Plate chillers

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Araxi
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Plate chillers

Post by Araxi » Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:04 pm

http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... %2Bchiller" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Has anybody here ever ordered from these guys? I'm really thinking about purchasing one of these babies.

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mr x
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Re: Plate chillers

Post by mr x » Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:19 pm

I bought a similar item from eBay. I sold the chiller to Liverdance, as it wasn't working well for recircing after I redesigned my system. I'm not sure how it's working out for him. Might want to ask before you buy one.
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. :wtf:

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by Keggermeister » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:26 am

Those look great! I'd buy one if I were you. I use a therminator, which is the same size as the smaller one he sells. It works great all year round. Just don't plug it up with hops. Build or buy a good kettle screen first.

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by chalmers » Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:26 pm

mr x wrote:I bought a similar item from eBay. I sold the chiller to Liverdance, as it wasn't working well for recircing after I redesigned my system. I'm not sure how it's working out for him. Might want to ask before you buy one.
We're still perfecting it. We've clogged it once or twice, and then made the hop screen too restrictive. Sigh.

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by mr x » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:41 pm

It was incredibly efficient when I was running it correctly.
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. :wtf:

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by chalmers » Mon Jul 04, 2011 8:36 am

mr x wrote:It was incredibly efficient when I was running it correctly.
I bet. Consider Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, and Tweedle Dumber who are now using it!

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by KitrGy » Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:46 pm

Hello, I use a similar one. but got it from SEC Heat exchangers on PEI.
http://www.buyheatexchangersonline.com/ ... -form.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You may want to check there pricing as well. It works great, same problems as others at the start. hop clogging.
What do you guys use for a prescreen for hops?

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by mr x » Mon Jul 04, 2011 5:03 pm

I've tried different set-ups with mesh, but the hop bombs and trub were killer on it.
At Alexander Keith's we follow the recipes first developed by the great brewmaster to the absolute letter. :wtf:

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by ratchet » Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:28 pm

just for me to confirm this... you need a filter element pre-chiller that will be resistant to clogging, yet will not restrict the flow or create cavitation?

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by LiverDance » Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:38 pm

Yes... please forward your prototype to the 1029 Brewwery asap for testing :cheers3:
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by ratchet » Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:16 pm

what are you using for a pipeline (size/material) for your wort?

oh... one more question:

- how much of each (pellet / leaf) hops do you expect you'll need it to filter?

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by LiverDance » Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:42 pm

All my connections are 1/2" and i'm using 1/2" silicone tubing. On average i would be using around 200grams of hops, most of the time pellet. Although I have got as high as high as 680 grams :mmm:
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by ratchet » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:04 pm

- how much (volume wise) sludge would you say has to be filtered with ~500g of hops?
- how fine of a screen do you think would have to be used?
- is brass/copper acceptable?
- are we talking about a 5gal batch... or a 15?
- what flow (approx) are you using?
- is it gravity-fed, or pump-fed (and how much height difference or pump head is there)?
- are you space-restricted?

Them rusty gears are turning

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by LiverDance » Tue Jul 05, 2011 4:37 pm

hmmm....

- anywhere from 1 to 4 litres
- not quite sure on this one. Maybe the size of x's screen or a bit larger
- copper is prefered over brass
- i'm talking 40 liter batches
- the max flow rate for the pump is 11 gpm
- pump fed (variable height, usually about 2 feet)
- not within reason :shock:

What have you got going on inside that mind of yours? Maybe we need to schedule you for another visit to the brewery, one where you walk away with some product at the end of the day X)
"Twenty years ago — a time, by the way, that hops such as Simcoe and Citra were already being developed, but weren’t about to find immediate popularity — there wasn’t a brewer on earth who would have gone to the annual Hop Growers of American convention and said, “I’m going to have a beer that we make 4,000 barrels of, one time a year. It flies off the shelf at damn near $20 a six-pack, and you know what it smells like? It smells like your cat ate your weed and then pissed in the Christmas tree.” - Bell’s Brewery Director of Operations John Mallet on the scent of their popular Hopslam.

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by ratchet » Tue Jul 05, 2011 5:06 pm

you think I'd ever say no to that??
I'm out-of-comission with brewing until after the wedding... so I'm going through brew-day withdrawl.

just name when, and if I can bring anything. ;)

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by NASH » Tue Jul 05, 2011 5:12 pm

Copper = REAL GOOD in the kettle.

Brass = REAL BAD in the kettle.


:cheers2:

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by ratchet » Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:38 pm

it was more of a question of fitting materials (outside of the kettle).

I did up a little design for an in-line cone fiilter... the downside is that it holds less than a liter of sludge (45in^3 to be exact)... but it's got a lot of surface area, and would be relatively easily made.
It wouldn't likely work for whole-leaf hops though... perhaps sonething for in the kettle would be better (or a combination of both).

There's a few other designs I can try to work through (some simpler, some more complicated)... I'll keep plugging at them in my spare time (when I get some)

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Re: Plate chillers

Post by JohnnyMac » Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:01 am

Hmmmmmm.....

I like that design maybe for a hop rocket.......add 1/2" mpt ferrules top and bottom.......lid clamp.....
"It's not about the beer. It's about the beer." - Don Younger

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