Sanitizing & Cleaning Your Plate Chiller

[davepeds]

I did several searches on HBT to figure out the answer to my questions, but didn't find anything. HBT searching is sometimes fruitless.

How would you advise me to pre-brew sanitize my Duda plate chiller - I'm hearing some people bake theirs - how hot? Any danger in this?

I would also like to hear how people clean their plate chiller post brew. There are a lot of folks reporting on strange smells, cloudy sanitizer, and chemical reactions - alchemy may have been discussed. What's the right way?

 

[Golddiggie]

Just run boiling hot wort through it for the last ~5 minutes of the boil... Done. You'll need a pump to do that, so if you don't have one, then you'll need to use the bake method. I would reach out to Duda to find out how long, and at what temperature, it's safe to oven sanitize the chiller. 250-350F for even 5 minutes (once the inside is at that temp) should be enough to kill anything in there. IMO, longer than 10 minutes is probably over the top. But, you'll need to cover the wort side openings before you let it cool any with sanitized foil in order to keep it sanitized. IMO, more effort than it should be.

 

[davepeds]

I googled IMO. According to Wiki, you're making reference to International Mathematical Olympiad - which, to be sure, is exquisitely intimidating. I'mma hit up Duda, thanks for the suggestion

 

[Golddiggie]

I googled IMO. According to Wiki, you're making reference to International Mathematical Olympiad - which, to be sure, is exquisitely intimidating. I'mma hit up Duda, thanks for the suggestion

Well, we know which '*ass' version YOU are...

For cleaning my plate chiller, I use PBW solution. I mostly give it a good soak inside it which normally gets everything nice and loose. You can also pump PBW solution through it, to get it even more clean. Just run clear water through it after to rinse and you'll be all set for cleaning. I would also setup a back-flush hose for the chiller. That way, once you're done using it, you can simply run the chill water through the wort side, in both directions, getting most of what gets caught out right then and there.

 

[passedpawn]

Chiller gets sanitized by running boiling wort through it for the last 15 minutes of the boil. If you don't have a pump, this might be impossible.

After a brewday, I clean it by placing the host sprayer up to the port and blowing water through it for a few seconds (until it runs clear), then repeat on the other side. No PBW or oxyclean or anything like that. Must be 50 batches like this. I do use a hop spider to hold my hops.

 

[cl330b]

At the start of brew day (still clean and dry from the previous brew day), I soak the entire plate chiller in sanitizer until I hook it up to use it, usually 15 - 20 before the end of the boil. I bag my leaf hops for the boil and have a screen on the dip tube in the boil kettle to minimize particles inside the plate chiller. After I am done cooling my wort, I back flush and forward flush several times with hot water until it runs clear. What i have found though, is no matter how much I shake the plate chiller after use I can still hear liquid sloshing around inside, even though nothing is dripping out. I then bake the plate chiller for an hour at 350. When it's done it's completely dry inside. I have been doing it this way for quite sometime and have never had any ill effects. I'm sure you'll find your "groove" with it though.