate surface contact. I'm in Michigan where the ground water is 56-58F year round. You could use an ice water bath in a kettle to recirculate from. Saves water. I have access to a well so it's not a factor.

Brew on
 
mux said:
What do you do to filter hops, trub, ext... From the clogging the chiller?


My two choices are Hopback - whole hops in a small pot with false bottom. Or, if you don't want to use hops then a paint strainer (sanitized) can act as a good filter pre-chiller. wrap the false bottom with strainer and press into the bottom of the pot. Then let the kettle wort flow into the pot and drain to the chiller.

The BH hop blocker is another option but there are varying opinions on its effectiveness.

Sometimes the choice of how best to filter out break material is how much extra equipment cleaning you feel like doing at the end of a long brew day. I choose to filter because I like to reharvest yeast with minimal hop matter. Otherwise, I have yet to notice a difference in beers with or without hops and trub going into the fermenter.
 
Landshark67 said:
If you are going to stick with 5-10 gallon batches then the 30 plate chiller is probably a good option. Also, check out Keg Cowboy.com they have some excellent prices on plate chillers ...not 60 plate versions but lots of others.

Regarding fittings, don't worry about it. You can buy fittings at HD or Lowes for about the same price.

Chill times are based on source water temp and then adjusted for plate surface contact. I'm in Michigan where the ground water is 56-58F year round. You could use an ice water bath in a kettle to recirculate from. Saves water. I have access to a well so it's not a factor.

Brew on

Any suggestions on duda diesel verse shirron?

http://www.homebrewing.org/Shirron-Plate-Chiller_p_844.html

($89, 10 plates but longer plates)

http://www.dudadiesel.com/choose_item.php?id=HX1230BWGHF

($80, 30 plates)
 
So the longer 20 plate says it will chill 10 gallons of wort in 7 minutes! That's pretty sweet. I only brew 5 gallons right now so would that only take me 3 1/2 minutes? That would be well......awesome
 
So the longer 20 plate says it will chill 10 gallons of wort in 7 minutes! That's pretty sweet. I only brew 5 gallons right now so would that only take me 3 1/2 minutes? That would be well......awesome

I have used my long 20 plate chiller on 3 brews now, and it is... awesome. It does take me longer than 3 1/3 minutes for a 5 gallon batch, though - your ground temp will dictate how slow you need to flow through the chiller.
 
I'd take the short 30 plate over the Shirron all day. I would also step up to the longer 20 plate (well, I did at least). My only regret is not doing the long 30 plate, but the 20 works great.

+1

My suggestion is to go with the longer plates and at least a 20.....my motto is buy as much as you can afford so you can avoid needing to upgrade later.
 
Also have the long 20 plate and it works great. I opted for the 1/2" MPT fittings for use with camlocks or other quick connections. The Garden hose to MPT fittings are only a couple bucks each at HD or lowes. Also using the camlocks or similar allows you to to easily reconfigure from wort cooling mode to backflush cleaning mode.
 
Just to follow up. I ordered the (30 plate long from Duda Diesel) Sunday night, It was at my door Tuesday by lunch with standard shipping. Looks great, going to boil about 5.5 gal of water this weekend just to know what to expect.
 
Got my 30 plate chiller in today and will be testing it out later this week once fittings are received from Bobby. Can't wait to see how it works!

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Was chilling some wort (well, actually "must"...making mead) today and thought of something that might be useful to those using the Duda and probably other plate type chillers too. If you are gravity feeding through the chiller then first fill the wort side of the chiller and hoses with wort or water -- this will make the flow start much faster. Mine tends to form a bit of an air lock if started dry and it takes a bit for it fill the chiller and start to flow well.
 
Brewed with mine first time yesterday, set up my old IC in cooler with Ice and water, put the chiller in a bag full of ice, (tap water here is to hot about 78). Worked great wort came out at 68. I did have a lesson learned, the pot is still very hot while the wort is nice and cool in the fermenter. Carboy was filled in about 5 min.
I opened the valve right at flame out and got alot of hot break. Should I let it settle for some time before chilling to reduce the amount of break material in the fermenter ? If so how long ?
 
Basevol said:
Brewed with mine first time yesterday, set up my old IC in cooler with Ice and water, put the chiller in a bag full of ice, (tap water here is to hot about 78). Worked great wort came out at 68. I did have a lesson learned, the pot is still very hot while the wort is nice and cool in the fermenter. Carboy was filled in about 5 min.
I opened the valve right at flame out and got alot of hot break. Should I let it settle for some time before chilling to reduce the amount of break material in the fermenter ? If so how long ?

Any idea on your feed water temp with the ice?
 
No didn't check that. I was just trying to get any help with the tap water temp.
I was amazed at how fast the plate chiller works.
 
I also picked up the B3-23A chiller from Bobby_M at brewhardware.com, the garden hose connection version. I use camlocks on the wort side and QD's on the garden hose side. I'm really pleased with it. I found some rubber feet to put on the bottom to make it stable on the floor. When I'm done brewing, it gets hot PBW circulated through it then I fill it with Star-san and put caps in the cam locks and stow it.

dscn1693-55729.jpg
 
Acid and copper generally aren't the best of friends, and with all the copper brazing in these plate chillers, I'm leery of storing them full of acidic solution.

fwiw, I do forward and reverse flushes, recycle cleaning solution, then rinse, shake out what I can, and store for next use. For sanitation, I recycle for 10 minutes near the end of the next boil (with no water in the water side)...

Cheers!
 
. I found some rubber feet to put on the bottom to make it stable on the floor.


I like the rubber feet, I need to do some thing like that, as I not ready to mount it yet.
As for a backflush set up I got the parts at H/D for like 5 buck. one fitting hooked to a water hose to my sump pump in BPW
 
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