Does anyone have any good advice as far as cleaning a chillzilla? I flush mine with a warm PBW solution and try to keep it nice and dry, but am always a little worried about what may be lurking within it.
Perhaps running a keg tube brush inside of it?
Thanks,
Joe
I do the same with PBW. I also make sure to rinse immediately after use and drain. The keg tube brush works but it is tough to shove all the way through. I push it in from both ends and do get some gunk out. Before use it gets dunked in no-rinse sanitizer then after connecting everything I let boiling hot wort run in before turning on the water. No problems after many years.
Thank you, I appreciate the advice.
I thought this was titled Cleaning a Chinchilla. While wildly out of place in this forum I got excited anyway since I’m a happy parent of a chinch. Incidentally if you’re bored YouTube a chinchilla bath. It’s awesome.
I have dual Chill-Zillas and I run them in series. Cleaning them is very important but also very easy. After each brew session, I back-flush with hot water and then recirculate 160F water and PBW through them for 10-15 minutes. Follow up with a final hot water rinse and purge with air compressor. Everything hooks up with quick disconnects which makes it easy.
On brew day, I recirculate boiling wort through the system at 30 minutes left in the boil for 5 minutes. That makes the copper shine like brand new.
That is a great setup! I gave me a good idea; do you reuse the hot water coming from the chillzilla outlet to conduct the cleaning when you are done? I have been letting it flow down the gutter but I figure I will retain it for cleaning in the future since it is already hot.
Also, did you notice a big improvement running 2 in series? Seems like a brilliant way of speeding up the cooling process.
[quote=“westcoastbrewer”]That is a great setup! I gave me a good idea; do you reuse the hot water coming from the chillzilla outlet to conduct the cleaning when you are done? I have been letting it flow down the gutter but I figure I will retain it for cleaning in the future since it is already hot.
Also, did you notice a big improvement running 2 in series? Seems like a brilliant way of speeding up the cooling process.[/quote]sometimes I save the hot water and yes I noticed a huge decrease in chilling time.
Tear off a piece of sponge force it in one end and push it through with a water hose you can then do the same going the other way.
You will be surprised how much crud will be on that sponge.
You could run a caustic through it 2-3 times a year (3-4 brew days).
I will give this a shot Chuck, but you need to first promise me I am not going to get a piece of sponge stuck deep in my chiller and have to go back to using my shirron.
That is the way I cleaned mine without any problems you can always blow it back if it gets stuck but I’m betting it won’t and then take a look at all the crud on it.
Thank you for the advice, I will give that a shot this weekend.
