shirron plate chiller vs. ebay plate chiller

[trailblazer]

what makes the shirron any better then the plate chillers like this one on ebay?


http://cgi.ebay.com/20-Plate-Brazed...in_0?hash=item3ca04bd8e8&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[samc]

I have a chiller from Duda, used it twice so far and very happy with it. Don't think the Shirron is any different but have no experience with it.

 

[trailblazer]

what size did you get?

 

[Sawdustguy]

A plate chiller, is a plate chiller, is a plate chiller. There really is no difference other than the amount of plates and efficiency. You have to take great care to eliminate hop debris with all of them or they will surely clog.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Is the trouble with clogs really worth it?

 

[Sawdustguy]

Is the trouble with clogs really worth it?

It's really easy to prevent with a hop filter. There are lots of different types of hop filters. CFC's can clog also. You will never get something for nothing. Everything is a trade-off. IMHO Plate Chillers are the most efficient at chilling wort.

 

[samc]

what size did you get?

I got a 30 plate chiller and use a large filter bag for whole hops. I flush the chiller in both directions for a few minutes and then Oxyclean and sanitize.

 

[Dog House Brew]

After back flushing and OxyClean, I've read they need to be dry. How do you dry these after use?

 

[Sawdustguy]

I am curious as to where you read that. If you had a oiless compressor it would be easy to dry the chiller.

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Not sure where I read it, but there's a guy that puts his in the oven on "self clean mode" for an hour or so. It reduces any hop particles left in there to ash and then he just flushes it out.

 

[lamarguy]

IMHO Plate Chillers are the most efficient at chilling wort.

Ha, no need to preface a fact as your opinion.

OP, the 30 plate model is equivalent in volume and surface area to the blichmann therminator, for less than half the price.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I run Acid #5 through mine every couple of runs. Lots of folks do bake theirs for cleaning. IIRC, the Therminator used to include instructions for doing that but, not any more. Not sure why.

here's some perspective;

that said, I am thrilled with my Therminator! and I ran a shirron for nearly 2 years prior to stepping up to more plates. I should have kept my shirron to rig as a pre-chiller. Doh!

 

[trailblazer]

baking it sounds like an interesting idea. they say its brazed together and copper braze melts at like 1400 degrees, your over on self clean gets to maybee 800 or 900 degrees. thats seems like it could possibly work.

 

[trailblazer]

Ha, no need to preface a fact as your opinion.

OP, the 30 plate model is equivalent in volume and surface area to the blichmann therminator, for less than half the price.

on that model, it says theirs 3/4" npt (which i familiar with) and 3/8" sweat fitting. what the hell is a sweat fitting? does that mean it needs to be welded?

 

[Bobby_M]

You can silver solder it but I'd recommend holding out for an all-threaded one.

 

[pickles]

on that model, it says theirs 3/4" npt (which i familiar with) and 3/8" sweat fitting. what the hell is a sweat fitting? does that mean it needs to be welded?

a sweat fitting is a term for a soldered connection. No threads on it.

 

[dontman]

I'm just going to ask this:

Why four holes? Is the cold water going inside the chiller? I thought you immersed the plate.

 

[Lonnie Mac]

I have about a hundred batches on my therminator... Obviously I love the dang thing!

It lives in three places and three places only.

When not in use, I take it straight off of Brutus, flush it with my 10 gals of ice water from the HLT used from cooling, drain it for a small bit and put it straight into a sub friggin cold deep freezer to freeze solid until next brew day.

Right before a brew I thaw it out, I flush it with hose water and let it sit in a bucket of StarSan for an hour or so until I need it for chilling...

That's it really. About every four batches or so, or once a month I will bake it in the oven at 500 for an hour for safe measure.

This thing has had a hell of a life. Like I say, about a hundred batches from me alone, and I got it well used from an avid brewer friend of mine that had to get out of the hobby!

As for the hops, I use bags myself along with my full false bottom... Old habits I guess!

 

[phillc]

I have used the 30 plate version about 12 times now. It is fantastic.

I use Bobby_M's hop filter that I built. It is probably one of the absolute best additions to my system. I just brewed a 12 gallon batch on Saturday with 9oz of hops in the boil. Pellet hops, added directly to the boil. I would say that less than 1% of the solids in the kettle made it to the fermenter. It is AMAZING. I used to have some clogging issues with my plate chiller. No longer. In fact, when back flushing it, I did not see any solids coming out. Previously there was a ton. I now consider the filter nothing short of essential on brew day. I was using a false bottom previously.
DIY Hop Filter by Bobby_M

Other notes:
1. To prepare the chiller, I place it in an extra pot full of water and boil it on brew day. Super easy, fast, and 100% effective.
2. To clean it, I just put the hose up to the port and flush it out. Reverse a couple of times, then hang from the edge of a bucket to dry.
3. When using it, I make sure to run boiling wort though it for a minute or so before turning on the garden hose water adding an extra sanitation step.

Flowing at full steam with 70F garden hose water, the chiller brings the wort down to 80-85F as fast as I can pump it out of the kettle.

12+ brews though it with no issues.

 

[samc]

I'm just going to ask this:

Why four holes? Is the cold water going inside the chiller? I thought you immersed the plate.

Cold water runs through on side of a plate while the wort runs on the other side giving a large area of contact. Immersing the plate would do next to nothing IMO.

I have 1/2" npt 30 plate chiller. My QD's for wort are on one side and I found some nice brass 1/2" to garden hose connectors at an industrial supply house for fluid supplies.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'm just going to ask this:

Why four holes? Is the cold water going inside the chiller? I thought you immersed the plate.

works similar to a CFC. Wort and water flow in opposing directions.

 

[knightbeer39]

I just purchased the Shirron plate chiller from morebeer, looking forward to longer using the pain-in-the-rear immersion chiller.

Those with a Shirron, have you found that it gravity flows just fine?

 

[Sawdustguy]

I would highly recommend a pump but it worth a try. I have always used my Shirron Chiller with a pump. Its cool to watch the cold water flowing into the chiller some out steaming hot. Very cool things, these plate chillers. I recommend using Lil' Sparky's paint strainer hop bag as a hop filter with the chiller.

 

[ForRealBeer]

I have a Therminator and I run an ice-water slurry through it with a March pump while gravity feeds the wort through.

Filtering is a VERY smart idea.

When I am not using it, I keep it full of Saniclean at around 200PPM (at and below that is no-rinse) and before usage, backflush Star-San. Never a problem.

I've thought about using an oven for sterilizing it, but one thing concerns me is that different metals expand and cool at different rates, and it seems like baking a Terminator at very high temps would lead towards problems. YMMV, of course.

 

[knightbeer39]

I would highly recommend a pump but it worth a try. I have always used my Shirron Chiller with a pump. Its cool to watch the cold water flowing into the chiller some out steaming hot. Very cool things, these plate chillers. I recommend using Lil' Sparky's paint strainer hop bag as a hop filter with the chiller.

unfortunately, I don't have a pump right now, so I'm going to give it a run with gravity. I use a stainless steel scrubby on the dip tub and put whole hops in muslin bags, so I should be fine for minimizing clogging.

 

[Shockerengr]

I have one of the ebay variety, my method of sanitizing is similar to what i did with an immersion chiller. with about 15 minutes left in the boil, i have chiller hooked up to the pump with the wort out feeding back to the boil kettle. i then let the boiling wort flow through at a low flow for about 15 minutes to sanitize the system.

the nice thing about this method is the only thing to sanitize with starsan solution is the fermenter

 

[knightbeer39]

Just as an update. I did purchase the shirron chiller and it gravity feeds just fine. I've never chilled wort so fast with so little hassle. Buy one of these or a therminator NOW! You won't regret it....

 

[Proetus]

Hmm my shirron seems a bit slow. We're talking 7-10 to fill 5 gallon fermenters with a pump. Just tossed it in the oven on clean cycle. Will see how it does next brew day.

 

[knightbeer39]

I'm getting 10 gallons chilled to under 70 in about 10 minutes or so using syphon only. It's possible yours is a little clogged; the oven treatment should help.

 

[jaginger]

When not in use, I take it straight off of Brutus, flush it with my 10 gals of ice water from the HLT used from cooling, drain it for a small bit and put it straight into a sub friggin cold deep freezer to freeze solid until next brew day.

Right before a brew I thaw it out, I flush it with hose water and let it sit in a bucket of StarSan for an hour or so until I need it for chilling...

You put it in the freezer to keep anything from growing in there I presume? Haven't heard of anyone doing that but it makes sense i suppose.