How is your plate chiller set up?

[BadCatBrewer]

I recently purchased a Shirron plate chiller and was wondering how I should set it up to get the most efficient cooling action? Horizontal or vertical with the fittings facing you or laying flat with the fittings facing up.
I've tried it in the vertical position with the wort flowing down, but had to really keep the wort flow slow to get the temp below 80 degrees.
My tap water is about 77 degrees, so I use a pre-chiller to get the temp down to around 63 degrees...still working out the pre-chiller though...it seems like I should be able to get the temp down to 50 degrees. I'm using a small beverage cooler for the pre-chiller, so the ice doesn't get all the way around the copper coils. I'll try a larger cooler next time.

 

[Sawdustguy]

I recently purchased a Shirron plate chiller and was wondering how I should set it up to get the most efficient cooling action? Horizontal or vertical with the fittings facing you or laying flat with the fittings facing up.
I've tried it in the vertical position with the wort flowing down, but had to really keep the wort flow slow to get the temp below 80 degrees.
My tap water is about 77 degrees, so I use a pre-chiller to get the temp down to around 63 degrees...still working out the pre-chiller though...it seems like I should be able to get the temp down to 50 degrees. I'm using a small beverage cooler for the pre-chiller, so the ice doesn't get all the way around the copper coils. I'll try a larger cooler next time.

I can't see how the position of the chiller could affect cooling that much. If your tap water is 77* you are not going to get your wort real cool no mater what position you place the chiller in. You will never get the wort cooler than the temperature of the cooling water. A prechiller to drop the temp of your cooling water will work wonders.

 

[bronzdragon]

I also have a shirron and our ground water is usually around 80F or so. I've had to use various set-ups as far as pre-chillers go and I agree that the trick is pre-chilling the water before it goes into the plate chiller.

Currently I have a mini-copper pre-chiller that I hooked inline between the water and the plate chiller. I submerge that pre-chiller in ice water and try to keep it iced down good during the cooling procedure.

That's about the best I can offer.

cheers

~r~

 

[sudbuster]

I recently purchased a Shirron plate chiller and was wondering how I should set it up to get the most efficient cooling action? ...........

Do you have pumps? If not, the pre-chiller is all you can do, but you need an ice chest or some vessel such as that. If you do have pumps, then recirculate the wort through the plates and use tap water to bring the temp down as far as you can without wastng to much water. Then use your old IC in a cooler and recirc the icewater through the Shrron. I use the latter system with a Therminator and get along well so far. Cheers.....

 

[bakins]

My Shirron plate chiller holds down paper in my brewery and that's it. Clogged every other time even though I used hops bags,whirlpooled, etc. Cleaned it with caustic, baked it in the oven, etc.

FWIW, when it didn't clog, I would use ground water to knock the temp down to about 100F, then recirculate ice water (about 10 gallons total in my HLT) to get it down. I'd collect all the waste water and use it for cleaning/household tasks.

 

[schweaty]

You could move north and take advantage of our colder water temps

 

[BadCatBrewer]

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't think the plate's orientation would make a difference.
I'm going to work on my pre-chiller.
I'll do a test run using my larger cooler and make sure the entire coil is encased in ice and salt.
I'll post the results just in case anyone is interested.

 

[ekjohns]

i think the placement makes a huge difference.. see my post

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/dudadiesel-plate-chiller-needs-horizontal-259874/