Gravity-fed Plate Chiller question.

[tlazaroff]

Hi all,

I am using a new plate chiller (which I have no experience with) for the first time today and ran into a problem. I think I know the answer to my problem, though, I figured I'd ask anyway. I do not have a pump.

When it was time to chill the wort, and everything was connected, I opened the valve and there was no flow. This could be that I was doing a small 2.5 gallon batch and by the end of the boil the liquid level was below the ball valve (but not the dip tube). I managed to start a syphon the old-fashioned way by sucking on the tube and reconnecting it to the chiller. At this point it worked out alright.

When the wort was done draining, i disconnected the unit to find that there was still a lot of wort in the plate chiller that didn't actually drain out.

My questions:
1) Is my assumption why the syphon didn't start correct?
2) Is the reason there was wort still in the chiller because there was nothing left being pulled from the kettle?
3) What is the best way to use this?

 

[jester5120]

1) if it was below the ball valve and above the dip tube then the wort had to travel up to the ball valve to exit the kettle. without a siphon started it won't do that.

2)yes. try running just enough star san or boiled water through the chiller to push the beer out.

3)i don't know