Counterflow chiller cleaning and storing

[Rob2010SS]

How do you guys clean your counterflow chillers?

I usually run oxiclean and sanitizer through it but I have not been disassembling everything on the chiller (the mash tun and boil kettle are a different story - they get completely disassebled). I thought that this was an OK approach but I think I have a problem. I went to pull a sample of the beer and, well, let me back up. You know when you leave a pile of wet towels and they get mildewy smelling? I have that smell in the last beer that I brewed (1.100 OG imp stout ferm with Notty yeast), which absolutely sucks.

I ripped apart the counterflow (the QC on the inlet and the QC/Tee/Temp probe assembly on the outlet) because that's the ONLY place it could have come from and sure enough, found some parts that were not getting cleaned enough with oxyclean and sanitizer.

I guess my first question about how you guys clean and store your CFC's is irrelevant as I'm going to rip mine apart going forward and clean it like I do all the other vessels and the unitanks.

I'm a bit confused though as I didn't have that smell in the beer prior to fermentation. I pulled a sample right from the chiller as my final OG check and it didn't have that in there at all and tasted/smelled great! There's no strange tastes in there that would signify it being infected, it's just the smell. Part of the beer was fermented in a carboy so I could see it the whole time. Nothing that acted funky on the beer at all during fermentation. Krausen looked normal (violent for sure, but normal).

Anyway, I guess this was just a rant. Thanks for listening. Feel free to post any thoughts on the issue.

 

[Tom R]

I connect my pump and BK to it and run 150F PBW thru it for at least 15 minutes. Then rinse it with hot water and drain it. I sanitize it just before next use.

 

[sharp6]

I clean my boil kettle with with alkaline brewery wash, pump it through the cfc, then rinse. I then use a wet/dry vac to blow/suck any remaining water out of it. I used to pump sanitizer through it during the boil, but decided to try recirculating boiling wort through it instead on my last brew. That batch is still in the fermenter, so the jury is still out on that for me.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Less is gonna catch in a CFC than in a plate, but I'd recommend cycling through both forwards and backwards. I flush with cold water in both directions, cycle ~160F PBW in both directions, and then rinse in both directions and then blow it out residual liquid with CO2. And then I cycle boiling wort through it 10 minutes before the end of boil and then use it to whirlpool. Sanitizer won't penetrate as well as heat does. And unless you're jamming a borescope up there every time, you can't verify that it's fully clean.

(Edit: when I say both directions I do backwards first, I do this process for both CFC and plate chillers)

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

When it's time to use the CFWC I let the boiling temp sit in the coils for a while. I believe the boiling wort temp will sanitize the coils.

Then, when finished with the CFWC, I flush with faucet hot water.