Blichmann Therminator

I have used it twice. Once without the Hopblocker and once with the Hopblocker. Each time I used it, I would immediately flush it with 2-3 gallons boiling water, then 5 gallons of hot water, then 4-5 gallons of cool water then 3-4 gallons of starsan. Then drain it and let it sit.

After a few weeks I thought about the debris that would probably be left in it as my HERMS system is on hold I cannot use that to chill. So I filled the HLT with 10 gallons of cool water and back flushed. Then I added another 10 gallons and flushed again.

This is what I captured after 20 gallons of flushing both ways:


After another 10 gallons for a total of 30 we decided to fill the HLT again, add a screen to the top to catch the debris as we recirculated the water so as not to waste so much.

This is what we have after 30 minutes of recirculating thru the Therminator switching the input every 10 minutes:







I was trying to get it clean so I can use it with hop bags and the Hopblocker next time but I'm beginning to wonder if I am ever going to get this thing clean.

Cleaned the screen after another hour o recirculating clean water and this is what I got:

This looked like mine some years ago now... It looks like irish moss there to me? Sure that ain't what I am seeing? I had a problem with irish moss, so I switched to whirlflock and had no more particulates. Even still, a good trip in the oven at 450-500 for an hour and it won't matter what is in there. It will be dead for sure! I have always used the hop sacks and never had a problem there...

So take all the connections off and stick it in there then flush again or does the oven pretty much disintegrate what is in there?

Yambor44 said:

So take all the connections off and stick it in there then flush again or does the oven pretty much disintegrate what is in there?

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You can flush again after it cools off, but honestly I think I STILL have a small particulate inside the thing here or there. I got it used from a friend who completely clogged it up. I never really cared though, it runs and flows great, and the oven treatment did break most everything up but most importantly, if it is still in there, it is crispy critter dead so I don't care. I have made some great award winning beers after this ordeal over the years. After brew day, I simply flush it with plain ice water left over from chilling, drain it and keep it in the deep freezer frozen solid until next brew day! I will do the baking treatment just for safe measure about every five or six brew days.

Lonnie Mac said:

You can flush again after it cools off, but honestly I think I STILL have a small particulate inside the thing here or there. I got it used from a friend who completely clogged it up. I never really cared though, it runs and flows great, and the oven treatment did break most everything up but most importantly, if it is still in there, it is crispy critter dead so I don't care. I have made some great award winning beers after this ordeal over the years. After brew day, I simply flush it with plain ice water left over from chilling, drain it and keep it in the deep freezer frozen solid until next brew day! I will do the baking treatment just for safe measure about every five or six brew days.

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That sounds like a good plan. Makes me feel better about bacteria and infections. I know you live in a climate simliar to mine and are far more experienced than me so what you say means a lot.

One more question ....once it is frozen in the freezer, what is your time frame for brew day> Do you take it out the night before, heat it up some how, or....???

Yambor44 said:

That sounds like a good plan. Makes me feel better about bacteria and infections. I know you live in a climate simliar to mine and are far more experienced than me so what you say means a lot.

One more question ....once it is frozen in the freezer, what is your time frame for brew day> Do you take it out the night before, heat it up some how, or....???

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Ah! Sorry I left that out! Yes, one thing also I said but it is pretty important make sure you completely drain your therminator before the freezer storage... I take it out of the freezer soon after I have the mash resting on brew day and place it in my 5 gallon star san bucket. It sits there filled with star san until chilling time. After chilling, I simply redirect my chill tank water (10 gals of ice water) to the beer "in" port and pump the full 10 gals of ice water through it. That is all I do, then drain, and freeze. Ready for next brew day!

Sweet. Thanks! Just pulled it out of the oven. Once cool it will go into the freezer.

No wonder you have crud in it. You aren't cleaning it; you're putting hot water and sanitizer through it . Get some PBW or some other type of CIP (clean in place) stuff and circulate that first. It will eat away at the organic materials left in the nooks and crannies, and dissolve them or flush them out. Once that is done, then do water circulation and/or sanitizer.

I use a stuff that I get from my LHBS store, called CIPton. It is caustic, but it will clean my carboys without scrubbing at all, and get all hard to clean stuff out of my tubes after a few hours, depending on concentration.

I used hot Oxiclean last brew with it. 5 gallons. Water was so hot that when I added the Oxi the pump lost it's prime due to the oxygen it immediately added to the water. Sorry I forgot to add that initially.

I guess I am confused as to why you put it in the freezer between uses. What is the intent?

Clean or not, I have seen some nasties grow. The freezer wards that off pretty well...

weirdboy said:

I guess I am confused as to why you put it in the freezer between uses. What is the intent?

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I assume to keep any bacteria from forming inside. Lonnie lives in Texas and I in Florida so our humidity is pretty high. Throw in the higher temps in the summer (92 here today) and you can get some nasties pretty quickly.

Yambor44 said:

I assume to keep any bacteria from forming inside. Lonnie lives in Texas and I in Florida so our humidity is pretty high. Throw in the higher temps in the summer (92 here today) and you can get some nasties pretty quickly.

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Man you got that right! Plus there is that bug thing too...

So I just got the therminator and have had 4 batches go through it so far. All I have done is connect the hose line to go through the water in/out and wort in/out and flush it out while using the water out to wash down the area. Then just made sure it was nice and drained and shelved it. Do I need to do more to keep it clean? What is the actual oven process that you guys are using? And if I dont have space in my freezer would just a cold fridge be beneficial?

I placed mine on a cookie sheet in the oven at 450 for one hour. Removed and let cool. Then flushed it again the next morning before use. I would assume that putting it the fridge should work okay.