Did switching to a plate chiller throw off your volumes?

[kombat]

I recently bought a DudaDiesel plate chiller, and I love it. I can't believe how quickly it cools the wort down.

However, the two batches I've used it on so far have come out waaaay short on volume. As in, I usually get 5 gallons, and the last two batches I got maybe 3.5 gallons each.

I understand I must be losing some volume in the hoses and the chiller itself, but 1.5 gallons is an awful lot to lose. Has anyone else experienced this? Did switching to a plate chiller throw your volumes way off? How did you compensate?

 

[mpcluever]

Just measure your losses where ever they are and account for them. Unless you have a HUGE chiller, there's no way there's a gallon and a half in there.

 

[RoundKid]

I have a 20 plate chiller from DudaDiesel and only loose about a quart in the chiller if I don't lift it up and drain it into my fermentor. I gravity feed from the kettle to the fermetor with the help of a wort wizzard.

Did you measure your post boil volume in the kettle before transfer and accout for shrinkage from cooling?

Are you using a pump or gravity draining?

Have you changed any other equipment that might affect volume?

 

[Monster Mash]

I have a pot of boiling water ready while I'm chilling and as soon as my boil pot is empty I run that through the chiller to flush out any remaining beer into my fermenter. As soon as it runs clear I just recirculate the hot water through it to clean it out with the chilling water turned off.

 

[day_trippr]

I have a pot of boiling water ready while I'm chilling and as soon as my boil pot is empty I run that through the chiller to flush out any remaining beer into my fermenter. As soon as it runs clear I just recirculate the hot water through it to clean it out with the chilling water turned off.

I do this as well, by switching my pump input from my BK output to my HLT outlet, and let the hot water chase the wort all the way to the carboy...

Cheers!

 

[kombat]

I have a pot of boiling water ready while I'm chilling and as soon as my boil pot is empty I run that through the chiller to flush out any remaining beer into my fermenter. As soon as it runs clear I just recirculate the hot water through it to clean it out with the chilling water turned off.

The problem is that the pump I'm using loses prime VERY easily. The time it would take me to switch the hose from the boil kettle to the pot of hot water would cause the pump to become un-primed, and the whole system would stop flowing.

The only other variable is that at around the same time I switched from an IC to the plate chiller, I also lost all my equipment profile information in BeerSmith. I believe I've re-input everything accurately, but I can't rule it out as a factor. Fortunately, I've kept a printout of all the recipes I've brewed so far, and I can see that for a 60-minute boil, BeerSmith consistently instructed me to top up to 7.5 gallons pre-boil. I did that for this last batch, but in hindsight, it was a 90-minute boil (Pilsener malt), so I guess I could've lost more that way.

The confusing thing is, if it were a boil-off issue, then my gravities should be way higher than expected, shouldn't they? But instead, my gravities are still right where they should be. So that's why I'm convinced it's got to be losses in the system.

 

[Monster Mash]

The problem is that the pump I'm using loses prime VERY easily. The time it would take me to switch the hose from the boil kettle to the pot of hot water would cause the pump to become un-primed, and the whole system would stop flowing.

Close the ball valve, switch to hot water and open the valve. I've been doing it like this for 10 years and never lost prime once.

 

[kombat]

Close the ball valve, switch to hot water and open the valve. I've been doing it like this for 10 years and never lost prime once.

Hmm. The valve on the pump you mean, right? Not the valve on the kettle.

That just might work. I'll have to try that. Thanks!