Is straining necessary for Plate frame chiller?

Hello All,
I am in the process of devising a way to drain from my boil kettle through the ball valve via gravity through a plate chiller and then down into my fermenters and have a question regarding the chiller. My question is as follows:

I understand that plate frame chillers can easily clog and was wondering how necessary it is to strain the wort before passing it through the chiller. Also, if necessary, how do most people go about doing this? I am hoping for an in-line solution so I can open the valve and let it do it's thing. Eventually, I would like to add a hop back to this as well but do not want to rely on that becuse different recipies would not require that type of hop addition.

Lastly, how fine a strain are we talking about that will allow the chiller to work? I've tried fine strainers that instantly clog due to what I think is break material thus making a design for an inline strainer in my mind difficult.

Please let me know your thoughts when you can.

Thanks,
Dustin Hickey

I use the Lil Sparky paint strainer thingamabob and my plate chiller hasn't clogged yet! I have a center draw diptube with NO filtering mechanism before going to the chiller.

A bit confused about that response. Does that mean you use a stainer pre plate chiller or not?

I don't strain, my hop bag looks like the below. It's essentially a 5gal paint strainer bag for holding my hop pellets.

hmm. Ok, and the residue from the pellets is what would clog the chiller? not so much the hot break? Is that system re-usable or do you have to replace the bag everytime you brew? Lastly, do you loose any hop aroma / bitterness / effectiveness ?

From my experience yes, that's about the only thing that will clog the chiller that is in the boil, the hot break hasn't had an affect on my chiller yet. It's completely reusable, just dump and rinse the bag and let it dry, it goes through the boil so there's no sanitation issues. I've not noticed any hop utilization issues since moving to this method, and it's loads easier than worrying about fishing out muslin bags or cleaning the bejezuss out of the kettle afterwards.

The volume of hop junk, even for a few ounces of pellets, is far more than the hot break. Cutting the pellets out with that bag is a big help. I'd still put a coarse mesh on the intake tube anyway.

oK, thanks guys. Lastly, the bag you are using there is a standard paint straining bag? and the round plastic type object is CPVC?

-Dustin

Just a 5gal nylon paint strainer bag from Lowe's, and it's a PVC coupling not CPVC.

OK Thanks man. Gona build one of those I guess. Will probibly use CPVC instead though. PVC prolly not so good to boil with. ( toxic at those temps I think ) You may want to check it out.

I'm not boiling my PVC coupler, it's only exposed to the steam. I've not seen a CPVC coupler 4" in size, although that doesn't mean that they don't exist.

Gotcha. That makes sense.

How to:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Hop_Filter

Hey Dustin,

I have the shirron plate chiller and it clogs very easily with whole hops. With pellets, it's not as bad, but it will clog if it gets a lot. The hot break does not seem to affect it.

I have a pickup that is more toward the side, and if I swirl at flameout and wait, I'm good. If I get impatient, it will clog. I recently did an Imperial IPA with 13 oz of hops, and I left a good half gallon or more in the boil kettle, so if you do a lot of those, then you definately need some sort of filtration.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info RV6tc. I use a lot of pellet hops because I hate getting whole and plug hops that are past their prime. Ide rather use whole but when you get them and cant use them cause their too old it ruins brew day. Anyway, I think i,m gona devise sometype of conical filter for the work to pass through. Maybe a screen cone in a 5 gal buck or something. Just have to be careful not to airate wort.

I am not big on plastic in any form in my boil.

It seems like every few years, they decide that another type of plastic that we thought was safe is not.

That probably pales when looked at next to the # of brewers who still use lead lined garden hoses for their boil water.

I am sure that there is a metal screen that can be fixed over your faucet intake or inline.

Current "safe" plastics are safe for "hot" water containment......but a 60 or 90 minute boil? Repeatedly?

I would find a giant tea ball first, ingenious as that rig is wyazz.

you saying that because the paint strainer is plastic? he said the PVC didnt touch the boil.

To each their own, I'll take my chances. If I had readily available stainless "collars" I would have used those but this works for me ATM! I'm sure when I'm 90 and my liver fails they'll blame it all on BPA being leeched from my plastic hop sock instead of the 35 gallons of homebrew stashed in my basement. :rockin:

Yeah I mean the bag.

No offense intended. It is probably insignificant if harmful at all.

Hell, despite the health benefits, beer has some potential health consequences as it is, lol.

I just try to control what I can, because I know so much plastic exposure is beyond my control.
(packaged foods, etc.)

cheezydemon3 said:

No offense intended. It is probably insignificant if harmful at all.

Click to expand...

None taken, I just think we worry too much nowadays about things that were fine 10-20 years ago. As a kid I'm sure I swallowed things way more harmful to me then the stuff that ends up in my beer.