Dudadiesel: B3-23a 30 plate vs B3-36a 20 plate

[bphelan]

After looking through plate chiller thread after thread, and Dudadiesel's own chilling chart I'm now down to deciding between the B3-23a 30 plate @ $139 (a lot of love for this chiller here) and the B3-36a 20 plate @ $149. I haven't been able to find much anecdotal reviews on the B3-36a 20 plate chiller although dudadiesel puts this as its best bang for the buck chiller and chills to 75 F in 4.6 min vs 5.4 min for the B3-23a 30 plate.

I'm wondering if anyone can guide me on if it's worth the extra $10 bucks, and if there are any drawbacks to the longer 20 plate model.

I'll be chilling 11 gallon batches and I have a chugger pump. I can get free ice, so I typically recirculate tap water and then ice water using a pond pump with my current (way too small) immersion chiller and its what I plan to do with this unit

Also does anyone know if duda might be having a cyber monday sale? I know its unlikely.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, you can drive up to Piscataway and get a deal on the 23a 30 from me and not pay shipping. While I do like longer plate chillers, which is why I only sell the B23 and not the shorties, but one reason not to go with 20 plates is that after a couple years of use, your flow will definitely slow down more. With free ice, you'll just be running that wort straight into the fermenter at full flow anyway. There really will not be any noticeable difference.

 

[bphelan]

Didn't realize you sold them...good to know, its going to be a xmas gift so I'll pass your site along to the girlfriend. Just out of curiosity when you say the flow on the 20 plate with slow over time is that due to the inevitable build-up of crud in the chiller?

 

[Duda_Energy]

I assume you already purchased, but the reason there isn't much talk on the 36a series yet is they are new. Better than the 23's; that being said, how much better all depends on your water temp/desired wort temps/flow rates.