Recirculation through a plate chiller?

[jtmwhyte]

I'm thinking of different ways to make my setup quicker and reduce the mess and I've often thought of using my plate chiller to recirculate cooler wort back into the kettle. For 5 gallon batches with the water as cold as it is in thinking it should be down to pitching temps in a few minutes.

Does this make any sense? I'm thinking that if I recirculate then cover the wort in the kettle for a few minutes while I pick up the chiller then drain to a carboy I can compartmentalize my cleanup.

[mr x]

You can certainly do that so long as you can keep pellet hop sludge out of the chiller during recirc.

[jeffsmith]

Hop sludge going into the chiller would be my concern as well. That's the main reason that I don't do any whirlpooling when brewing IPAs.

[LeafMan66_67]

Hop sludge in the plate chiller is why I got rid of my plate chiller. Even with a screen, whirlpool wasn't really an option as the screen wouldn't allow a fast recirc. My 10 plate chiller is being re-purposed as a heat exchanger for a solar in-floor heating system at a friend's cabin.

[bluenose]

So I was thinking about doing this with a counter flow chiller... that would reduce the hop sludge concerns, yes/no?

[jeffsmith]

So I was thinking about doing this with a counter flow chiller... that would reduce the hop sludge concerns, yes/no?

It should, as long as you're using pellet hops. The channels in a plate chiller are so small that it would only take a few flakes from pellet hops stuck in a certain way to clog.

[RossBee]

So I was thinking about doing this with a counter flow chiller... that would reduce the hop sludge concerns, yes/no?

It should, as long as you're using pellet hops. The channels in a plate chiller are so small that it would only take a few flakes from pellet hops stuck in a certain way to clog.

I whirlpool my wort through the counter-flow chiller with the cooling water off to sterilize all the hoses, pump, chiller and whirlpool stick for about 5 minutes at boil. Once the heats off, turn the cooling water on and whirlpool for a good ten minutes. The hop sludge collects on the screen and acts much like the grain bed does in the mash tun. Took a bit of practice to get the system down, but works adequately now.

[moophone]

I love my duda diesel 40 plate. I do ebiab so its perect. I recirculate 5min before end of boil then turn on tap. Drops 5 gallon in a Few minutes and with the thermoprobe I can dial in precise temperature for the yeast


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