Best plate chiller for the money?

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carsonwarstler

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This summer is the breaking point with my immersion chiller.... I've brewed nearly every weekend and its taking me somewhere around 45 min-1 hr to chill my wort to about 78... then I can't get it to drop any lower. I've tried multiple ways to get the tap water down in temp: adding a 25ft coil that runs through a bucket of ice water before the water hits my IC, also, having a cooler of ice water and using a sump pump to pull it out.... no magic fix with either.

With that said, I like the idea that most plate chillers use: something like 58 degree water, pumping thru at 5gpm will drop 5 gal of wort from boiling to 70 degrees. This seems like something I can control more easily with a sump pump and I won't feel like I'm wasting a ridiculous amount of water.

Ideas on the best plate chiller for the money? I'm looking at effective, easy clean up, and cost. I'm willing to spend a little more if the others benefit. Any suggestions are appreciated.
 
They will all work well, just look for total surface area, that will be the best bet for you to cool quickly. They are all a pain to clean, and pellet hops gunk them up real good, but there are tons of threads on here with cleaning regimens listed, so you'll be fine. Personally, I have the Keg Cowboy 30 plate, and I love it!
 
I've had both an IC (22 ft of 1/2" ID copper) and my current plate (30-plate Duda) chiller on the E-BIAB rig.

For both, I've used hose water (water out goes to the yard) as far as it will go. This time of year in Texas, that's mid-80's. I then pump recirculated ice water from a cooler. 30# of ice will get a lager wort down from 85*F to 44*F.

Recirculating wort through the plate is a little faster than my old IC, but not amazingly so. Don't expect any huge changes.

If you plan to use iced water from the beginning of the chill, plan on having a large amount of ice on hand.

Finally, do you stir your wort when using the IC? That makes a huge difference.
 
I use one from dudda diesel, they've got them listed on a price to chilling power ratio. It was a little tough to get used to cleaning it right, but now I've got it to a system, I put SS camlocks on it from BobbyM at brewhardware.com, so now I have a hose that screws onto my garden hose on one side and connects to the camlock on the other side. Switch that between each side of the chiller and it works wonders.

I've had problems with hop material clogging it, but not since I made a hop spider. When I did I would just stop the beer flow, switch the in and the out sides and start it again, it would push out any clog and only waste a couple ounces of wort.

Mine's all gravity, so a pump might make it even easier.

I've been thinking about making a air hose to camlock connector to get all the water out of it before I store it. Not sure what kind of pressure it would take though. My thought is that 10psi would be enough to dry it, and no where near enough to damage anything.
 
I've had both an IC (22 ft of 1/2" ID copper) and my current plate (30-plate Duda) chiller on the E-BIAB rig.

For both, I've used hose water (water out goes to the yard) as far as it will go. This time of year in Texas, that's mid-80's. I then pump recirculated ice water from a cooler. 30# of ice will get a lager wort down from 85*F to 44*F.

Recirculating wort through the plate is a little faster than my old IC, but not amazingly so. Don't expect any huge changes.

If you plan to use iced water from the beginning of the chill, plan on having a large amount of ice on hand.

Finally, do you stir your wort when using the IC? That makes a huge difference.

I usually use tap to get it down to around 100, then pump the ice water. I'm using a really small sump pump, what GPM pump do you use? And is it a sump or just a regular pump and you hook up a hose from your cooler? And yes, I frequently stir the wort during chilling. Maybe I'm pumping too slow and the heat exchange happens in the first couple ft of coil, making the rest of the coil ineffective? Is there a target GPM when pumping ice water?
 
I usually use tap to get it down to around 100, then pump the ice water. I'm using a really small sump pump, what GPM pump do you use? And is it a sump or just a regular pump and you hook up a hose from your cooler? And yes, I frequently stir the wort during chilling. Maybe I'm pumping too slow and the heat exchange happens in the first couple ft of coil, making the rest of the coil ineffective? Is there a target GPM when pumping ice water?

I use the $39 (on sale often) 1268 gph submersible pump from Northern Tool.
 
I use one from dudda diesel, they've got them listed on a price to chilling power ratio. It was a little tough to get used to cleaning it right, but now I've got it to a system, I put SS camlocks on it from BobbyM at brewhardware.com, so now I have a hose that screws onto my garden hose on one side and connects to the camlock on the other side. Switch that between each side of the chiller and it works wonders.

I've had problems with hop material clogging it, but not since I made a hop spider. When I did I would just stop the beer flow, switch the in and the out sides and start it again, it would push out any clog and only waste a couple ounces of wort.

Mine's all gravity, so a pump might make it even easier.

I've been thinking about making a air hose to camlock connector to get all the water out of it before I store it. Not sure what kind of pressure it would take though. My thought is that 10psi would be enough to dry it, and no where near enough to damage anything.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look at them. If I do go plate chiller, definitely using air to dry out before storage. This summer has been brutally humid... had to bleach and pressure wash the driveway because it turned green...already turning back to green. Its wild
 
They will all work well, just look for total surface area, that will be the best bet for you to cool quickly. They are all a pain to clean, and pellet hops gunk them up real good, but there are tons of threads on here with cleaning regimens listed, so you'll be fine. Personally, I have the Keg Cowboy 30 plate, and I love it!

Thanks. I'll check out the cowboy 30.
 
I use the $39 (on sale often) 1268 gph submersible pump from Northern Tool.

Ohhh ya I was way under shooting the flow. I want to say I have a really small pump from harbor freight and it was like 260 gph. I'll make the switch, much cheaper than a new plate chiller and the needed fittings. Guess well see how it goes.
 
Duda Diesel supplies about 80% of the online brew shops. DD wholesales it, then the online brew shop brands it with their own name and sticker. You save about 15-20% by buying direct from DD.

I have a 30 plate Duda Deisel that cost me $85.00 that gets me from 212F to 70F in about 16 minutes in the winter, 25 minutes in the FL summer for a 5 gallon batch.
 
Ohhh ya I was way under shooting the flow. I want to say I have a really small pump from harbor freight and it was like 260 gph. I'll make the switch, much cheaper than a new plate chiller and the needed fittings. Guess well see how it goes.

I have the same pump but I'm not sure you need a higher flow rate. It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference for you though! Please post your experience here :rockin:
 
I've been thinking about making a air hose to camlock connector to get all the water out of it before I store it. Not sure what kind of pressure it would take though. My thought is that 10psi would be enough to dry it, and no where near enough to damage anything.

Bad idea. Most air compressors have oil in them. I wouldn't blow any air down mine.

I have a Duda Diesel as well. It's the 23A 30 plate version. Best bang for the buck. To dry it out, and clean it, put it in the oven for a couple of hours at 350. I back flush it immediately after use, with pbw and fresh water, then bake it.
 
Bad idea. Most air compressors have oil in them. I wouldn't blow any air down mine.

I have a Duda Diesel as well. It's the 23A 30 plate version. Best bang for the buck. To dry it out, and clean it, put it in the oven for a couple of hours at 350. I back flush it immediately after use, with pbw and fresh water, then bake it.

I was going to use the air I use for my spray guns, goes through a regulator and then an inline filter. It's a luxury that most don't have, although I think cheapo inlines run like 20 bucks.
 
Holy SHIZ, I don't even have a wort chiller and get my wort chilled in under 20-25 minutes in Dry heat 80-85* weather. Here's what I do. First of all start collecting a few gallon milk jugs or I like those Gallon AZ tea jugs, fill with water and toss in the freezer the day you're gonna brew. If you have an ice chest, throw them in there with your ice until you're ready. I have a SS ball valve on my SS brew kettle, but also use an Aluminum 32 Qt pot. When boil is done, take off your burner and immediately take one of those jugs that are near freezing and gently pour around the sidewalls, gently with no splashing, slap your lid on your kettle/cover with a towel, and place chem ice or even a couple pieces of dry ice (if available), just make sure that ZERO water is allowed to enter the kettle. My Kettle lid forms a tight fit and has a bit of hang over, so water drips off the sides. Wait 5 minutes and gently pour another near frozen bottle around the sides. I also do this while under my porch, out of direct sunlight. So if you have an ice chest or a large storage container also works, place your sanitized secondary brew kettle in the ice bath covered with foil or atleast a sanitized lid ( Sorry I do this step when I place my last hop additions in). Ok pour third bottle gently around sides and place brew kettle up on a support higher than your ice bath. I hook up a high temp piece of tubing and very slowly allow water to trickle into your secondary kettle. That last bit of my topping off water (which is refigerated overnight) is added to the primary brew kettle to help aerate and help cool off wort as it transfers to secondary kettle. This is also where I filter my wort so that it's clean as it hits the secondary kettle. Remember to keep foil around your tubing to prevent dust and nasties from getting in your wort to ruin it. Cover when you're done and move inside for pitching your yeast.

I know it's a bit different, but it works and I have it dialed in. If you have a wort chiller, you could just fire it up as normal, still pour water around the sides and then transfer to secondary while still running your wort chiller, then place chiller in secondary after it's about halfway filled.. I mean the right concept is there of moving water around to cool off...There is always a way to improvise without having to dish out bunches of money.
 
I also have the duda diesel b3 -23a 30 plate chiller (long one) and I love it! It seems to chill as fast as I can pump the wort through. I run boiling water through it both before and after (back flush) then pump a little star sans in and let drain. I have not had an issue yet with it. I also use a hop spider during the boil to keep the crud out.
 
Duda Diesel supplies about 80% of the online brew shops. DD wholesales it, then the online brew shop brands it with their own name and sticker. You save about 15-20% by buying direct from DD.

I have a 30 plate Duda Deisel that cost me $85.00 that gets me from 212F to 70F in about 16 minutes in the winter, 25 minutes in the FL summer for a 5 gallon batch.

What water source are you using in the summer?
 
I just use my garden hose....the water is usually about 82F this time of year, but due to the recent rains, it was actually about 76F last Sunday when I brewed, and I got down to 80F in about 20 minutes, also using my buddy's pre-chiller in ice.

The ground water is typically about 66-68F in the cooler months.
 
Duda Diesel supplies about 80% of the online brew shops. DD wholesales it, then the online brew shop brands it with their own name and sticker. You save about 15-20% by buying direct from DD.

I have a 30 plate Duda Deisel that cost me $85.00 that gets me from 212F to 70F in about 16 minutes in the winter, 25 minutes in the FL summer for a 5 gallon batch.

Hold up a sec... I actually am one of the shops that wholesale from Duda. I charge $1 less than they do and I include the mounting wingnuts too. Ok, carry on.
 
Hold up a sec... I actually am one of the shops that wholesale from Duda. I charge $1 less than they do and I include the mounting wingnuts too. Ok, carry on.

And you can add on some shiny new camlocks and silicone hose while you're at it.... Just a suggestion...
 
The therminator isn't the cheapest tool on the market but I haven't found another plate chiller that would outperform it!
 
Did someone say, their are long and short plate chillers? The longs coast more, but you get more. The longs will give the best (smallest) 212*/80* temperature difference (TD), from ground water to wart out-put. The shorts are for people like me who have cold ground water all year long. I have the DD 40 short, it works well with a large TD.
 
The DD B3-23-30 (30 plate long model) also has the option for standard fittings on the chilling water. I am able to attach my cam lock fittings from Brewhardware.com on all four connections. This allows me to use ice water instead of garden hose water, and allows for easy back flushing with no additional equipment.

On top of that the DD is extremely efficient. I did a pseudo scientific test with just boiling water and my DD cooled the water just as fast as the Therminator and cost about $75 less.
 
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