cleaning the inside of a plate chiller

[philosofool]

I've been using a plate chiller for 5 years and it has served me well. After a particular incident involving a big clump of trub running into it, it has slowed down--wort doesn't pass through efficiently anymore. I've tried PBW but it still seems little clogged.

It's copper and stainless on the inside. Any thoughts about removing a large amount of organic junk from in it?

 

[normonster]

Back flush with near boiling PBW. That's what I do. I think you can also safely "bake" it in the oven. After baking the gunk would likely be reduced in size and then the PBW might get it out.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Yep. Bake it at 350 for a while. Or a lye rinse running backwards.

After my brew day my plate chiller gets a 45 minute back flush of 135°f pbw. I've got some acid around and I think I might give a quick rinse of acid soon as an annual treatment.

 

[nilswhite]

Hit it with some acid #5. Circulate it for a good 20mins changing the flow every once in awhile

 

[ArcaneXor]

After brew day I run Alkaline Brewery Wash through it, followed by a water rinse, and then Saniclean. Before brewing, I'll fill it with StarSan. Every once in a while, I'll boil it in a big pot of water.

 

[philosofool]

Yeah, I had been back flushing with the garden hose after every brew day but when I moved recently, it became more convenient to do it in my kitchen sink (I live at seven thousand feet, and the less time spent by the garden spigot at eleven PM in January, the better.) The force from the sink wasn't as good but it seemed to run clear. Another change to my system affected how I remove wort from the kettle and that's when I had a day of noticing the wad of gunk go in to the chiller. It hasn't been the same since. Once I get this fixed, I'm going back to the garden hose, and will probably do a PBW soak after that each brew day.

My sanitation procedure is to bake it at 275 for about an hour every brew day.

 

[ultravista]

Subscribing

 

[philosofool]

Hit it with some acid #5. Circulate it for a good 20mins changing the flow every once in awhile

Nitric acid dissolves copper, which is what the interior plates in my chiller are.

 

[Natdavis777]

I typically reverse flush mine after every use, but even then, some hop gunk gets stuck. I will throw mine in the oven for 20-30 min @ 375F and flush after. Opens her up like brand new.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Nitric acid dissolves copper, which is what the interior plates in my chiller are.

Indeed. But a flush won't hurt anything. The duda diesel chillers are SS with a copper brazing material. I emailed duda diesel with that question and they said it was fine. They did warn against leaving it in there. But flush it for a bit with acid and no harm will come to your hex.

 

[philosofool]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. At this point, I feel like I should be posting this in the confessions thread: the problem is way worse than I imagined and I've been pushing gunk out for a day. I baked it for an hour at 400 yesterday, then ran about five gallons of PBW through it, one quart at a time, letting it soak for a few minutes, and then soaked it in some extra concentrated PBW over night. It's still spitting out little awful chunks. It's in the oven now, and will be for another two hours. The **** just keeps coming out....

Should I consider some sort of caustic chemical to get it truly cleaned?

 

[JonM]

There is a thread somewhere about using lye, but it requires care and protective equipment. Not something to mess around with, but IIRC, it's really effective.

 

[passedpawn]

There is a thread somewhere about using lye, but it requires care and protective equipment. Not something to mess around with, but IIRC, it's really effective.

I've used lye. Yep, cleans well. It's not recommended by Blichmann though. I did it once and won't do it again, don't want to damage brazes.

I've been using the same Therminator for 5 years. Hot PBW or oxyclean, soak overnight, rinse.

 

[JonM]

Good to know about Blichman's recommendations - thanks!

Do you soak it in the Oxy/PBW overnight?

 

[passedpawn]

Good to know about Blichman's recommendations - thanks!

Do you soak it in the Oxy/PBW overnight?

Yes. I used to fill my boil kettle oxy or PBW, heat to 150F, recirc for a few hours through my pump and chiller, then rinse.

But now I just put a cap over one end of the chiller (I have camlock dust caps), fill with water, and put a fraction of a scoop of PBW in there, cap the other side, shake a bit, and let it sit for a few days, then rinse. I know this stuff works much better when hot, but it seems to work, so I'm sticking with it.

 

[ultravista]

Where are the photos?

Thanks everyone for the feedback. At this point, I feel like I should be posting this in the confessions thread: the problem is way worse than I imagined and I've been pushing gunk out for a day. I baked it for an hour at 400 yesterday, then ran about five gallons of PBW through it, one quart at a time, letting it soak for a few minutes, and then soaked it in some extra concentrated PBW over night. It's still spitting out little awful chunks. It's in the oven now, and will be for another two hours. The **** just keeps coming out....

Should I consider some sort of caustic chemical to get it truly cleaned?

 

[philosofool]

Where are the photos?

I wish the photos would be exciting, as this might offer me some modest redemption. Alas, it looks like someone dumped half a table spoon of irish moss in a pot of water. The gunk is mostly hard and lumpy, not gooey and gross. (I bake my chiller every brew day at 275 for about an hour, which explains how this happened with zero contaminated batches.)

 

[normonster]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. At this point, I feel like I should be posting this in the confessions thread: the problem is way worse than I imagined and I've been pushing gunk out for a day. I baked it for an hour at 400 yesterday, then ran about five gallons of PBW through it, one quart at a time, letting it soak for a few minutes, and then soaked it in some extra concentrated PBW over night. It's still spitting out little awful chunks. It's in the oven now, and will be for another two hours. The **** just keeps coming out....

Should I consider some sort of caustic chemical to get it truly cleaned?

Are you gravity feeding through it?

 

[philosofool]

Are you gravity feeding through it?

Yep. I don't have a pump, though that's sorta on my radar.

 

[normonster]

Yeah, would be a good next step. Being able to back flush and recirculate for a long time is really nice. I've never had to bake mine and there have been times when I got some serious whole hop wads out of it. At the least you should maybe consider hose thread to pipe adapter so you can flush with hose pressure after soaking in PBW.

 

[butterpants]

Right after use: I circulate Saniclean through it for 20 minutes then cram the garden hose in the opposite flow direction.

Sometime before the next use: Soak overnight in hot PBW

Right before use I autoclave it but baking at 340F for 2 hours should do the trick as well.


They can be a ***** to maintain but totally worth it. My method consistently yields great flow and wort stability tests that go 7 days without signs of infection....using a hop spider doesn't hurt.