Plate chiller vs immersion chiller

[Geneticjim]

Hello,
I have 2 plate chillers one I bought new, the other I got used with my brew rig. I like them BUT I'm always worried I didn't get them clean enough. I was thinking about getting a nice immersion chiller so I won't have to worry about that anymore. How long usually does it take to use an immersion chiller with ice water to cool to ~65*F. With my plate chiller it was about 15 min. I can also whirl pool the wort with my setup.

I think my phone posted this in the wrong section... Sorry

 

[InLimbo]

There are a few factors which will influence how long it takes to cool your wort with a wort chiller:
-your personal batch size
-Size of your wort chiller (diameter AND length of the tubing)
-incoming water temperature
-agitation of wort around the chiller (I gently agitate my coil while its in my kettle)

I've used a wort chiller exclusively in my rig and I'm interested in switching to a plate chiller. I used a plate chiller once with a guy in my home brew club, and I was sold on it. The wort chiller is pretty quick (assuming you pre-chill your in-coming water, and use a large enough chiller for your batch size), but there's no way you'll get to pitching temp (~65º) faster than a plate chiller.

 

[mpmccann]

There are a few factors which will influence how long it takes to cool your wort with a wort chiller:
-your personal batch size
-Size of your wort chiller (diameter AND length of the tubing)
-incoming water temperature
-agitation of wort around the chiller (I gently agitate my coil while its in my kettle)

I've used a wort chiller exclusively in my rig and I'm interested in switching to a plate chiller. I used a plate chiller once with a guy in my home brew club, and I was sold on it. The wort chiller is pretty quick (assuming you pre-chill your in-coming water, and use a large enough chiller for your batch size), but there's no way you'll get to pitching temp (~65º) faster than a plate chiller.

Ditto...

 

[stonebrewer]

Many brewers use plate chillers so I do not think you should fear using them. Run boiling wort through them to kill anything that might be lurking in them and you should be fine. Crap does accumulate in them and if you cannot take them apart like the pros can, you can try several things (none of which worked for me) like running PBW, caustic, etc through them. I always have hop material in mine and have just come to accept it. No off flavors or infections in hundreds of brew sessions. I was at a brewery a couple of weeks ago and they had not cleaned theirs in years...chilling was taking many hours, so they cleaned it and it was nasty. Chilling was back to about an hour...shrug!

 

[Dcpcooks]

Both work! It'll take longer with emersion but a whirlpool will help.

FYI, You can bake your plate chill at 400 for 45 min and it's will kill everything.

 

[Upthewazzu]

I picked up a plate chiller a few months ago and run it in conjunction with a closed loop cooling system (i.e. copper coil chiller in ice bath -> sump pump -> plate chiller -> repeat) and it is amazing. I mostly did it because my tap water gets very warm in the summer months and I was wasting an incredible amount of water trying to chill my wort. Out West, and especially in the dry summer months, that's generally frowned upon.

 

[mpmccann]

I actually baked my plate chiller last night. First time ever, had it for years. I always cleaned it in place with the usual methods described but after a close inspection I found some ultra sticky resin with mold growing on it inside one of the wort ports. I haven't had a chance to brew in a few months, and suspect that is why the mold started to grow on it. I can't wait to get home tonight after work and see just how much debris comes out of it. I am hoping to see a lot of burnt ash material. Also I used the cleaning function of my oven so I know it was super hot in there plus I also have a clean oven now too.

 

[budonze]

Both work! It'll take longer with emersion but a whirlpool will help.

FYI, You can bake your plate chill at 400 for 45 min and it's will kill everything.

I boil mine for 10 mins the morning or day before I brew. I clean it after every brew by running and soaking in PBW. Even after thorough cleaning and back flushing, hops still come out after boiling the chiller. Never had an infection or plugged chiller.

So far imo the plate chiller is far superior to my old immersion chiller... but there is a little bit more maintenance to be done with plate chiller.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Hello,
I have 2 plate chillers one I bought new, the other I got used with my brew rig. I like them BUT I'm always worried I didn't get them clean enough. I was thinking about getting a nice immersion chiller so I won't have to worry about that anymore. How long usually does it take to use an immersion chiller with ice water to cool to ~65*F. With my plate chiller it was about 15 min. I can also whirl pool the wort with my setup.

I think my phone posted this in the wrong section... Sorry

I toyed with the idea of getting a plate chiller over the years, having used both immersion chillers and counterflow chillers. The cleaning required was always a sticking point for me, but I figured that eventually I'd get one, once the prices on the chillers that could be taken apart and cleaned came down.

Then one night while reading HBT after drinking a bit too much, I got a Hydra immersion chiller. Best impulse buy ever. With a whirlpool, I take 6.5 gallons of wort from boiling to 68F in seven minutes. When I need to go lower, I fill a 5-gallon bucket with ice water and use a Harbor Freight pump to push the ice water through the Hydra once it hits 70F on ground water.

My last brew session I had a buddy brewing with me, and I told him how fast it would chill. His eyeroll suggested he was not a believer. Now he is.

So if you want a faster chill and less cleaning, you could always go with a Hydra.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I boil mine for 10 mins the morning or day before I brew. I clean it after every brew by running and soaking in PBW. Even after thorough cleaning and back flushing, hops still come out after boiling the chiller. Never had an infection or plugged chiller.



So far imo the plate chiller is far superior to my old immersion chiller... but there is a little bit more maintenance to be done with plate chiller.

I've boiled before as well. It's amazing the amount of crud that comes out.

Now I just back flush it with hot water. Then I hook it up to a sump pump and recirculate it with hot PBW while I'm cleaning kettles. Give it a hit rinse. I sanitize on brew day.

Whenever I've got a little extra time I'll boil or bake. It's really just for peace of mind. PBW is probably enough.

After all the years I've been brewing wild and sour beers in my space I've got more wild yeast in my brew space than I could possible have in my plate chiller. Mug

 

[passedpawn]

I abandoned my plate chiller recently. I got tired of it clogging with hop material, especially when doing back-to-back batches. Also, no matter how thoroughly I cleaned it after a brewday, a week later I could run the hose through it and nasty stuff would come out.

I got one of these: Jaded Counterflow Chiller. Seems like the best of all worlds: a cleanable counterflow chiller. BTW, I can't use an immersion with my electric kettles.

 

[applescrap]

Hello,
I have 2 plate chillers one I bought new, the other I got used with my brew rig. I like them BUT I'm always worried I didn't get them clean enough. I was thinking about getting a nice immersion chiller so I won't have to worry about that anymore. How long usually does it take to use an immersion chiller with ice water to cool to ~65*F. With my plate chiller it was about 15 min. I can also whirl pool the wort with my setup.

I think my phone posted this in the wrong section... Sorry

Its a no brainer imo. I chill in like 5 minutes with a 30 dollar ic. Look at all the stuff people have to do with plate chillers and they are expensive. Pumps, cleaning, clogging, rot you cant see, I remain baffled why no one does what I do, but to each their own. I have stated how I chill quickly many other places but the short story is I agitate it as it chills. I cant recall but I think 5 minutes is right.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I've never used a plate chiller, so I cannot speak to them except I too worry about gunk buildup. Even if it's sanitary, I don't like the idea of my wort passing through a dirty (but not contaminated) chiller.
I used a 25' copper IC for about a year, and it was okay. It would get me to 100F in about 10 minutes as long as I stirred it in the kettle, but the last 30 degrees took exponentially longer the lower the temp got (less difference between groundwater temp and wort temp means change rate decreases).

Then I got into Low Oxygen brewing (LODO) for which I wanted to get rid of copper, so I got a 50' stainless IC. It definitely worked better, and I tried unsuccessfully to sell my copper one. Then I was looking for solutions to get my wort to lager pitching temps, and it was suggested that I use my copper IC as a pre-chiller for my SS IC. Damned if it doesn't work like a charm!

I put my copper IC in a bucket of ice water (mostly ice plus a healthy portion of table salt to help the water get below freezing temp). Now the cool ground water passes through that and becomes super cold before hitting the SSIC in the wort. I can go from boiling to 45F in about 25 minutes that way. It is absolutely priceless if you do a lot of lagers (which I do).

 

[Homercidal]

I have used a CFC for all of my brewing. It works. It's far less likely to harbor stuff inside or get clogged than a PC, but both things have happened.

I'd LOVE to get an IC to help limit those things. I'd probably build one like the Jaded Brewing multiple stage chillers, which is like having 2-3 chillers in one unit. It's simply far more efficient than a single pass IC.

Once I get my brewing system all figured out, I'll try to build something that will fit my BK. I have too many things going on inside the Bk to make using an IC easy.

I'd never want to use a PC nowadays. Too many downsides. When a multi-stage IC can chill as fast, or nearly as fast, it's a no brainer.

 

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

At the brewery that I work at we run hot water and PBW through the chiller, from both the 'Wort In' and 'Wort Out' sides, for 5 minutes each. We then attach our C02 tank and blast it through both the in and out for 30 seconds. This seems to do the trick for us.

 

[Geneticjim]

Wow. Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like I will boil my plate chillers also. I've baked them but never went past 350*F. How much heat can those PC take?

 

[passedpawn]

Wow. Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like I will boil my plate chillers also. I've baked them but never went past 350*F. How much heat can those PC take?

I think most people just pump the wort through it for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Worked for me.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I boil mine for 10 mins the morning or day before I brew. I clean it after every brew by running and soaking in PBW. Even after thorough cleaning and back flushing, hops still come out after boiling the chiller. Never had an infection or plugged chiller.

So far imo the plate chiller is far superior to my old immersion chiller... but there is a little bit more maintenance to be done with plate chiller.

Sorry to jump in after such a long time, but I'm going through this myself, in planning.

1. When I had my all-gravity system, including a very short, manual whirlpool (5 minutes) followed by 20-40 minutes before beginning IC, the wort coming out of my BK was crystal clear. The whirlpool was very effective and I kept the wort coming slow enough out of the (side draw) siphon tube that I got very clear wort. 10 gallon batches and though I don't have time logs on any of this, the IC did a good job up to about 75 or so, IIRC, then slowed considerably as it reached faucet temp. A cool tank and sump pump as described here would have helped.

So, the first question - is there some kind of difference in draw using a pump and a plate chiller, such that it's all but impossible not to draw hops and trub into the cooler? I use exclusively pellets - does a hop spider work on them?

Second question - the Therminator comes with a back wash assembly. Any reason you couldn't run a hot recirc and caustic loop, and that it would work, just like in a brewery?

Edit: Whoops, a 3rd. With the IC, I got great cold break that settled with everything else in the whirlpool cone. That, too, stayed behind. I'm ambivalent about cold breaking in the chiller, and drawing somewhat turbid wort into the fermenter, though someone tell me - I'm just being a freak in my insistence on crystalline bitter wort into the fermenter, right? Actually, I'd have to look it up but I believe some cold break is great yeast chow.