I just gave my new Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller a test-drive yesterday… holy crap! I chilled 6 gallons of boiling water down to 65* in like 4 minutes. Thoroughly impressed.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F2 ... UTF8&psc=1Yeah I love mine too. They are amazing.
You do know that is an awful price though. Here is their actual website with much better prices.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=wortHow hard will that be to clean? Also it seems to me like there would be a greater danger of plugging it up as compared to a counterflow chiller?
You need to make sure to keep hops and trub out. I do that by using a stainless braid in my kettle. And clean immediately after use to clear out any cold break that didn’t flush through to the fermenter.
I don’t find break material to be a problem with my DD plate chiller. As I discovered when the bag from my old hop spider fell into the wort one time while chilling, hops are definitely a problem if you don’t filter them out. I use one of these
http://www.stainlessbrewing.com/Hop-Spider-with-seam-welds_p_158.html
to separate the hops from the wort.
When the ground water temp is cool, these things are just awesome. They’re still good in the summer, but effectiveness is much more limited.
Agreed. Not a problem at all - as long as you flush out the chiller after use so nothing is stuck in there waiting to contaminate the next brew.
I find the plate chiller very easy to clean. Here’s an overview of my procedure:
- Immediately after brewing I pump 10g of water through my system
- Between brew sessions, bake the plate chiller in the oven at 400°F for an hour
- Soak in Oxiclean or PBW several hours or overnight
- Run water through the wort channel to rinse
- Prior to flameout, I recirculate boiling wort through the entire system for 15 min to sanitize everything.
Most of the time is spent waiting and is used to do other things. The total level of effort is approximately 10-15 minutes–maybe less.
You can also circulate BLC through the chiller to remove any deposits, 1-2 times a year. Or the generic equivalent available at your local hardware or big box stores for much less.
What’s the generic for BLC? Oxy clean?
I get tared and feathered when I mention it. Read the MSDS sheets for BLC[/url] and [url=http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/LiquidCirculationCleaner1MSDS1.pdf]Liquid Line Cleaner
http://www.nationalchemicals.com/blc_beverage_system_cleaner-134-information.html
for the active ingredients.
A little “googleing” will tell you the answer.
Ha! I love it. Thanks.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]I get tared and feathered when I mention it. Read the MSDS sheets for BLC[/url] and [url=http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/LiquidCirculationCleaner1MSDS1.pdf]Liquid Line Cleaner
http://www.nationalchemicals.com/blc_beverage_system_cleaner-134-information.html
for the active ingredients.
A little “googleing” will tell you the answer.
[/quote]
After googleing , lye (caustic soda: potassium hydroxide) appears to be what he is referring to.
With out sounding like an idiot, can you just pick that up anywhere? Edit: drain cleaner krystals are potassium hydroxide. And what is the weight per gallon to get you at the right strength?
This feels a little like fight club here.
I’m interested in this too, but I agree that it’s important to address the safety hazards that may be associated with these chemicals. I don’t see any reason for the big secrecy either. To me, this is no different than discussing other sanitation methods such as bleach, steam sanitizing, etc.
So, could some of you who are using some of these “generic equivalents” illuminate us to your methods? How can you be sure that what you’re using is food safe?
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=98527&start=15#p880065
Here it is mentioned 1oz by weight of lye per gallon of water. Start with cold water and bring up to 150-170*. You should only need to circulate it for 10-20 minutes. You will see solids floating. Then they will vanish.
Use common safety precautions with it and you will be fine.
I’ve used ~1Tsp in ~2 gallons of water to remove the krausen from the top of carboys. Works much better and faster than PBW/Oxi.
Again, this is not a cleaning regime you need to do after each brew day on a plate chiller. After 5-6 brews should be sufficient.
As for “food safe”, I’m not ingesting it. I believe in the “triple rinse” theory of cleaning items. If you run a couple gallons of water through the chiller after cleaning it there will be next to nothing left inside. Vinegar is a neutralizer of lye. If you wanted you could rinse the chiller with vinegar.
If you have some additional concerns, speak with a local HS, college science teacher, or your County Extension office for their input.
If you have issues using 100% lye from the hardware store, you should read the MSDS on PBW
http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/wp-content/uploads/PBWMSDS5.pdf
. That stuff will kill you.
[quote]SPECIAL PROTECTION INFORMATION
PROTECTIVE GLOVES: Recommended (rubber, PVC)
EYE PROTECTION: Recommended (goggles, safety glasses)
VENTILATION: Adequate to remove any dust produced
RESPIRATORY: Recommended (dust mask)
OTHER EQUIPMENT: None needed
_[/quote]
I’m going to preface this post with a warning: This is a dangerous cleaning method. Caustic can cause skin irritation, skin burns, blindness, death and a variety of other not so nice things if you are not careful. Using a heat proof container to mix in, ways add lye to the water and never the other way around. It is an exothermic reaction (produces heat). Additionally, caustic sucks up CO2, so never pump caustic into something filled with CO2. In a sealed environment it can cause an implosion. CO2 also reduces and neutralizes caustic, so don’t push a caustic solution with CO2 either.
Here is a link with some great info about lye:
Page 9 (Table 3) shows lbs/gal of NaOH (lye) to achieve a %NaOH solution. From what I’ve read, a 2% solution is commonly used in the brewing industry for normal cleaning and a 3% solution for heavy cleaning. Both solutions will work significantly better at 140F-180F than at room temperature. I’ve had great luck with a ~2.5% solution at 170F.
Additionally, this drain cleaner is widely available at Lowes:
http://www.amazon.com/Roebic-Laboratories-HD-CRY-6-2-Pound-Crystal/dp/B001AMMZP0
http://www.amazon.com/Roebic-HD-CRY-DO-6-2-Pound-Crystal-Opener/dp/B00BH34MEY/ref=pd_sim_hi_3
I’ve found it in both styles of packaging. Both are the same product as far as I can tell and according to their MSDS both are 100% pure lye.
Lye is difficult to rinse and will not remove beer stone. As mentioned, vinegar can be used to neutralize it and it will help remove residue as well. Star san seems to work pretty well after a thorough tap water rinsing.
blizzardofoz63, have your read the MSDS sheet for BLC, LLC and PBW? Those products are extremely dangerous also. But everyone thinks because they are sold at HBS the are OK to use.
NAOH is NAOH, doesn’t matter if you buy it at ACE Hardware or Northern Brewer.
[quote=“Chris-P”]I just gave my new Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller a test-drive yesterday… holy crap! I chilled 6 gallons of boiling water down to 65* in like 4 minutes. Thoroughly impressed.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F2 ... UTF8&psc=1[/quote]How fast do you run your water? I have one similar to that and so far only ran water through it to see how it would work. I had to run it real slow to cool it enough, took probably 30 minutes.
[quote=“speed”][quote=“Chris-P”]I just gave my new Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller a test-drive yesterday… holy crap! I chilled 6 gallons of boiling water down to 65* in like 4 minutes. Thoroughly impressed.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F2 ... UTF8&psc=1[/quote]How fast do you run your water? I have one similar to that and so far only ran water through it to see how it would work. I had to run it real slow to cool it enough, took probably 30 minutes.[/quote]
It’s not just the speed of the water flow, but also the temperature of the water. In the middle of the winter, my tap water is <40F. I need to throttle it way back while draining the kettle full open if I don’t want to chill it too cold.
[quote=“speed”][quote=“Chris-P”]I just gave my new Duda Diesel 30 plate chiller a test-drive yesterday… holy crap! I chilled 6 gallons of boiling water down to 65* in like 4 minutes. Thoroughly impressed.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005F2 ... UTF8&psc=1[/quote]How fast do you run your water? I have one similar to that and so far only ran water through it to see how it would work. I had to run it real slow to cool it enough, took probably 30 minutes.[/quote]
I had the water all the way up, but the valve coming out of my pump was only open maybe 1/3 of the way. That seemed to work quite well
