I like to think I’m very clean and sanitary in general and specifically in my brewery. I always back flush my plate chiller with hot water right after use and let it flush until I no longer see debris. Today I wanted to back flush with 180* water with added cleaner recirculating through my pump.
What I witnessed flushing out astounded me!! The BK went from a clean clear liquid to a green hop laden mess within minutes. I can’t believe I haven’t infected a batch of beer by only flushing with hot water.
New rule: Back flush plate chiller every time I brew.
I know many brewers use inline chillers, HERMS, small solid pumps, hard lines, etc. with great success, but I never liked the thought of running the wort thru anything I can’t see, disassemble, physically clean, etc.
That’s a major reason I decided on an immersion vs an inline chiller, disassemble-able pump and valves, silicone transfer tubing vs hard line, etc.
A lot more time is spent disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling my equipment between brews than actually brewing with it.
Like you said, it’s amazing what gunk is hidden away.
I’m in the same boat as BrewBama. I have used a plate chiller and most recently a counter flow. Not knowing exactly what is hiding in the crevices inside makes me uncomfortable. I just ditched my CF last weekend and pan on ordering a Hydra immersion chiller from Jaded Brewing.
I have a Duodiesel plate chiller here. I back flush and forward flush it with hot water immediately after chilling the wort. I then clean it by pumping PBW through it while cleaning the boil kettle. This normally gets it clean. I also clean it again both ways when I clean and sanitize it and my conical during the brew day.
That said, I also have a stainless steel inline screen with 1.5" triclover fittings between my pump and the plate chiller which helps keep hop debris out of the chiller. I recommend investing in one of these. It will save you a lot of grief. I also use a hop bag in the BK to contain most of the pellet hops.
When I bought the chiller (used), I spent three days cleaning it with caustic and acid washes as it had set for many years without being cleaned. But I got it cleaned and I can keep it that way with that regimen.
A few years ago, I took a tour at Leinenkugel brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. Part of the tour brought us to an area of the brewery where I saw a huge plate cooler. The tour guide informed us the plate cooler was used to cool the wort right after the boil. I found it fascinating that a major brewery used the exact same technology as many home brewers - including me.
Like goose, I use a hop sack with great success. Then, after use, I back flush with very hot water and follow that with a 60 minute circulation of PBW. I then remove my plate cooler (about 60 seconds) and drain it completely. I reinstall it a couple days later - another 60 seconds. On brew day, I circulate StarSan or IOSan for about an hour while mashing.
The point is, when I remove and drain the cooler, the water that runs out is as crystal clear as if it came from my faucet. IMHO, plate coolers are wonderful, time saving devices. But they take a little effort to maintain.
The difference between that Leinenkugel plate chiller and the ones (most of them anyway) that homebrewers use is that the professional brewers plate chillers come apart for thorough and regular cleaning. I bet if you could take your chiller apart once you get it running crystal clear you would still find gunk in the crevices.
True, but you can get them pretty clean with how Kellerbrauer, Joe, and I do it. About every few months or so, I also do an acid wash of the chiller that gets any accumulated beer stone and non-organics out of the chiller. It works well.
When I worked at Hoppin’ Frog we took the plate chiller apart about once every six months to clean the plates. They normally weren’t too “gacky” (a Goose term). We also cleaned the big plate chiller both ways on kettle cleaning days and packed it with iodophor after cleaning.
I think that’s kinda backwards…commercial breweries were there first. It’s that homebrewers are using the same equipment as commercial brewers, not vice versa
The plate chiller grew out of the double-pipe chiller, which amateur brewers know as the counterflow chiller. Like the plate and frame chiller used in professional brewing, the double pipe chiller can be disassembled for cleaning.
It is possible, Kevin. However, when I clean my fermenter and chiller assembly during the brew day, I never see particles of gunk floating around in the conical or see them in the inline screen and I don’t get off flavors in the beers. So I am pretty positive that I got all the gunk when I backflush and clean the chiller and BK after chilling the beer. Do plate chillers require more care and maintenance to make sure they are clean, sure. But they can be cleaned effectively with a bit of effort.
I feel the same way as BrewBama. I like to be able to take everything apart and see that it is clean. This discussion has me thinking, though, that if some gunk is hiding in a crevice and doesn’t come out with hot water and cleaner being flowed in both directions, would it affect the beer? To rephrase an old question: If a piece of gunk falls in a crevice and there is no beer around to touch it, does it cause contamination?
I don’t have a plate chiller but I have heard that if you are concerned, you can always bake for a couple of hours. Basically autoclaving it in your oven.
I never got a plate chiller, but I am wondering about my counter flow chiller. It’s all stainless and maybe I should give it a good cleaning along those lines and then bake it. I rarely use it since I bought the Jaded IC, so I should store it ultra clean…
The intake in my kettle is shrouded with a stainless braid and that does a great job of keeping larger particles out of the flow heading to my plate chiller. When I backflush or circulate caustic, I only see minor crud in the flow. I’d say that having an effective prefilter is an important consideration in keeping a chiller clean and sanitary.
