Cleaning My Plate Chiller

[BrewMasta]

After suffering an infected batch of beer and taking a new, very time consuming job, I lost my brewing mojo and have not brewed in a few years. One positive aspect of this is that I have been supporting our local CT Micro Breweries by buying lots of beer. However, on the down side of things, after letting my equipment sit for so long since my last brew day both my pump, and my plate chiller were discussing inside.

First I took my pump apart and found that the there was standing water, and gunk, and I was very surprised to see that my magnetic impeller on my chugger was a little bit rusted near where it mets the plastic impeller, and there seems to be some slight staining on some of the parts that has proven hard to remove. I have done my best to clean the pump, but it still is slightly less than 100% clean. For the pump I guess what I'm asking is will I need to replace parts, or will it be suitable for brewing still?

Secondly, my plate chiller has always been a challenge to get the hop residue out of, I have rinsed and rinsed and soaked and soaked and it still seems to have a slight tinge of green when I empty it out. Today I pushed a small brush down there and hit the mother load of gunk wort in side of the chiller. My concern is will I ever be able to get this cleaned all the way, and what is the best way to clean it moving forward?

In short I'm pretty sure I have identified the source of my infection for my last batch, along with the purchase of a new racking cane I hope my next batch will be clean. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
BrewMasta :rockin:

 

[Justintoxicated]

Have you tried pumping boiling hot PBW through your plate chiller?

 

[BrewMasta]

Not yet, I was tempted to boil the chiller in Oxyclean. If I pump it through I guess I have to recirculate into the kettle, is this correct?

 

[BrewMasta]

I see some other posts now I have been reading through that might be helpful as well, like using caustics, or baking it and flushing.

 

[augiedoggy]

My advice is to come up with a way to keep the solids like hops out of your plate chiller or you will forever be fighting this issue. I filter mine before it hits the plate chiller myself and have no problems but many people dont and there are many threads here with people fighting the same problem as you. especially with the therminator design as its twisted internal pathway and short stacks of plates make it plug more easily.

BTW for not brewing in years you sure have a lot of beers waiting in fermenters according to you signature?

 

[processhead]

I don't own a plate chiller, but if I did, I would be putting together a good, hot circulating CIP system to run through it after brewing.

Augiedoggy brings up a good point too. Any solids that you can filter out before they enter the plate chiller is one less thing you have to clean out of it.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I use a hop spider when using my pump, not sure if that would be enough filtration for a plate chiller?

Yes, I boil water in the kettle and then pump it from the kettle back into my kettle via whirlpool arm (not require of course). I thought boiling water did a pretty good job but the second you toss in PBW (not oxiclean) all kinds of stuff tends to come out. Not sure if it will remove all of it, but it's probably a good start and easy enough process. If the plate chiller turns out to be more trouble than it's worth you can get a counterflow or immersion chiller.

When you're satisfied it has been run long enough you can let it cool down then flush the loop with a garden hose, or pump star san through it (I think that's what people use to sanitize plates before storing but you might double check that one since it's acidic), or just repeat the process again to be sure you got most of the junk out.

 

[BrewMasta]

Thanks for the responses everyone... I use a false bottom but it clearly is not filtering out all the hops, maybe a hop spider will help, or muslin bags for the hops prior to adding them. I will be running boiling PBW through it tonight to see if anything further comes out. @ augiedoggie, yep, that where I left off with HBT a few years ago, I will adjust my line up soon enough.

 

[day_trippr]

Don't bother dumping a pc into a vat of boiling anything and expect something good to happen.
It won't. Any cleaner needs to circulate through the plates.

I'd take all the rubber bits off and bake it at 500°F for a few hours then pump hot caustic through it to wash out the ash...

Cheers!

 

[ITV]

Try soaking first then run BLC (beer line cleaner) thru your plate chiller.

I make it a habit to run PBW thru my plate chiller immediately after using it.

 

[augiedoggy]

I actually just use a #300 stainless mesh hop spider like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Practical-H...Pellet-Filter-300-Micron-Tools-/112534123438? (I have one from arbor which I paid almost $80 for and this one and they are almost identical) sometimes I use both on bigger beers... I do not recommend the smaller spider they plug easily.
also I use a 6" piece of stainless braid from a new toliet water line attached to my BK dip tube which helps keep a lot of what gets past the spiders out of my chiller...
The result is the fact that Ive been using my duda b23 chiller for 5 years and never had any evidence of anything getting plugged inside... I have had an occasional tiny piece of trub come out when back flushing with hot water immediately after use (rare) but besides that and an occasional pbw recirc with the $18 24 pumps I use for everything I have never had anything make it in the chiller but wort.

 

[processhead]

I am a big proponent of filtering the effluent from my BK as well. Instead of SS braid, I am using a large fine mesh screen sock around my pickup tube. It catches all the hot break and most of the hop debris.

I use a CFC and don't really have any plugging issues when I transfer out of my BK.

I don't have the electric element installed in the kettle for the photo, but it sits just above the screen when its in use.

 

[augiedoggy]

because I use tiny 24v dc pumps keeping the solids out of them was a big concern... the fact that it helps with cleaner/ clearer beer and keeping my plate chiller clean was a bonus..

 

[helibrewer]

I use this coming out of the BK into my Duda platechiller: Strainer. I also use fine mesh bags in the BK for my hops.

I back flush with cold water, then hot 2% caustic, then cold water, then StarSan. Every 3 brews I bake the chiller for an hour at 400F and repeat the flushing process prior to using it again.

 

[passedpawn]

I actually just use a #300 stainless mesh hop spider like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Practical-H...Pellet-Filter-300-Micron-Tools-/112534123438? (I have one from arbor which I paid almost $80 for and this one and they are almost identical) sometimes I use both on bigger beers... I do not recommend the smaller spider they plug easily.
also I use a 6" piece of stainless braid from a new toliet water line attached to my BK dip tube which helps keep a lot of what gets past the spiders out of my chiller...
The result is the fact that Ive been using my duda b23 chiller for 5 years and never had any evidence of anything getting plugged inside... I have had an occasional tiny piece of trub come out when back flushing with hot water immediately after use (rare) but besides that and an occasional pbw recirc with the $18 24 pumps I use for everything I have never had anything make it in the chiller but wort.

Do you think that thing will hang over the rim of a sanke keggle? What is the length of the arm that hooks over the kettle rim?

 

[augiedoggy]

Do you think that thing will hang over the rim of a sanke keggle? What is the length of the arm that hooks over the kettle rim?

It would hang over the rim if you manage to completely cut the roof of the keggle out.

 

[passedpawn]

It would hang over the rim if you manage to completely cut the roof of the keggle out.

I was afraid you'd say that.

 

[kristiismean]

I second (third) the bake it approach. I usually hop spider 300 micron if using my plate chiller, but now I just go back to my counter flow and let the hops flow free.

that said, I always go back and forth with a high pressure water flush on my filter and it has always flushed it out.