How to keep break matter out of your plate chiller?

[kombat]

I'm getting a little tired of my usual chilling routine and am wondering if there is a better way. It occurred to me to ask the good folks at HBT.

Currently, I use a cylindrical "hop screen" (a hop spider that hangs on the edge of the kettle) to contain my hops during the boil. Additionally, I have a "Hop Stopper" attached to my kettle's outlet port. It's just a pickup tube that reaches out to the center of the kettle, and is enshrouded in a frisbee-shaped stainless steel mesh to prevent break material from getting to the pickup tube. I chill using a pump and a plate chiller.

This works fine - I don't get any hop or break material escaping the kettle. The problem is it's annoying to have to break down the Hop Stopper and clean it every time. I'd love to remove it from the kettle completely and try simply whirlpooling, but I'm worried about contaminating my plate chiller with those first quarts of boiled wort before the whirlpool really gets going (I recirculate the wort back into the kettle until it reaches pitching temperature, then siphon the wort into a fermenter).

So, fellow plate-chiller owners: How do you prevent break material and hops from potentially clogging your plate chiller? How do you whirlpool without sucking particulates into your chiller and potentially creating a cleaning problem?

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I don't like cleaning my filter either, but I don't think there's any way around it.

 

[ThreeSheetsBrewing]

Could you just whirlpool without the chiller and add the chiller once your cone has been formed?

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[Nate]

Never had an issue with our plate chiller getting clogged (Therminator). That being said, it's also the first thing we flush and clean following a brew session. Knock on wood, we've also never had an infection. I had the same concerns before we got ours but, again, it's been good.

Also remember that if this was a big issue, you probably wouldn't see them in widespread use... both commercially and for home brewers.

 

[NervousDad]

I've tried just about everything.

What is work for me now is:

I increased my beer volume by 1.5 gallons and whirlpooling, using a spoon to stir for about 1 minute. I let it sit for 25/30 minutes.

I also use a short dip tube that hugs the side of my kettle. So I end up leaving approximately 2 gallons of break/wort in the bottom of my kettle.

It has been working perfectly for me and my beer has improved greatly.

 

[acidrain]

I built a filter using a polycarbonate household filter housing and a 300 micron ss mesh screen rolled into a tube. The tube is held in shape with a zip-tie and placed in the housing, which I remove and clean after each use. It can double as a hop infuser too.
You can buy nice SS housings that are basically the same thing, but I'm cheap, and I built this for about $40.
I've done 3 or 4 brews this way, and this last time I cleaned it with lye, and only got three little chunks out of it.
I whirlpool too, but I found that unless the wort is chilled down, it doesn't separate. Now I whirlpool and chill at the same time, and by the time it's cooled down, it's ready to go into the fermenter as clear wort.

 

[eastoak]

isn't break material forming IN the plate chiller too?

 

[acidrain]

The bottom line is, plate chillers work way better than immersion chillers, and don't impede the whirlpool. The downside is they get crap stuck in them, and most people that I've talked to confirm that you have to do something to try and keep the chunky stuff out or eventually it will clog.
Cold break material is not chunky, and will wash out.

 

[Natdavis777]

I havnt had an issue with this yet, knock on wood. I put my hops in pantyhose and pull them before I whirlpool. Only the whirlpool hops go directly in to cut down on trub. My dip tube in my boil kettle immediately 90s so it rest in the kettles wall and no where near the center. I've always had a nice trub cone at the end and it leaves about 2 cups of wort behind.


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[Clarke]

How to keep break matter out of your plate chiller?

Yeah, don't use one...

Every experience I have witnessed someone using a plate chiller, it got clogged or they had some sort of problem. Plus when I look at my siphon and see the crud inside it before using it and how hard it can be sometimes to clean, makes me nervous to what maybe in that plate chiller that I can't see and maybe didn't try so hard to clean. I personally don't like them.

 

[b-boy]

Anyone use a domed false bottom to keep the hops out of your plate chiller?

 

[NervousDad]

I used to use a false bottom, but I always got hops in my chiller.

With a whirlpool I get clear wort. This is from stirring for 1 minute and letting it sit for 25.

 

[BigFloyd]

I recirculate with a chugger pump through a Duda Diesel plate chiller and back into the kettle when cooling. My E-kettle has a simple angled pick up tube at the bottom edge, no false bottom. I use a DIY hop spider (4" PVC) with a one gallon paint strainer bag clamped to the bottom.

I've never had my plate chiller get clogged with hop gunk or break material.

 

[pjj2ba]

This is what I use. Easy to take apart and clean.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/easy-inexpensive-kettle-hop-filter-taco-stopper-249996/

I don't recirculate back to the boil kettle, but gravity drain the kettle into a grant (modified corny) leaving all of the hops and hot break behind (about 5 min - could pump and go faster, but I don't). I then recirculate chill in the grant with no additional filters and have no problems with my plate chiller.

 

[BreezyBrew]

I recirculate with a chugger pump through a Duda Diesel plate chiller and back into the kettle when cooling. My E-kettle has a simple angled pick up tube at the bottom edge, no false bottom. I use a DIY hop spider (4" PVC) with a one gallon paint strainer bag clamped to the bottom.

I've never had my plate chiller get clogged with hop gunk or break material.

Same here BigFloyd