Plate Chiller Issues

[jstuts2260]

So here's the deal, a few months ago I got suckered into going cheap and buying a 10 plate chiller. First off, why do they even sell this piece of ****e. Secondly shame on me for being cheap in the first place.

I'm thinking of going up to the kegcowboy 30 or 40 plate chiller. I'm gravity feeding since I'm still apt brewing.

It's summer so I realize my cold water temp is much higher than normal and I'll only get about 10 degrees above my ground temp of 80. But it took me 35 minutes to drain 5 gallons and get it to 105 (which I don't feel comfortable to pitch in).

Anyone having success with using a 30 or 40 plate chiller gravity feeding? What are your times/water temps? I like the plate chiller concept, but hate the cheap piece I have.

Thanks guys.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Honestly, my ribcage immersion chiller that I bought from someone on this forum (Red-something - sorry for not remembering the name) is more efficient and chills the wort more quickly than my 30-plate KegCowboy chiller in a gravity-setup. I now usually use the two in series, i.e. the immersion chiller to drop the temp down to 130 or so, and then switch to the plate (using the immersion chiller as a pre-chiller) to get to about 95, and that takes 20+ minutes and a lot of water. That's about as good as I can do right now without a pump while the tap water is at 80+ degrees. I take the wort the rest of the way down using an ice bath overnight.

The gravity flow works fine (I restrict it with a ball valve at the output of the plate chiller to maximize contact time and -area inside of it), but it's sometimes a little bit scary to see how much crud accumulates on the inside when you give it a thorough cleaning. No infections yet, though!

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Honestly, my ribcage immersion chiller that I bought from someone on this forum (Red-something - sorry for not remembering the name) is more efficient and chills the wort more quickly than my 30-plate KegCowboy chiller in a gravity-setup. I now usually use the two in series, i.e. the immersion chiller to drop the temp down to 130 or so, and then switch to the plate (using the immersion chiller as a pre-chiller) to get to about 95, and that takes 20+ minutes and a lot of water. That's about as good as I can do right now without a pump while the tap water is at 80+ degrees. I take the wort the rest of the way down using an ice bath overnight.

The gravity flow works fine (I restrict it with a ball valve at the output of the plate chiller to maximize contact time and -area inside of it), but it's sometimes a little bit scary to see how much crud accumulates on the inside when you give it a thorough cleaning. No infections yet, though!

More efficient? Not for me.

I can have almost boiling wort in the keggle, and have it INSTANTLY going into the fermenter at pitching temps. It is going at a trickle, but it is a steady trickle.

Using an IC to chill the ENTIRE 10 gallons down takes FOREVER. The longer the wort lingers between boiling and pitching temps, the more likely an infection can take hold.

 

[VegasBrew]

I have the 30 plate from keg cowboy and using it with gravity while I rebuild my stand. It works great, last brew I stirred my wort after the boil to semi whirl pool it to get the trub into the middle of the kettle and let it set for 15 min to settle. Wort was 205 going into the chiller with 80 degree tap water and had 83 degree wort coming out.

 

[samc]

15 minutes of rest after boil will drop my wort below 190F. Surprised that yours is still 205F, whats holding in the heat? I noted a vast improvement in my plate chiller when I let the wort cool down for a flame out addition.

 

[lamarguy]

FWIW, a 3 - 4ft high gravity fed plate chiller is typically counterproductive. Why? Because the flow is too slow to generate sufficient turbulence between the plates. Turbulence is your friend.

There is a optimal heat transfer curve and gravity fed plate chillers are typically no where near optimal. For my 30 plate chiller, the optimal wort transfer rate is ~1 gal/min.

 

[VegasBrew]

15 minutes of rest after boil will drop my wort below 190F. Surprised that yours is still 205F, whats holding in the heat? I noted a vast improvement in my plate chiller when I let the wort cool down for a flame out addition.

i put the lid on it, was doing some work in the garage, didn`t want stuff falling in it, HAH!! that is mu luck