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Therminator Experience To Share

MikeinRH

Grandmaster Brewer
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I've learned a simple way to clean out my chill plate after each batch by simply hooking up the garden hose to the wort in and out with quick disconnects. HOWEVER, at the start of a new brew day, I also place the unit in with the H2O (liquor) I heat for the mash. The purpose of doing so is to kill off any bad guys that might still remain from the prior batch. Well ... I found out the hard way that the plates stay HOT for a long time. Couldn't figure out why the unit wasn't cooling, and I ended up killing off a batch of yeast. I will henceforth recirculate StarSan in a closed-loop set up to cool the plates prior to hooking up the unit between the kettle and fermenter.
 
Thanks for sharing Mike,

I got a Therminator and I am planning to use it in one of my next brews. I will keep your experience in mind!

R, Slurk
 
I sanitised by filling up the chiller with starsan before use, and that seemed to work fine! I also flushed the wort part of the chiller with warm water after use to clean it.

The supplier of the plate chiller told me that you need to rinse it with a special chemical after 5 times since you will not be able to get ALL the water out of the chiller. I will check which product it was and come back.

Regards Tore
 
thassum said:
The supplier of the plate chiller told me that you need to rinse it with a special chemical after 5 times since you will not be able to get ALL the water out of the chiller. I will check which product it was and come back.

Welcome to the BS-forum Thassum ;)
R, Slurk
 
MikeinRH said:
..... I ended up killing off a batch of yeast.

Isn't the purpose of the therminator to cool your wort from the kettle to the fermenter? I am lost as how its to hot, when it should be cooling
the wort. I am assuming you mean the wort wasnt chilled as it went into the fermenter causing to high of temp to kill your yeast. Cant you pump the cool water thru it before running your wort?
 
Correct. Except for the fact that I had failed to allow enough time for the plates to cool after I cooked the unit while heating mash water.
 
On brew day,
  • I heat my mash water then pump it into my mash tun through the inline plate chiller.  This will pasteurize the plate chiller though it is not needed.
  • Just after flameout, I recirculate the wort through the plate chiller as long as it takes me to drink 1/2 pint
  • I then apply cold water to the chiller and recirc another 1/2 pint drinking time.
  • I then move the out to the carboy and adjust the rate flow rate to achieve pitching temp.  Sometimes I pre-chill or pump icewater through the chiller.
  • After that, I backflow rinse the chiller with hose water
  • When that is done, I heat water to 120F and add PBW.  I circulate PBW while pitching, adding O2, cleaning and putting everything away.
  • I drain the PBW then rinse with 120F water
  • I circulate starsan for some time
  • I drain starsan and store the plank upright allowing starsan to drain.


You can see my setup for my Therminator on my crappy youtube video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0jurTWqP0s
 
After cleaning up and flushing my chiller, I fill it with distilled water for a few minutes, to collect as many minerals as I can before they turn into deposits, and drain it.

I then put it in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. leaving the oven door closed I let it cool and then seal it in a heavy plastic bag. It dries out the chiller. and it is relatively sanitized for the next use.

Take care of it and it will take care of you!

Barry

 
I normally sanitize my therminator in Iodophor while sanitizing my primary tank.  After use I back flush with hose quick connects and then place it back into the Iodophor for a while.

castawayales said:
I then put it in the oven at 350 for 1 hour. leaving the oven door closed I let it cool and then seal it in a heavy plastic bag. It dries out the chiller. and it is relatively sanitized for the next use.

I've always had problems with drying the dang thing.  This is a great idea!
 
If you clean your chiller after each use, there shouldn't be much, if anything, for bacteria and wild yeast to feed on.  Typically, I run some of my hot liquor through the chiller, with no counterflow water prior to the hot wort.  I''ll then run enough hot wort to fill the chiller, still  without counterflow.  THis allows a liquid near boiling temperature to completely fill the chiller. 

Once it's completed its job, I'll again run hot liquor through the hot side of the chiller, then a caustic, and then peracetic acid after it cools and then rinse and put it away.
 
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