Plate Chiller Help

[baptistbrewer]

Alright so I've been brewing for a couple years. I've had my Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller for about 30ish beers.

Recently I moved and wasn't able to brew for like 6 months. I attempted to sanitize everything and dry it out. But since starting to get back into it My last 2 beers were no good. Suspecting my plate chiller I put my chiller in boiling water and really tried to flush it out.

It was gross. Alge, old hop particles, every disgusting thing came out of it. So I think that's my infection suspect.

My question is what to do from here? Is the chiller salvageable? Do I toss it? I though I was flushing it well after each use, but apparently not so.

And if I do buy another how do you guys sanitize and flush it?
What are simple other options for chilling? I live in CA so because of the drought don't really want to use an immersion chiller.

 

[day_trippr]

Remove all rubber bits and bake the PC in the oven at 450 for a few hours, let it cool and flush out the ashes...

Cheers!

 

[JonM]

Totally salvageable. Another vote for baking the heck out of it. I've done 400 for an hour and then turn the oven off and let the temp come down on its own.

How do you clean it after use? I mix up some diy pbw (3 gal hot water [usually the first 3 gallons of discharge from the chiller] 70 g of Oxyclean Free, 30 g of Ace/Red Devil TSP Substitute) and recirculate it through the pump and chiller while I clean other stuff up.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

It can be a little dangerous, but get some caustic (sodium hydroxide) and make a stiff solution in hot water and recirculate that through the chiller. I have been pretty amazed at what caustic will remove compared to PBW.

 

[baptistbrewer]

Thanks for the replies. Right now I currently back flow water through for like 5-10 min and flush with water for a couple more then pump sanitizer through it and let sit in santizer

 

[JonM]

Totally guessing here, but I don't think water or sanitizer can free up the organic gunk that builds up in there but pbw does.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

^correct. You will need some sort of alkaline cleanser to remove organic deposits.