Anyone have experience with CIP blichmann conical w/ chiller coil?

[dustinstriplin]

Hi all, does anyone have experience running a CIP with the blichmann conical while the chiller coil is attached?

A friend is bringing his conical to my place so we can brew together. It's a 27 gal and I don't want to cart it around to clean it. I really just want to clean it in place. I have a glycol chiller and am looking at adding the blichmann cooling coil to the lid. I don't want to detach the coil every time I CIP the fermenter, because, well, glycol is messy.

If anyone has any experience with this kind of a setup then I'd really appreciate you sharing your experiences. Are you able to effectively CIP this fermenter with the coil attached?

Thanks!

 

[Jtvann]

I use a CIP for my 14g unitank with chiller coil.

The problem I've run into is the actual size of the ball needed for small scale cleaning. 27g falls into small scale. The slits in the ball are small, and crap can get stuck in it rather than spraying through.

My process, and one of your questions, is to remove the coil. I wash the coil in the dish washer. Use quick disconnects on the glycol lines and they wont drip.

After coil is removed, spray water direct from the hose into the CIP and rinse it through. Dont return rinse water, as it will clog. After a good rinse removing large particulate, set up a loop from the pump. I fill enough to cover all ports, generally 3-4 gallons. Use PBW. I recirculate through my rims tube in line and heat to 160 and just let it run. Hot water is needed. Theres a major difference in hot vs cold when cleaning.

At the home brew scale, our pumps and spray ball just dont equate to a one time set and forget cleaning. It doesnt have the pressure or spray pattern to work as well as the big boys. It can work. I enjoy my process, but it's not just a quick one and done. Removing the chiller coil is mandatory for my process. The coil blocks spray from hitting all the walls.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

i do the same process with my spike cf15 the cip ball gets a lot of the work done but not all of it. definitely still makes the cleanup job much easier.

 

[dustinstriplin]

Thanks a lot guys! This is extremely helpful. Thanks for the CIP advice. I'll get some quick disconnects for the coil.

 

[Drumminguy81]

I have some brewhemoth stainless conicals with spike chiller coils in them. I use a spike spray ball with a fairly powerful pump. I have been doing a cip on my conicals for years with great results. What I have found is I have to clean as soon as the fermenter is emptied otherwise the gunk dries and is harder to clean. I also start by rinsing with very hot water, then I use hot water with oxiclean for at least 30 min. Then rinse with warm water and sanitize. I inspect after my oxiclean to make sure all gunk is gone, very rarely I will need to use a steel scrubber to get a few spots. Usually it is spotless after running the cip. That's just my experience.