Plate chiller plumbing

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31bb3

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It's prob been asked 1000 times but I can't find it
I've just acquired a nice shiney 60 plate chiller I've a few questions
1 which way up ? I.e with the wort in at the bottom and out the top or visa versa then the water obviously opposite flow to the wort
2 I've a ss hop stopper but I'm a bit concerned of husks getting through and blocking the chiller so I've had an idea of fitting some ss mesh inside the hop stopper and on the connector going into the chiller if it does block then I can unscrew it and tap the husks out
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Counter flow ;) I'm considering a plate chiller too, I'm on a water meter so water savings a must. Having said that I fill my hlt with the hot water from my IC and use it for wash downs.
Just feel there's a time/water saving to be made by switching from IC :wha:
Currently takes 30mins + to cool to 26C.
 
As you will use less of it, you should get hotter water from the counterflow, no?
 
I'm just thinking ahead to full brewery really and saving water and energy where I can.

When chilling, the outflow is going up to the HLT which then gives me hot water to wash the kit down with... I think... :lol:
 
'Fraid I'm a bit ignorant of plate chillers...where does it go ? On the bench at the side of boiler ? connection from boiler to wort in, wort out back to boiler. Cold water in, hot water out to washing vessel ? am I right ??
 
WRT a proper brewery se tup . . . the water from the paraflow goes into the HLT ready for the next brew . . . saving energy . . . of course you do need a well insulated HLT but you can recover around 80% of the heat. Wibblers also has a CLT which is held at 6C . . . . coolant is pumped from the CLT to the Paraflow and into the HLT. The benefit of this is predictable wort temps as the coolant temp is not dependant on ground water temps.

Counterflow is the way to go with all plate chiller designs. now I will add that ideally you will want to stand them on their end with wort in at the bottom . . . this way it pushes all the air out from the plates making it as efficient as possible . . . wort in at the top means that channelling can occur making it less efficient. . . . I also fill the coolant side in this manner as well . . . as mine isn't bolted down I also give it a few hard bangs on a hard surface to dislodge any air trapped inside as well.
 
Enjoy using your phe's guys :party: they're a nice bit of kit :cool: I know it's not been mentioned on this thread but please be careful not to get crud inside them. As you might know from other threads I lost a braized PHE due to hop ingress and had to throw it away so I hope no one else suffers the same fate :roll:
 
hopefully ive covered that ive added some finer mesh to my hop stopper and also made a small mesh filter in the threaded fitting on the wort inlet
 
hopefully ive covered that ive added some finer mesh to my hop stopper and also made a small mesh filter in the threaded fitting on the wort inlet
I'd go finer on the mesh in the piping IIWM as most of the big stuff will already have been trapped hopefully, most phe's don't like stuff above 0.5mm...but it's your call :thumb: FWIW if stuff does start blocking it's cumulative, you'll see a steady decline in performance.
 
you seen my stainless steel braid in my boiler when i finish with my plate chiller going to connect cold water feed to wort side and run one side then other side to blast **** out is it right you have to be carfull wot chemicals to clean it out with i will use star san for sterile part any thing else we should know cheers :thumb:

Vossy1 said:
Enjoy using your phe's guys :party: they're a nice bit of kit :cool: I know it's not been mentioned on this thread but please be careful not to get crud inside them. As you might know from other threads I lost a braized PHE due to hop ingress and had to throw it away so I hope no one else suffers the same fate :roll:
 

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