Sanitize Blichmann Therminator

Usually I recirculate StarSan through the Blichmann Therminator before use. I forgot this time. Should I recirculate hot wort with the hose off before chilling to kill anything? Or just trust my cleaning from last brew day. (I pump StarSan in the reverse direction as my clean up process. And I did dump the excess by rotating it multiple times before storing it.)

Pump boiling hot wort through the plate chiller for 5-10 minutes before you turn on the chill water. That will kill pretty much anything that could be living in there.

It's what I do for my batches since getting a pump. Once done chilling, I backflush it a couple of times then run PBW through it via the pump. Sometimes I let it soak with PBW in it for a while, to break up anything else that might be in there.

This is an Imperial IPA with 6oz of hops in the kettle.

I have a screen installed in the kettle valve.

I hope that the Double-mesh Stainless Strainer will catch most of it and not clog the kettle screen. (that has happened before)

I used my hop spider with 6oz of hops (pellet) in my last batch. No issues with the 40 plate chiller I have (ChillHog 4000 from Rebel Brewer). I don't have any filter on the valve going from my keggle, since I have the spider (stainless steel except for the nylon bag). I'm thinking about making a larger diameter spider in the next couple of months. My current one uses a 6" diameter stainless ring. I have an 8" diameter ring that I can drill (and tap the holes) to take it's place. With large nylon mesh bags, that will increase how much hops I can use in my batches.

Thanks! the wort is in the fermenter now. I post some photos after I pitch. I'm going with Nottingham dry... all out of US-05, I guess.

To make a long story short I just cracked an 11.7% Old Stock ale from North Coast and went with the plan.

At the end I had to use the 22" SS Spoon to scratch hops off the kettle screen but I wound up at 4.5 gallons. That's fine, I don't expect to have a tap free by then. This is going into 2L growers... I'm going to my first real club meeting swinging on IPA night!

Respect to the BN Army tho!

I only drink home brew on a brew day/night... Then again, I only drink home brew whenever I'm home, or not at a restaurant. I supply my sister/mother with my home brew, making sure there's still some at their place before I go again. If they're almost out, I bottle up some more (from keg) and bring it.

Anyway, I would use the recirculation of boiling hot wort to sanitize the chiller moving forward. IMO, it's an easy way to get it done. Plus, you don't need to worry about doing it ahead of time. Clean the chiller as you would normally and you should be fine. If you get/make a hop spider, then you'll have even less to worry about and not need to clear the screen from the valve anymore.

Here are the picts: