Therminator plate chiller sanitation (look at this!)

[m1k3]

After brewing I back flush my Therminator plate chiller. Then I recirculate StarSan with the pump.

Every few brews I recirculate hot OxyClean.

I have started to flush the Therminator with water to ensure I am not storing it full of StarSan.

But then.... Before brewing I recirculate StarSan just to make sure everything is sanitized and get this out!?!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1474078159.738896.jpg

 

[day_trippr]

Any chunky bits in there?

Might be time to strip any fittings off the PC and give it a nice bake in the oven...

Cheers!

 

[m1k3]

Any chunky bits in there?

Might be time to strip any fittings off the PC and give it a nice bake in the oven...

Cheers!

I have never baked it. Maybe it's time?

 

[Yeastieboy]

I heat (boil) .25oz PBW in a tea kettle and pour it into one of the wort ports on my plate chiller. Let that sit for 30-40 minutes and trust me, the inside of your chiller will be shiny. Rinse with cold water and air dry.

 

[day_trippr]

Judging from that pic, it can't hurt.
500°F for a few hours (most ovens can hit that), let it cool 'til you can pick it up bare handed (it'll take awhile) then flush the wort channel in both directions, preferably with substantial pressure.

I have camlock male fittings on the wort channel ports and made up an adapter to get to a female GHT thread. I can couple that at either end and give the PC a good blast - way more pressure & volume than my pumps can manage...

Cheers!

 

[stevehaun]

Why not pump oxiclean thru the chiller after every batch? If you don't have a pump, soak it in a bucket of hot oxiclean after every batch and then rinse.

 

[m1k3]

Why not pump oxiclean thru the chiller after every batch? If you don't have a pump, soak it in a bucket of hot oxiclean after every batch and then rinse.

after a 5 hour brew day, it was 100F outside... I really don't want to spend more time pumping hot oxiclean through the plate chiller.

When it do "get serious" and do the oxyclean recirculation it's usually early in the morning while I'm waiting on the mash anyway.

I have boiled the Terminator one or twice but that never occurs on brew day.

 

[The_Bishop]

Soaking it is far less effective than pumping through/recirculation. I had a plate chiller, what I used to do aside from circulating hot PBW through it after brewing and power flushing it both ways is occasionally make caustic to circulate through it hot. Despite my best efforts with regular cleanings, the caustic would dissolve and dislodge a fair amount of gunk. I ended up moving away from plate chillers and going back to an immersion chiller for a while, then to a convoluted counterflow fromZChillers. The counterflow is much, much easier to keep clean, seems to be just as effective as my plate chiller, and has a much faster flow when I'm recirculating back into the kettle/whirlpooling with it.

 

[Yeastieboy]

I'm cool with soaking for deep cleans. I boil some water in a teapot, toss in a few ounces of PBW and funnel it into the plate chiller. Let it soak for an hour and it's clean as a whistle. Definitely still flush and back flush after each use. It's a PITA.