I’m thinking about getting a Shirron heat exchanger and using that instead of my copper immersion chiller. What are the cons of a heat exchanger? The exchanger I’m looking at is for a 5 gallon batch and costs 94.90. Claims to cool wort to pitching temperature in 5 minutes which sounds great.
Message maniacOriginally posted by LinusStick
I’m thinking about getting a Shirron heat exchanger and using that instead of my copper immersion chiller. What are the cons of a heat exchanger? The exchanger I’m looking at is for a 5 gallon batch and costs 94.90. Claims to cool wort to pitching temperature in 5 minutes which sounds great.
A plate chiller is one of the best investments you’ll make. Much faster cooling than an immersion chiller and a lot easier to store. The only real downside is you need to make sure you don’t run any crud through it. I have a bazooka screen on my boil pot that strains out most of the crud.If you use pellet hops, it can sometimes be a bit tricky as they seem to slip through the bazooka screen and can clog the chiller. In those cases, you can just flush water backwards through it to clear the clog. If you use leaf hops, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.Among other advantages, a plate chiller works with any pot, where immersion chillers tend to be more specifically designed for a given pot. If you make a 10 gallon batch, the chiller works just the same, it just takes a little longer to run it off due to the extra volume.
Message FlacoAltoOriginally posted by LinusStick
OK I meant plate chiller
In case you were confused, the shirron is a plate chiller.
Message LinusStickOriginally posted by FlacoAlto
Originally posted by LinusStick
OK I meant plate chiller
In case you were confused, the shirron is a plate chiller.
Yeah I know...I posted this in another homebrew forum and was quickly told that both immersion chillers and plate chillers are both heat exchangers
Message DavinciIn the brewing world heat exchanger usually means plate chiller, so it really doesn’t matter which you call it. I’ve been using a Blichman Therminator for a couple of years now and I love it. Like someone already said, you have to be careful about your hops, but it works like a charm. Also, if you have a pressure cooker, you can sterilize the crap out of it. One down side is that most, if not all, use copper brazing which means you shouldn’t leave them filled with acid because it will corrode the copper.
I also have noticed that the Blichman and maybe even the shirron may be a bit of a rip off. Been seeing what appears to be the exact same product sold as heat exchangers for out door boilers. They are still stainless with copper brazing, but they are twice the size or bigger and much cheaper. I think it’d be worth checking out.
Just google "heat exchanger plate" and you can see lots of options from 16-70 plate chillers.
Can anyone think of a reason why not to use one of these as opposed to one marketed towards brewers?
They seem the same to me.
Originally posted by Davinci
Can anyone think of a reason why not to use one of these as opposed to one marketed towards brewers?
They seem the same to me.
The only worry I would have is if they are not food safe, due to the brazing alloys that they use.
Message DavinciOriginally posted by FlacoAlto
Originally posted by Davinci
Can anyone think of a reason why not to use one of these as opposed to one marketed towards brewers?
They seem the same to me.
The only worry I would have is if they are not food safe, due to the brazing alloys that they use.
I don’t know a whole lot about welding or brazing, but if it says it’s S.S. with copper brazing, isn’t that exactly what it is? Again, don’t really know about such things, but have been looking at those ebay chillers recently. I have a feeling Blichman just resells the therminator from something similar with a sticker on it.
Message NobleSquirrelOriginally posted by Davinci
Originally posted by FlacoAlto
Originally posted by Davinci
Can anyone think of a reason why not to use one of these as opposed to one marketed towards brewers?
They seem the same to me.
The only worry I would have is if they are not food safe, due to the brazing alloys that they use.
I don’t know a whole lot about welding or brazing, but if it says it’s S.S. with copper brazing, isn’t that exactly what it is? Again, don’t really know about such things, but have been looking at those ebay chillers recently. I have a feeling Blichman just resells the therminator from something similar with a sticker on it.
They may do that, but they tend to re-engineer a lot of stuff as well. Their burner looks a lot like a normal turkey fryer burner but it is far more efficient than the seemingly identical Bayou Classic...
Message DavinciSure, but with a heat exchanger I don’t see what improvements they’d make... bigger channels that are easier to back flush hops out of maybe? Or like Flaco said, maybe it is more food grade than the others.
Seems like for half the price you can get a heat exchanger with twice the plates, thus twice the cooling power. I would love to see one made of all SS, but I think those are only made for marine/ high salinity applications and are way more expensive, but I think far more chemical resistant.
I built one of the counter-flow chillers with the garden hose and copper tubing deals. It’s 25’ and works wonders and is easy to clean. I can dial in the temp perfectly with my pump and cool ground water. I guess about 1 gallon per minute. I recommend this cause its cheaper, just as effective, and is fun to build your own stuff.
Cheers
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