Don't Do That.

[BongoYodeler]

 

[day_trippr]

 

[firerat]

I ferment in kegs. After each round I disassemble the connections as they can get funky.

So I'm ready to transfer the dunkleweizen i have in there to the serving keg. I attach the disconnect and slowly start adding gas. And nothing is moving. I then notice a beautiful 19ish SRM puddle forming on the floor. It's coming from the out connection.

Apparently when I reassembled the out fitting I somehow failed to put the spring in it. I have no idea how. It makes sense i got no bubbles in my blow of setup. I assumed i just didn't have a great seal as the kegs I use for fermenting are not in great shape. It happens and who cares. But no. It's because I didn't check my work.

So what do I do? Aha, I modified a disconnect and took out it's spring and little depression nipple thing. Genius right? No. Why? Because in my frantic oh crap state, I didn't put the little o ring back on the screw top to the disconnect. So, more beer on the floor. I didn't lose much luckily but did make a mess. So....

Don't do that....

 

[InspectorJon]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

 

[Broothru]

This is going to be the most embarrassing thing I've posted in this thread by far. I'm so ashamed of myself.

So I have a 40-plate chiller (the kind you can't take apart to clean). After every brewday it gets flushed both ways with hot water, then drained, then put away. Usually I leave it upside down to drain and dry overnight, but the last brewday (almost three weeks ago) I did NOT. And now I'm paying the price. Brewed two batches last Saturday, both were chilled with the plate chiller. PF lager got kegged first, because it was done and I wanted some. (Do you see where this is going yet?) HORRIBLE flavor, just.....MOLD. Like when you bite into a mold spot on bread that you thought was okay but didn't look at all of it. Me being me, decided that instead of my equipment it had to be the aged DME I used for the yeast starter. The NEIPA I brewed next, was kegged yesterday. This one had to be okay, right? WRONG. The huge dry hop addition covers some of it, but that mold is STILL there. This one didn't get a yeast starter, so the DME is out. Decided it had to be the valve on the BK, so when I got home tonight took that apart. Some gunk, but no mold. WTF? Found my little round brush to clean it better, and saw the plate chiller where it lives on the table. Stuck that brush inside, and OMG it came out NASTY. I almost hurled. Everything set up for a good long boilout with oxyclean right now. Once again, I really should have known better. DON'T DO THAT.

If it's truly mold, you can knock it down with about :30 seconds of contact time with Clorox bleach, followed by a thorough rinsing, boiling (in fresh water), soaking in PBW, another thorough rinse, capped off with a StarSan soak.

It works wonders. So I'm told. Don't ask.

 

[Broothru]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

I thought it was 30 seconds! No wait, :30 minutes???

 

[seatazzz]

Just finished a 2 hour soak with LA's Totally Awesome yellow cleaner stuff solution, followed by fresh boiling solution flushed both ways for 15 minutes (after running off the first gallon, lots of brown flakes), followed by a long forceful rinse with clean water. Still seeing some brown gunk down the holes but much better. Letting it dry completely then will see what I see. Bleach may follow but I try to use as little of that as possible.

 

[firerat]

Does the 10 second rule apply to beer?

Not in the bathroom.

 

[balrog]

Just finished a 2 hour soak with LA's Totally Awesome yellow cleaner stuff solution, followed by fresh boiling solution flushed both ways for 15 minutes (after running off the first gallon, lots of brown flakes), followed by a long forceful rinse with clean water. Still seeing some brown gunk down the holes but much better. Letting it dry completely then will see what I see. Bleach may follow but I try to use as little of that as possible.

Man, I feel your pain. As OCD as I often am, I hate to, but cannot help but ask, is there really no way to disassemble in order to flambe the interior?

 

[seatazzz]

Man, I feel your pain. As OCD as I often am, I hate to, but cannot help but ask, is there really no way to disassemble in order to flambe the interior?

Nope. I did get it from my LHBS but it's the cheaper kind that doesn't come apart. Kicking myself that I didn't buy my buddy's big huge 80-plate take-apartable chiller when I had the chance but it was out of my budget.

 

[IslandLizard]

Bleach may follow but I try to use as little of that as possible.

That's not going to remove the (infectious) pulp.

I would shake that chiller out (on each side) so it's it's as dry as it can get.
Then bake it in an oven at 450F for a few hours. That will dry out the leftover flakes, highly reducing their volume and clogging abilities, while sterilizing everything.

After the bake, if you have an air compressor, blow the flakes out. Then rinse out with water. Start with a slow flow (or recirculate slowly) to slowly flush the remainder out, without creating another clog. When recirculating, filter the output through a fine-mesh hop bag or such, to trap the debris.
When all done, re-sanitize and it should be ready to go.

I filter the wort before it enters my 40-plate chiller, Rinse it out after use and let it air dry. And bake it 1 or 2 times a year, for good measure.

Kicking myself that I didn't buy my buddy's big huge 80-plate take-apartable chiller when I had the chance but it was out of my budget.

I've looked into those too. The channels in those tend to be much wider than our chillers' so most pulp will pass through. Aside from the acquisition price, all the gaskets need to be replaced when reassembling them after each overhaul, which is not a cheap endeavour either.

 

[Broken Crow]

Honestly not dissing them; but horror-stories like this are why I decided to go with a CFC despite plate chillers greater surface-area efficiency and full 1/2" flow rate.... I'm in the very slow process of building a dual-concentric CFC and I was recently thinking about giving up and just buying a plate chiller but: I always distrust products that can't be disassembled! (...maybe it's just that I'm an old fart that's been DIYing since I was 5 years old ) In any event: Thank You for inspiring me to press on with my next CFC build!

On the other hand: I am wondering if you could use sand or some other grit to pump through it to give it an abrasive flush?

 

[Closet Fermenter]

I picked up a plate chiller awhile back, but just can’t bring myself to run wort through it. This series of posts confirms my fears. What I have decided to do with it is set it up and use it to pre-chill the water that I run through my current stainless coil chiller. I can then get some of the benefits from it without gunking it up or ruining my brew.

 

[ncbrewer]

All this makes me happy to use an ice water bath for chilling the wort.

 

[IslandLizard]

All this makes me happy to use an ice water bath for chilling the wort.

You don't know what happiness is, yet!

 

[seatazzz]

All kidding aside, I've been using this plate chiller regularly (at least twice a month) for over three years and this was the first time I've had this issue. Sloppy cleaning on my part, pretty sure all it was. Pretty confident that I can get it back up and running.

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

plastic bags and grain mill dont mix- when adding grain from a bag pay attention, those bags can stop a 1 hp motor- if your bag droops- dont do that

 

[IslandLizard]

plastic bags and grain mill dont mix- when adding grain from a bag pay attention, those bags can stop a 1 hp motor- if your bag droops- dont do that

You don't happen to have a picture of that, to post, do you?

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

You don't happen to have a picture of that, to post, do you?

Not of the "crime" but I'm sure I can fish the bag out of the trash and take a picture, it's pretty munched, I had to scoop all the grain out and move it by hand as I pulled the bag..

 

[BeerNsteadofH2O]

You don't happen to have a picture of that, to post, do you?

Here is the offending bag, everything wrinkled was in the rollers (set @.040) it's a monster mill 3 G , set to 175 rpm no.load it will crush a full hopper @ 172 or so, I had filled it and was putting the last lb. . Of grain or so in the hopper after it made room..
.

 

[IslandLizard]

Here is the offending bag, everything wrinkled was in the rollers (set @.040) [...]

Interesting texture, I must say!

Thank you for posting, and showing your nice milling station too!
It looks very professional and will cause serious damage to whatever goes into that hopper...

 

[Broothru]

That's not going to remove the (infectious) pulp.

I would shake that chiller out (on each side) so it's it's as dry as it can get.
Then bake it in an oven at 450F for a few hours. That will dry out the leftover flakes, highly reducing their volume and clogging abilities, while sterilizing everything.

After the bake, if you have an air compressor, blow the flakes out. Then rinse out with water. Start with a slow flow (or recirculate slowly) to slowly flush the remainder out, without creating another clog. When recirculating, filter the output through a fine-mesh hop bag or such, to trap the debris.
When all done, re-sanitize and it should be ready to go.

I filter the wort before it enters my 40-plate chiller, Rinse it out after use and let it air dry. And bake it 1 or 2 times a year, for good measure.


I've looked into those too. The channels in those tend to be much wider than our chillers' so most pulp will pass through. Aside from the acquisition price, all the gaskets need to be replaced when reassembling them after each overhaul, which is not a cheap endeavour either.

Best advice yet on the topic!

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Been using a plate chiller for 10+yr and haven't had an issue. I run star san through it on brew day. That cleans my chillers, pump and lines. Run it for about 20-30 minutes, then the star san sits in the chiller, pump and lines during the boil (so i don't have to re-prime the pump.) The return starsan strains through a hop spider basket and it does catch a bunch of old hop matter, chunksand such. I'll run hot water through it at the end of the brew day, then just put it on its side and drain it. Sometimes I'll run it backward through there. Never tried taking chiller apart (looks like there are screws to do that) or baking it. I do a quick whirlpool at the end of the boil, 30-seconds with my spoon and let my wort sit for 20-minutes and it forms a nice cone, to keep most of that debris from going through the chiller.

 

[IslandLizard]

Never tried taking chiller apart (looks like there are screws to do that)

I've never seen a homebrew chiller with screws that allow you to disassemble it.
A Blichmann Therminator (plate chiller), has a large bolt welded to the "bottom" that holds the mounting bracket.

Can you perhaps post a picture of your chiller (or a link)?

(Industrial) plate chillers that can be taken apart, should never be heated in an oven. The (rubber) gaskets between the plates will get damaged!
Homebrew plate chillers are typically brazed with copper at high temps (1100-1600F).

 

[Broken Crow]

I've never seen a homebrew chiller with screws that allow you to disassemble it.
A Blichmann Therminator (plate chiller), has a large bolt welded to the "bottom" that holds the mounting bracket.

Can you perhaps post a picture of your chiller (or a link)?

(Industrial) plate chillers that can be taken apart, should never be heated in an oven. The (rubber) gaskets between the plates will get damaged!
Homebrew plate chillers are typically brazed with copper at high temps (1100-1600F).

I went looking for just such an animal some years back and I found this one:

Unfortunately, all that seems to exist of it now is that thumbnail image..it is no longer listed on the site that made it:
https://brewmagic.com/
...thanks for bringing up the gaskets, I'd never even considered that part.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I've never seen a homebrew chiller with screws that allow you to disassemble it.
A Blichmann Therminator (plate chiller), has a large bolt welded to the "bottom" that holds the mounting bracket.

I'm brewing right now and you are correct. Those big bolts don't go all the way through as I visualized. They are just to mount the chiller. Good thing I never tried to pull it apart.

 

[DasBrut]

This is going to be the most embarrassing thing I've posted in this thread by far. I'm so ashamed of myself.

So I have a 40-plate chiller (the kind you can't take apart to clean). After every brewday it gets flushed both ways with hot water, then drained, then put away. Usually I leave it upside down to drain and dry overnight, but the last brewday (almost three weeks ago) I did NOT. And now I'm paying the price. Brewed two batches last Saturday, both were chilled with the plate chiller. PF lager got kegged first, because it was done and I wanted some. (Do you see where this is going yet?) HORRIBLE flavor, just.....MOLD. Like when you bite into a mold spot on bread that you thought was okay but didn't look at all of it. Me being me, decided that instead of my equipment it had to be the aged DME I used for the yeast starter. The NEIPA I brewed next, was kegged yesterday. This one had to be okay, right? WRONG. The huge dry hop addition covers some of it, but that mold is STILL there. This one didn't get a yeast starter, so the DME is out. Decided it had to be the valve on the BK, so when I got home tonight took that apart. Some gunk, but no mold. WTF? Found my little round brush to clean it better, and saw the plate chiller where it lives on the table. Stuck that brush inside, and OMG it came out NASTY. I almost hurled. Everything set up for a good long boilout with oxyclean right now. Once again, I really should have known better. DON'T DO THAT.

Agreed, don’t do this. Sorry you had to go through it. If your method doesn’t work, you might want to ask a jeweler or dentist to sonicate it.

 

[fluketamer]

some of the Chinese knock-off white disconnects are great () because they are somewhat universal and can attach to BOTH the gas or liquid outpost.

however if you do attach them to the gas outpost they canl slowly leak all your beer out onto the bottom of the kegerator . So.......

DONT DO THAT!

 

[InspectorJon]

Forgot to put the cocoa powder in the boil for a Mexican chocolate stout so I dissolved it in a quart of hot wort on the stove a few days after fermentation had begun, cooled and added it to the fermenter.

Cocoa fat never really broke down. Don’t do that…

 

[sfrisby]

Forgot to put the cocoa powder in the boil for a Mexican chocolate stout so I dissolved it in a quart of hot wort on the stove a few days after fermentation had begun, cooled and added it to the fermenter.
View attachment 871919
Cocoa fat never really broke down. Don’t do that…

On the plus side, I bet more cocoa flavor came through by adding it after fermentation.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Don't drop the nut that secures your tun's recirculation port into your full MLT. Fishing a nut out of a full mash tun is not a fun enterprise.

 

[shoengine]

That's not going to remove the (infectious) pulp.

I would shake that chiller out (on each side) so it's it's as dry as it can get.
Then bake it in an oven at 450F for a few hours. That will dry out the leftover flakes, highly reducing their volume and clogging abilities, while sterilizing everything.

After the bake, if you have an air compressor, blow the flakes out. Then rinse out with water. Start with a slow flow (or recirculate slowly) to slowly flush the remainder out, without creating another clog. When recirculating, filter the output through a fine-mesh hop bag or such, to trap the debris.
When all done, re-sanitize and it should be ready to go.

I filter the wort before it enters my 40-plate chiller, Rinse it out after use and let it air dry. And bake it 1 or 2 times a year, for good measure.


I've looked into those too. The channels in those tend to be much wider than our chillers' so most pulp will pass through. Aside from the acquisition price, all the gaskets need to be replaced when reassembling them after each overhaul, which is not a cheap endeavour either.

This makes the most sense. I started using a plate chiller and I love the efficency. I do not love the cleaning. I bought an adaptor to put a garden hose on the wort side and it pukes out a seemingly endless amount of debris. I've been lazy and not cleaned my kettle and other bits same day, but not the plate chiller.

I should have taken a picture of it, but I forgot to clean out my in-line stainless sock filter and opened it up on brew day to sanitize it and was extremely surprised with how many colors trub can be when left to age.

 

[Snuffy]

Don't drop the nut that secures your tun's recirculation port into your full MLT. Fishing a nut out of a full mash tun is not a fun enterprise.

Magnet on a stick is your friend.

 

[day_trippr]

'Cept if that nut was stainless steel...

 

[Bramling Cross]

'Cept if that nut was stainless steel...

Which it was…

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Which it was…

Heir and a spare is my policy. Buy something with two spares in case one spare gets used, I still have another when I lose the spare the same way I lost the original.

 

[Snuffy]

'Cept if that nut was stainless steel...

Some stainless is magnetic. Depends on whether it was austenitic, martensitic or ferritic.
Said Wikipedia.

 

[shoengine]

I won't be drinking this gallon or thereabouts.

 

[shoengine]

The worst part is that it was wort, so even with thorough mopping I'm still finding areas that are sticky.

 

[balrog]

The worst part is that it was wort, so even with thorough mopping I'm still finding areas that are sticky.

Some of us have been banished to the outsides due to this.
Some unnamed of us.

<casts eyes downward, shuffles quietly away muttering something about Maris Otter>