I took the plunge

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ILOVEBEER

ILOVEBEER

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I bought a 40 plate chiller (a little bigger than a therminator) off of ebay from a seller in hawaii for 105.00 delivered. My water during winter is roughly 60* which should work awesome for 10 gallon batches.

In the summertime I plan to use my old IC in my 15 gallon keggle HLT with some ice blocks I home make and run the hose water though it before it goes to the plate chiller...it should work well (I hope).

I am still building my RIMS system which is almost done....few more things to buy and wire.

What do you guys think about the 40 plate chiller?
 
ILOVEBEER said:
I bought a 40 plate chiller (a little bigger than a therminator) off of ebay from a seller in hawaii for 105.00 delivered. My water during winter is roughly 60* which should work awesome for 10 gallon batches.

In the summertime I plan to use my old IC in my 15 gallon keggle HLT with some ice blocks I home make and run the hose water though it before it goes to the plate chiller...it should work well (I hope).

I am still building my RIMS system which is almost done....few more things to buy and wire.

What do you guys think about the 40 plate chiller?
Click to expand...

well sir,
I may not be the best one to reply to your question, but you did mention a piece of equiptment I do know something about, The Therminator. If it does as good or better than the theminator, you got a steal. Bring the temp down with tap water, then switch to ice-water to bring down to pitching temp. Congratulations on your buy!!
 
well I am not for certain that it is a perfect match to the threminator, but from the dimensions I have gathered it is a bit thicker than the thermintor (30 plate) which would put it at a 40 plate dimensional measurement. I think I did ok with the purchase.

Coincidenatlly, are you pretty happy with the therminator's performance?


Thank you for the response!
joe
 
I love my Therminator. But she needs TLC. I can't recirculate rough wort and hops through without possible clogging. I reciculate through Lil-Sparky's hop bag and also have 2 feet of braid on the boil kettle out-put to the cooler. so far no problems.
 
What are the dimensions of the chiller? Plate chillers work on surface area I believe, so while the # of plates is one variable, the overall dimensions of the chiller are too.

L x W x # of plates = total surface area.

You could have a 50 plate chiller that was actually less eff. than the Therminator based on overall dimensions. The Therminator is about 6.5' of surface area. My HERMS coil that doubles as my closed system chiller, is a little over 7' of surface area, you should be in the 7' range as well.

Sounds like you got a good deal though regardless.
 
I just got the skinny on the therminator. It is a 40 plate (not 30 as I was led to believe) with the same dimensions as the one I bought. I think the reason the therminator is so expensive is the patent, name and the fact it has the proper male fittings for beer brewing application already on it.

IMO it is twice the amount of money for the same product. I actually am happier witht the ebay product...it already comes with 1/2" FNPT threads. I am usig all SS QD's from morebeer which will help me connect and disconnect my oxygenator/thermomoeter setup to the outlet side of the heat exchanger and all of the inlets/outlets are on the same side.


I think I scored gentlemen.....for once I think I got a decent deal on a good piece of equipmant.
 
ILOVEBEER said:
I just got the skinny on the therminator. It is a 40 plate (not 30 as I was led to believe) with the same dimensions as the one I bought. I think the reason the therminator is so expensive is the patent, name and the fact it has the proper male fittings for beer brewing application already on it.

IMO it is twice the amount of money for the same product. I actually am happier witht the ebay product...it already comes with 1/2" FNPT threads. I am usig all SS QD's from morebeer which will help me connect and disconnect my oxygenator/thermomoeter setup to the outlet side of the heat exchanger and all of the inlets/outlets are on the same side.


I think I scored gentlemen.....for once I think I got a decent deal on a good piece of equipmant.
Click to expand...

I bought the same plate chiller from the same guy and have not used mine yet. The one thing I would like to point out is that at the bottom of his add on EBay he/she mentions that a group buy at a reduced price would be entertained....
 

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