Shirron Plate Chiller Owners

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:18 pm

Allright, I am too stupid to keep it simple.
What type of insulation did you duct tape to the carboy?
I had Al, at the Co Op, order me one of the wraps. He sold the one he had on Saturday. Thanks again for the help.

Don · Post by **Don** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:46 pm

I have some left over from when I installed new windows in the house.
It came from Lowe's or Home depot
Made for new windows installation @ 6" wide 1/4' thick and came in a 10' roll. You can use bubble wrap and probable do about the same thing.

Look in the area where they have door and window insulation. You are bound to find something.
+++++++
Never mind I found a whole roll under the workbench I will bring it to the meeting tomorrow.

Don

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:28 am

Thanks, Don.
I'll see you tonight.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 3:28 pm

Don,
Thanks again. I ordered the Ranco controller today.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:38 am

I checked on that Chillus Maximus, and asked the More Beer folks to compare that and the Shirron. This is their answer:

Hello,
Thank you for your interest in our products. Unfortunately, the Chillus Maximus has been discontinued. We do still over a convoluted chiller seen here:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/19533/ ... ow_Chiller

Many people find a convoluted chiller to be easier to use. This is mostly due to ease of cleaning. Plate chillers work great for cooling and get the job done fast. The down side is that there are many pockets and bends inside the plates which may cause small particles of protein and hop matter to become trapped inside. These trapped particles are difficult to clear out, even with regular cleaning and can cause problems with infection and bacteria. This doesn't happen too often, but can definitely be cause for concern.

On the other hand, the Convoluted Chiller has no small pockets for pieces to get trapped so cleaning is much easier. For both units, cleaning can be done by recirculating hot water and brewery cleaner such as PBW through them for 15-20 minutes before rinsing with cool clean water for another 15 minutes. To sanitize the chillers, you can run boiling water through or use a brewery sanitizer such as StarSan. To store the chiller, just sanitize and cap ends with tin foil.

You can technically use the chiller without a pump, however, you will have no way to regulate flow and chilling may take many recirculations without before getting down to pitching temperature. By using a pump with a simple ball valve for flow control, you will be able to adjust the wort flow which will allow you to cool to a more exact temperature. For this reason, we often advertise the convoluted chiller as not working with gravity.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Cheers!

Don · Post by **Don** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:34 pm

Got home yesterday and there's a package addressed to my wife from a brew store.

And knowing I'm brewing this weekend she gave it to me. It's a Blichmann Terminator wort chiller......
(The big one)

Christmas isn't for another 6 weeks but my birthday is in 2 days..
Not bad for a birthday present.
Now how am I going to top this, for her, this Christmas?

I know buy her some beer mugs.

Picked up the fitting today at Lowes and plan on testing it this Saturday..

Chris Alvey · Post by **Chris Alvey** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:10 am

By all means, report back on how that works out. What a nice gift.

Don · Post by **Don** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:17 pm

My first time using my Blichmann Terminator wort chiller went great...

I put a throttle valve on the water inlet and could adjust the wort out temperature from 58 to 80 deg, just by letting in a little more water flow into the chiller.
I make my hoses by using Dwayne's suggestion for the fittings.

http://www.ovha.net/phpBB2/album_showpa ... pic_id=292

But I used the 1/2" X 1/2" Zurn Pex with a 1/2" Thermoplastic Rubber Tubing for the wort inlet from the kettle and a regular 1/2" ID Siphon Hose for the outlet of the chiller. (the chiller is 1/2" so I just kept it that size)
I bought an extra 1/2" X 1/2" Zurn Pex and a 1/2" to garden hose fitting with 3 ' of PVC braided tubing and made another hose to clean the chiller after use by back-flowing the water. (I have under $6 in this hose and they sell it for $19)

It's a little more work to sanitize the chiller and lines but you have to sanitize the immersion chiller anyway. Cleaning it afterwords takes some time but well worth it. I used a lot less water and saved a good 20 minutes from my brew day.

If anyone wants to try this out, I would be happy to lend it to them for the day (If I'm not brewing then)