Plate Chiller Newb

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Riles8148

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I have a brand new wort chiller (dudadiesel product) and I have all the fittings and hoses I need to use it but I am stuck....I am currently only making small batches (5 gallons) in a stainless steel kettle. How does one get the wort to go through the plate chiller this way. Do I need to transfer it to my bottling bucket? All the videos I have seen show people using the kegs with the tops cut off and a faucet on the bottom....I am totally stuck

If anyone could send me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

Prost.
 
You can gravity-feed through it.

I can't speak for "most", but I have a pump that I use to move my wort through the plate chiller. One big advantage of this is that I can recirculate the wort back to the boil pot until the temp coming out of the chiller is where I want it. (I.e., sometimes one pass through the chiller isn't enough, depending on the temp of your cooling water).

See, now you get to buy a pump! What a great hobby, right?
 
Ha ha....I know it, there is always one more thing.....I live in Wisconsin and the tap water is extremely cold, especially now...how do I get the wort through the chiller...siphon?
 
If you go with siphon, make sure you have tubing that handles the heat. I suppose you could also use a big funnel and pour it through, assuming you had the strength to hold the kettle in the right position. If not a pump, add a valve into your kettle.
 
I have mine runing through a march pump but even withit off it seems to grvity feed nicley. a pump just makes life that much better. just make sure you have a 3-4 foot drop for the gravity feed to work without flaw.:mug:
 
Riles8148 said:
The valve on the kettle seems legit.....is anyone have a how to for that operation?

bargainfittings.com sells the necessary bulkhead + valve, and also has instructions on their site for installing it. You may also need to buy a step bit from them if you don't already have a way of making a 13/16" hole.

You'll also need some sort of filter (hop blocker, bazooka screen, etc) to keep hops out of your chiller.

I'd also recommend getting a march pump if you can afford it. Aside from the fact that a pump can make the whole brew day much easier, plate chillers are difficult to properly clean and sanitize and can easily infect your wort unless you recirculate boiling wort through it immediately before chilling.
 
Riles8148 said:
Geez I feel like an idiot but please explain .....

If you put a valve on your kettle and drain the wort to the plate chiller through it, like most people do (instead of autosiphoning it), or even if you put a valve on the wort inlet of the chiller (though I strongly advise against putting it on the outlet), you can control the flow rate by adjusting the valve - in relative terms, a completely open valve provides a flow rate of 100%, a totally closed valve is 0%, and a partially open/closed valve would be somewhere in between, which is what you want.

Technically, a needle valve is much more suited to this task, but most people find a ball valve is more than sufficient.
 
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