is a plate chiller more, the same or less work than an immersion chiller?

General Homebrew Discussion
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is a plate chiller more, the same or less work than an immersion chiller?

including the disassembly/cleaning/drying/reassembly?

does it have any downsides?

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I got rid of my Dudadiesel plate chiller. I could never be certain that it was cleaned inside no matter how much PBW, boiling water, back flushing, baking I did. If I can’t see it to confirm that it’s clean then its not clean in my mind. I  bought a Jaded Hydra and it works almost as fast as any plate or counterflow chiller that I’ve ever owned.

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That looks really cool, and the additional smaller diameter tubing is almost certainly more efficient. I like it. I am also partial to being able to see if it’s clean or not.  I suppose I could just trust PBW, but I get a bad feeling about that.

I have a similar one in 1/2" copper that I’ve used for ages. It works great, but I wish I had a good way to run icewater at the end to help speed things along.  I’ve just never set up for it. I bought an entire home brew setup this past weekend which includes a counterflow chiller and an immersion chiller.  I might run through the immersion chiller in a bucket of icewater into my copper chiller when things get down below about 90f and see if that works.  I hate the idea of more apparatus though… And the ice production/storage…

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My experience is that it’s much more work. I used one for a while,  but got rid of it.

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Thank you everyone, I think I just liked the compact idea of it, and being able to transfer right after boil ( if that is even true ?)

I should probably just get an improved immersion chiller

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I’ve heard that you need to be careful to keep plate chillers from getting clogged with hops.

I’ve never used a plate chiller, but I recently upgraded to an all-stainless CFC because it seems easier to clean and sanitize, even though I can’t visually inspect the insides.  Plate chillers sound neat, but I was concerned about cleaning.  I can be a little anal retentive about things like that.

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Even with my copper immersion chiller I can’t get below about 73 or 74 in the summer time in Pennsylvania. Not without wasting unlimited water anyway. So no matter what I still have to cool things down a little bit before I pitch yeast. I have to assume anybody south of me has a situation that’s worse. And that’s definitely a majority of people in the USA if not worldwide. 9 months out of the year I can have the beer down to 66 or 68 in a matter of 10 to 12 minutes. And that’s a 12 gallon batch. The groundwater is plenty cold but it does get warmed up as it gets to the surface in the summertime. If you’re pulling from a well it’s probably different, but I’m not, I’m on City water. So it’s only so far underground and it’s not that cold. At least not when it’s 97 outside like it is today.

I don’t know how the people with plate chillers and counterflow chillers handle the output temperature, but unless you’re willing to run it back through, you get what you get. With an immersion Chiller you decide when to stop. I don’t know if that’s best but it certainly works for me.

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I have a plate cooler by Blichman and I would never give it up.  The process is simple — use a muslin bag for hop additions. It’s that simple.  In the winter, when the cold water temperature is around 60-65°, I can cool 5.5 gallons of boiling wort down to 65° in about a minute and a half into the fermenter. Care is taken to protect the plate cooler up front (muslin bag, back flush, circulate PBW, etc.) and for me, it’s the most economical way of chilling wort.

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Chilling wort is one reason I am glad I have an almost 400’ well. I get water around 50-55F year round.

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Get a Jaded Hydra. Nearly as fast as a plate or CFC and a lot easier.

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Same here, only 100 ft.

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Same here. I’ve been using mine for 7 years. I’ve never had hops clog it up. After using it I back flush with a hose and then put back in place and recirculate cleaner through it while also cleaning my BK. When ready to brew again, I recirculate iodophor through my fermenter and plate chiller. I’ve never had an issue with contamination.

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I have an electric brewing system with a plate chiller and like it. I use a pump for everything and pump boiling wort through it to sanitize and then when Im done brewing I circulate very hot oxiclean water and then sanitizer. For me, I see no reason to switch. The palte chiller is less work for me since its part of my system that Im pumping wort/cleaner/sanitizer through anyways and its considerably smaller than a I/C

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Been using the Blichmann plate chiller since first available many years ago.
My water runs about 80 degrees straight out of the tap so need to pre-chill.
The plate chiller works very well in my set up and I give it a thumbs up.
Downside - no matter how much PBW you run thru; it never gets really clean inside.
Discovered this the first time I ran caustic through and was amazed the crud that came out.
Now once a year I run caustic through any equipment I cannot visually inspect.

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I was under the impression PBW is Caustic cleaner. What have I been missing?

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Those are both basic, so it’s a matter of strength.

According to 5 Star, the PBW solution mixed to recommended strength has a pH of 12. A sodium hydroxide solution would be 13 to 14+, and will burn you on contact.

Pro brewers wear better PPE than homebrewers for good reason.

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lol, sorry just reading through this, and haha at a customer meeting they had an AI app that listened to everyone talking and summarized what was said and eliminated redudancy.

so me doing that manually:
plate chillers can be really fast but can be a pain to clean out, and you might not even clean it all out. people have varying opinions on this, at least partially likely due to different plate chiller models. would require a pump

there are really good quality immersion chillers out there now that are basically as fast as a plate chiller, but are likely less work to clean off. requires the right water connections.

both seem to be good, but i’ll likely get an immersion chiller upgrade.

but before any of that i need to dump several hundred pounds of old crap in the garage

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I have used both- currently using a plate chiller. What makes both of them efficient is circulation of the coldest water through them. I have a circulation pump in the garage sink full of cold water and ice packs. It does a great job in short order. Conserving h2o is a bonus.

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I used to use a plate chiller, but found it to be a PITA. I now use a Jaded Hydra immersion chiller. As fast as the plate and a lot less hassle.

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I have been busy so am a bit late to the party on this thread.
I have a Duodiesel plate chiller in my home brewery and love it. I clean it both ways with caustic before using it (it gets cleaned and sanitized at the same time as the fermenter while the brew is going on). I use a hop bag when using pellets which keeps nearly all of the hop particles in out of the chiller. I also have a stainless steel inline screen ahead of the chiller to capture any residual particles that might get through from the kettle.
When finished chilling the wort, I flush the chiller backwards with hot water then clean it again with caustic as a part of cleaning the kettle. The chiller gets clean and is ready for the next brew. Is using a plate chiller easier than using an immersion chiller? It is a bit more work but I don’t have to keep agitating the chiller (like I had to do when I had a homemade immersion chiller to get rid of an insulating layer of wort that will form around the coil and increase the chilling time. I can chill 10 gallons of wort in about 12-15 minutes so the small amount of extra work to clean the plate chiller makes it worth the effort.