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Cleaning plate chiller

Northern Brewer General
#1

Hey guys,

A few brews ago I bought a blichmann plate chiller, absolute game changer. 15 total minutes to get from boiling to pitching, though I use chilled glycol instead of tap water.

Immediately after I pitch my yeast, I pump warm water with pbw through, and then I pump some starsan through it. Then I let it sit on it’s side to drain and dry.

When I was preparing and doing prep-cleaning for my most recent brew, the output of the plate chiller was shooting out what looked like hop material, possibly even mold? I ran starsan through it multiple times, maybe even like 10-15 times, and every time I did it, more green solids came out. After a while of continuous pumping, the liquid coming out would eventually be clear, but then when I did it again more solids would come out.

So my questions are: what did I do wrong? What should I have done differently? And what should I do now?

#2

I don’t have a plate chiller but as far as cleaning goes, pbw solution dissolved in hot water removes crud way better than starsan. Mix it up with hot water like a half an hour before you need it. I use it to clean out my wort pump. I pump water through my wort pump as first step. I pump it through, let it sit for at least 15 minutes then pump some more. Try PBW it looses crap very well. crap comes out with pbw that water does not loosen.

#3

That is what I tried first…

#4

That seems to be the conundrum with the chiller plate… Rinse with boiling water and some sort of cleaner… Run it through… then, swap in put to out put and keep going…
I thought DannyBoy used one… where is he ?
Sneezles61

#5

I don’t use one but I know folks revers flow them and also bake them to sterilize.

#6

As @WMNoob said you want to run the PBW through it in REVERSE. Then run it through like you normally would. If I were you I would place ball valves on the in and out. After your cleaning regimen run boiling water through it to rinse. After a while of rinsing, close the valves and store it with boiling water. This would not only assist in rinsing it will pasteurize and keep bacteria and mold from growing in it.
IMO, I wouldn’t run a plate chiller unless I could break it down like our commercial frame chiller. This is why I run a CFC on my home/test batch system.

#7

One thing you can try. Get oxyclean. Its cheap and works well. After that pwb clean. To rinse out all the nasty stuff. Oxy clean soaks everything loose

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