Plate Chiller advice please

[thedrayman]

This may seem a stupid question but, as it’s the first time I’ll be using this method of cooling with a mag-pump and flow regulating tap, I thought I’d better check which method fellow brewer’s use. I need to place the pump after the chiller because it will not take boiling wort so which would be the best layout?

copper/flow regulating tap/chiller/pump/FV?

Or

copper/chiller/flow regulating tap/pump/FV?

Thanks

 

[Fil]

think your better off with the restriction vavle on the pump output, i dont know if your pump will suck if the inflow is restricted but if so it could suck flst and collapse the feed tubes.

 

[thedrayman]

Thanks, Fil, that sounds like a good idea. I'm using reinforced pvc tubing between the copper and pump. Do you think there may be less chance of tube collapse using this instead of silicone?

 

[Fil]

is the pump sucking the beer thru quicker than gravity can feed, or being used post gravity chill to raise the beer to fermentor filling level?

 

[thedrayman]

At my old location the FV was on the same level as the copper so I used the pump to transfer. Now I'm in a new house, and have a dedicated brewery set-up (which is nice), the FV is actually underneath the copper. As I'd used the pump before I just thought I'd continue that way, but now, thinking about it, I probably won't need the pump providing I place the wort inlet to the chiller at a height below the outlet of the copper and the wort outlet above the inlet to the FV, and let gravity do its' stuff. With this in-mind (no pump) I imagine I could put the regulating tap anywhere?

 

[Fil]

nice looking set up, will u be pumping out of the FV's or are they pressurised and allow u to use co2 to move the beer? (something i hope to investigate in the future),

Id at least test gravity to see if it provides a good enough flow rate, and dosent just dribble thru,

but i dont think u would have any problems with the pump as you suggested working with gravity.

if your filtering hops in the kettle you may already be letting it sit for a while to let the hops settle? if so is the post wait temp of the kettle still beyond the limit for the pump? if not you could connect the pump pre chiller without any worries?



im moving to using a bigger kit too, had one brewday with it which helped cement the final layout plans, and im gravity fed all the way down to the copper low at your FV level and am pumping with a 12v solar pump thru a pipe chiller up 1.75m into the FV at a throttled back rate of 2l per min. but i would imagine a plate chiller is capable of much faster chilling?

 

[thedrayman]

Thanks for the comment, at the moment I haven't yet built the control panel, that will be next years' project. In the meantime I'm using an STC-1000 controller for the HLT and an ATC-800 to regulate my ferment with a Cornelius Maxi chiller and a stainless heat-exchanger.

The last brew I did I used a solar pump to fill my firkin from the FV and that seemed to work well. I think I'll try fitting the plate chiller to the front right-hand leg of the table, half-way up, below the copper tap, and above the FVs, and have a test run without a pump first.

Currently I'm waiting to replace the 100l copper with a 200l one (when MrLard gets a delivery) so I won't need to liquor-back after each brew to get my required final volume/gravity (18 gallons - 1 Kilderkin).

 

[fego]

How did you get on with this?

I've got pumps rated to 85 degrees but need to use them to either push or pull wort through the plate chiller. I don't want to ruin a pump by exposing it to too much heat but I also don't want to buy another pump with higher tolerance. I've thought about recircing to the boiler to bring the temp overall quickly down to the pumps tolerance but I'm worried this will be enough to hurt the pump so not worth it.

I've got new equipment that I haven't used yet but would like to know whether having the pump after the chiller is an option.

Thanks.

 

[thedrayman]

Hi fego, Before, in a previous set-up, I used a Solar Pump on the FV-side of the chiller outlet 'pulling' the cooled(cooler) wort, this allowed the chiller to reduce the wort temp before it hit the pump. This works well but remember to turn on your cooling water before you crack-open the copper. With the old set-up my copper and FV where on the same level. Hope this helps.