Hi All, I am thinking of investing in a plate chiller. Anybody use one?
Looking for recommendations and any tips.
Thanks,
Mark
I've thought about this for years. To be sure of sanitation you really need one that can be taken apart. These are way more expensive than the hb ones that are available for circa €80. Also there are issues with chilling. They are not as efficient as you would think on water. In fact it is dependant on water temp really. You can use as much water as an immersion chiller and your wort will sit there hot until it gets to the cooler so volatile hop aroma and oils can be lost. Whirlpooling and an immersion cooling coil can work as quick and give butter results. There was a good basic bittering radio episode on it last year. That made up my mind for me. Having said all that the big boys use them so they can't be all bad !
Thanks Rossa.
Maybe I just need to upgrade my immersion chiller. Any thoughts on the SS immersion chillers?
Yes they do BUT:
They are about 2 foot square - minimum, are modular and dismantleable for cleaning and are held together with 4 SS screws and nuts that alone would cost €hundreds. And BTW: They also leak!!
Every brewery I've visited have a drip tyray under them. The drip tray would cost more than the €80 for a smallk welded HB plate chiller!
Stick to imersion or counter flow chillers unless you like scalled down micro-brewey shinny stuff ( I know I do ???)
That basic brewing wort chiller experiment is worth listening to. 3 beers chilled differently and the ic came out on top. The relationship between dropping the temp quickly and hop aroma/bitterness is an interesting one. Late additions and in particular post boil can add up to 30% of your ibu count according to the latest ipa book by Mitch Steele. I presume that is calculated using plate chillers in the pro game.
I broke my copper coil chiller so I bought a duda diesel 30 plate chiller last week. I also got the hop rocket to act as an inline filter as well as a hop back to counteract any lost hop aroma. (all my late additions will be in the hop back from now on)
Re: sanitation: You just run boiling wort through it & back into your BK during the last 10 mins of your boil. At flame out I plan on recirculating my wort through my pump into the hop rocket
then to the plate chiller & back into my BK when chilling. Because there is no coil in the BK I can get an actual whirlpool going with my spoon. Once I get the wort down to pitching temp il let it rest in
the BK for a bit to let the cold break drop out & then transfer to the fermentor. Then flush & back flush the chiller when done. Ive also read of brewers autoclaving & sterilizing in the oven.
If you see any major flaws in my plan please tell me. It makes sense in my brain right now & I did similar on Sunday brewing my RIS but didnt recirc the wort. As a result Ive an inch of cold break at the bottom of
my carboy.
I like the idea of a hop back. I nearly bought one a few years back and I also read a lot about people having a big enough pressure cooker to sanitize them. The hop rocket looks the business. Let us know how that goes.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=251281462810
Just bought one of these today. Have to wait on delivery obviously but will give a report once I have put it to the test.
Seems like a decent enough price. Or have I missed something and been stroked???
Not bad, but have a look here...
http://tinyurl.com/lenr7oc
Free P&P to UK, so us southerners could ParcelMotel it.
They look fine,my only issue with these is you cannot see inside and cannot take them apart to inspect them. For to not have them clog up you deffo need a fine filter at the entrance.
@johnrm I will never buy anything again before checking with you lad. Haha I prob would have went there instead but sure you live and learn. I will want a second one soon enoigh so thanks for that!!
BTW I'm looking a pair of purple adidas spezial in a uk10....
Was thinking the same there Dempsey. I might try some kind of mesh on top of the false bottom as suggested over on jbk or a pre filter unit plumbed in immediately before the chiller.
Got that yoke the other day. Packaging totally busted up and the bottom corners have minor dents. Other than that it looks dead on. When I say dents I mean there is a lip around the bottom that is dented. The plates themselves look fine. 1" connections on this bad boy. What would be the easiest way to pressure test this to check for leaks? Jubilee clips on a 1" hose I guess, just can't be arsed spending money just to check its feckin working...
It came with a 5 yr warranty so hook it up and if it leaks, bundle it back.
It's worth contacting the vendor and mentioning inadequate packaging.
I have a reasonable size plate chiller and there are good and bad points. I chills to 20c at around 3 l/min which is great. The snag is cleaning. There are two sides to this.
One is that if you pump the hot wort through for a few mins before turning on the tap water the whole thing is sterile so who cares if there is a bit of hops or something in there.
True but I decided to give mine a good clean and I have been flushing out bits of hops for hours and they're still coming. This does bother me.
Big problem with filters is that they clog and you spend your day stopping and clearing the mesh so in the end an immersion would have been quicker. I redecorated the garage a while ago when a pipe blew of due to a clogging filter!
I'm thinking about building a counterflow chiller with 10mm copper and 3/4" pex. I can't remember who posted a really nice piece recently on how to make one, thanks! The attraction is that it can easily be flushed through cos it has no corners for bits to hide in.
I'm also seriously considering a "no chill method"
It was Garry who built counterflow chiller recently, I can think of 3 times when I used 'no chill method' or 'I'll worry about it tomorrow method' myself :o finished boiling late at night so I wasn't bothered..
What risks are we trying to avoid by chilling quickly?
Wild yeasts and bacteria infection mostly.
QuoteAt the end of the boil, it is important to cool the wort quickly. While it is still hot, (above 140°F) bacteria and wild yeasts are inhibited. But it is very susceptible to oxidation damage as it cools. There are also the previously mentioned sulfur compounds that evolve from the wort while it is hot. If the wort is cooled slowly, dimethyl sulfide will continue to be produced in the wort without being boiled off; causing off-flavors in the finished beer. The objective is to rapidly cool the wort to below 80°F before oxidation or contamination can occur.
Rapid cooling also forms the Cold Break. This is composed of another group of proteins that need to be thermally shocked into precipitating out of the wort. Slow cooling will not affect them. Cold break, or rather the lack of it, is the cause of Chill Haze. When a beer is chilled for drinking, these proteins partially precipitate forming a haze. As the beer warms up, the proteins re-dissolve. Only by rapid chilling from near-boiling to room temperature will the Cold Break proteins permanently precipitate and not cause Chill Haze. Chill haze is usually regarded as a cosmetic problem. You cannot taste it. However, chill haze indicates that there is an appreciable level of cold-break-type protein in the beer, which has been linked to long-term stability problems. Hazy beer tends to become stale sooner than non-hazy beer. The following are a few preferred methods for cooling the wort.
RE: Cold Break.
Has anyone actually ever avoided chill haze? The big guys chill their beer to freezing and filter it to get chill haze out. I'd love to hear form someone who has actually managed to avoid chill haze in their beer. (Of course, the easiest course is to drink your beer at cellar temperature 12C).
I have had good results by chilling to 1c and pumping out through a 1u filter. No chill haze to my eye anyway.
With the plate (or any in line chiller) the cold break arrives in abundance in the fermenter. I let the sediment out of the bottom of the conical every day during fermentation and I suppose the cold break is some of the first to go.
I tried filtering after the chiller. Clogged the filter with cold break, blew a pipe and had another beer shower.
What I am wondering is how to avoid the problems associated with not chilling.
If I purge a container with CO2, put in the hot wort and seal it till its cool will I avoid the problems or is it more complex than that?
I have to say that chilling is the biggest pain in the arse in a brew day so if I can cut it out I would be keen.
What about a monster pump and a vigorous whirlpool?
I don't suffer much from chill haze I have to say. I did a second runnings beer last year. It was very clear going into the kettle. Very clear coming out and with isinglass it was crystal clear coming out of the keg. Remarkable beer. The hop flavour was outstanding.
Then again, maybe some of my beers look a wee bit hazy and I just put it down to yeast.