Plate chiller?

[Jam095]

Shopping for a plate chiller online, and found a really good price on amazon. Anyone have one of the BC-12A chillers sold by that Biodiesel company? It looks like you get a larger chiller for your money, but is there a catch?

[KennyPurcell]

I got one for Christmas but I haven't had a chance to brew yet. Customer service was good, shipping fast, and it seems to be solidly constructed. I'll probably brew on Sunday and will know more about it then.

[Don]

Shopping for a plate chiller online, and found a really good price on amazon. Anyone have one of the BC-12A chillers sold by that Biodiesel company? It looks like you get a larger chiller for your money, but is there a catch?

Which B3-12A are you looking at, they make a 10, 20, 30 and 40 plate from $39 to $94 all called B3-12A.
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=b3-12a

My Therminator has 40+ plates and they claim it can chill 10 gallons of boiling wort to pitching temperature within 5 minutes when using 58°F cooling water at 5 gpm.

I've been using it for 3 years now and love it, but it all depends on the temperature of the input water.
In the middle of the summer I will pre-cool my water using a bucket and my old immersion chiller and a bag of ice.

[Jam095]

I went ahead and ordered the B3-12A 20. Cant wait to try it!

[SkyBrew]

I'm interested in this too since the Blichmann 40 plate therminator is $199 on Northern Brewers website and the B3-12A 40 plate chiller is $112 on Amazon.com, however, on the DudaDiesel.com website they are even cheaper at $99. I am really tempted to just go ahead and buy it.

I got one for Christmas but I haven't had a chance to brew yet. Customer service was good, shipping fast, and it seems to be solidly constructed. I'll probably brew on Sunday and will know more about it then.

They are even cheaper on the guys actual website:
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?qu ... erchillers

I'm going to wait and see how it does for Kenny this weekend.

He also had some really good info on his website about the difference in chillers:

Advice on Selecting the proper Beer Wort Chiller

The more length a heat exchanger has, the more efficient it is. Adding plates adds some extra heat transfer, but not as much as adding length to the unit. For this reason, the B3-12A 20 and 30 plate models are the most popular for an economical beer wort chiller. For a higher performance unit, choose the B3-23A 20, 30 plate. While the B3-12A 40 plate does give more efficiency than the B3-12A 30 plate, the B3-23A 20 plate performs about 50% better than the B3-12A 40 plate and the cost is nearly the same. The B3-12A 40 plate should be utilized for higher flow applications (less pressure drop) more so than for added heat transfer.

The B3-23A 40 plate and B3-23A 60 plate units gain the peak performance available for typical 5 gpm cooling water applications. These units have the potential to perform much better with higher flow rates of cooling water.

Based off his advise I would go with the B3-23A 20 Plate Beer Wort Garden Hose Chiller $104.95, or the B3-23A 30 Plate Universal Beer Wort Chiller $139.95

[ArtCox]

I got mine at Rebel Brewer back in the summer.. It's a 20 plate but it works great for me.

http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart ... iller.html

Much quicker then the immersion chiller I was using.

[SkyBrew]

Hey Kenny, did you get a chance to try your plate chiller out yet?

[KennyPurcell]

I'm 20 minutes into my mash now. I'll report back later tonight.

[msjulian]

I have the B3-23A-20 from Duda. After reading up on heat exchangers and all the years selling custom built aluminum radiators in the muscle car market I opted for length over height. It has performed wonderfully from me over the last year. For the price I don't think you can go wrong.

[Jam095]

Kenny, did you get the 12A or the 23A?

[KennyPurcell]

I have the B3-12A 20 Plate Beer Wort Garden Hose Chiller ($64.95 + shipping).

After flame out, I gave it a good stir and let everything settle for 10 minutes. The wort was still at least 185-190F when I started my test. The wort was gravity fed through a 1/2" silicone hose. The water temp was 46.5F (and the amb temp was ~60F in the garage). With the valve all of the way open, the first two cup sample was at 61F. The second sample was at 57F. I then just transferred 5 gallons with the valve all of the way open into my BB. It took a little less than 10 minutes. The little liquid crystal thermometer on the side read 58F.

I'll be interested in seeing how well it works with the ground water temps in the 60s, but I am very happy with it (and it beats the hell out of using an ice bath).

Now if I can just get over the fact my kolsch came out with an OG of 1038 when I was shooting for 1046!

[SkyBrew]

I then just transferred 5 gallons with the valve all of the way open into my BB. It took a little less than 10 minutes. The little liquid crystal thermometer on the side read 58F.

Nice!

[KennyPurcell]

Well I can now report that with warmer ground water temps it takes FOREVER to get to 85F. I just had to put my sanitized carboy cap on and take my wort to the basement. It was cool enough to pitch the yeast when I got up this morning.

Does anyone have some advice they can share for chilling wort in August?

[msjulian]

As Don mentioned above, a lot of folks put an immersion chiller in line before the water hits the plate chiller. You would put the coil in a bucket of ice water and pre chill the water. I have see temps down to lager pitching temp by doing this. You can also try submersing your plate chiller in a bucket of ice water. Any thing to pull temp out will be a benefit.

If you don't have a coil laying around just slow the wort flow through the chiller as much as possible and make sure the water is moving through as quick as possible.

[Don]

When the ground water is this warm like this I use 2 immersion chillers. The first one is in a 5 gal bucket filled with ice and some water.
Make a small piece of garden hose long enough to go from the output of the first chiller to the input of the second chiller (this one will be in the kettle)
You run your garden hose through the first chiller (ice bath) then it flows to the chiller in the kettle.
If you need to borrow a second chiller just ask.

I have a plate chiller, so I saved my old immersion chiller and use it in the ice bath and use the plate chiller for the wort (same thing).