Plate Chiller Input Water Question

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bmbigda

bmbigda

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Question for plate chiller users...what is your input water flow rate like? What is the resulting output water temperature? I'm not looking for any specific figures, just general idea. i.e. very slow water, very warm output, etc.

I am finding that I need my input at full blast to cool properly, but the output it cold and it's a huge waste of water.

Thanks
 
I have the water input at full blast and the water comes out warmish. The question is what is your wort input? Do you have it at full blast? This summer I did a test on two batches, one at full blast and another half closed. The one on full blast hardly cooled it below 100 and the output water was steaming. The other that was slowed cooled to about 80* and I can go even slower and get it to 70*.

Can't wait for winter here in MN with that freezing ground water
 
yea - I've been struggling with this plate chiller since the day I got it. I've probably brewed something like 12 batches with it by now. And maybe 3 of those batches cooled in a reasonable amount of time. The rest were a struggle.

I have the typical setup:
40 plate duda-diesel chiller (the taller one, not the longer one)
march pump w/output ball valve
10 gallon batches
chiller mounted vertically, wort-in on the bottom, water-in on the top

my ground water is in the mid 60's this time of year, much colder in the winter.

Regardless - duda-diesel uses 68* for their performance charts and I'm certainly below that threshold, and not cooling in the quoted 10 minutes. This past batch was closer to an hour, with the input water at full blast and the input wort at a slow trickle.

I've had 1 batch where I cooled 5 gallons in 8 minutes and that was my best. It was a porter. One of my theories is that hop debris significantly decrease performance, though I tend to remove most hop debris before using my PC.
 
Hmmm, a 40 plate chiller should definitely be doing a better job than that. What temps are you getting it down to? Are you recirculating back into the kettle or straight into the fermenter. I go straight into the fermenter and get it down to 70-80* depending on how impatient I am feeling but if you're doing 10 gallon batches and recirculating back in I could see how that might take long. I've never done that since I don't have a pump but would see how it might slow down the process.

Do you whirlpool to keep hops and debris out?
 
bmbigda said:
yea - I've been struggling with this plate chiller since the day I got it. I've probably brewed something like 12 batches with it by now. And maybe 3 of those batches cooled in a reasonable amount of time. The rest were a struggle.

I have the typical setup:
40 plate duda-diesel chiller (the taller one, not the longer one)
march pump w/output ball valve
10 gallon batches
chiller mounted vertically, wort-in on the bottom, water-in on the top

my ground water is in the mid 60's this time of year, much colder in the winter.

Regardless - duda-diesel uses 68* for their performance charts and I'm certainly below that threshold, and not cooling in the quoted 10 minutes. This past batch was closer to an hour, with the input water at full blast and the input wort at a slow trickle.

I've had 1 batch where I cooled 5 gallons in 8 minutes and that was my best. It was a porter. One of my theories is that hop debris significantly decrease performance, though I tend to remove most hop debris before using my PC.
Click to expand...

I wish I had some help to offer. I have the exact same setup - the taller 40 plate dudadiesel mounted veritcally and a march pump w/ valve on output. My well water is around 50 degrees and with my pump output valve opened 1/4 to 1/2 of the way, I can cool 10 gallons to 70 degrees in less than 10 minutes . My chiller is oriented so the wort output is at the bottom of the chiller FWIW. I whirlpool after the boil and let it settle for 15-20 mintues. I think the combination of the wort temp dropping to around 180 after 20 minutes coupled with the 50 degree water helps.
 
20 plate high efficiency plate chiller not hard mounted just resting horizontally. Wort is pumped in via a march pump, out put is a 1/2" ball valve in a Tee with a thermometer. I recirculate ice water from a cooler using a small fountain pump through the plate chiller. I get temps in the mid to upper 50's out of the chiller with the ball valve cracked a little less than half way open. Temps climb into the 60's about half way through then on up into to low 70's as my ice begins to run out. The average always works out to mid 60's in the carboy. I generally take 10 to 15 minutes to run all 5 gallons into the carboy.

I when I do a lager I really slow down the output and plan on using twice as much ice. I dose half the ice then when it melts and temps climb I add the second batch of ice. Doing that I can keep the temps into my carboy in the 50's quite easily.
 
Just scored a used 40 plate Duda Diesel plate chiller from a buddy for pretty cheap but the only thing I don't like is that the wort stays hot until going through the chiller. When I've brewed with him we run tap water full blast throught the chiller and the wort outflow is barely cracked to get the wort down to 68ish. The one thing i like about my IC is how quick the temp of the entire volume of wort drops initially. So I was thinking of using my IC with recirc arm first to quickly get the wort down to around 140+- then dc that and hook up the plate chiller. Anybody out there using this method?
 

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