Tasty’s plate chiller

[crupp]

All,
I was just listening to a podcast from January 2007. In that podcast Chris Graham mentioned that Tasty was testing their plate chiller for them, and they planned to have it cut open after a certain amount of time. Does anyone remember if this was ever done? As a Therminator user, I’m very interested to learn what they found.

[TheMadHopper]

I have often wondered this myself. I also have the Therminator and have been looking forward to hearing the results. I have been working my way chronologically through the archives and I'm up to 6/8/08 and I haven't heard anything else about it. Guess it just died along with every other long term experiment they plan. Like the one where Shat drinks nothing but the light beer for a month to see if he looses weight. That would be a great one to do. We could have weekly updates and daily weigh-ins...

Didn't mean to ramble on off-topic, but will someone cut Tasty's chiller open, please?

[TastyMcD]

That's my fault that we haven't cut it open. Chris has my replacement there and I've been religiously cleaning the Therminator after every use but never seem to get around to disassembling my hard-piped Therminator-March Pump assembly. The plan was to cut it in half after about a year's use but it's gone way past that. I'm not sure what we'll find but I can say that I don't sense I've got any problem with my wort as a result of the Therminator.

Tasty

[crupp]

Thanks, Tasty,
After every brew I blast reserved (hot) chill water through mine. It always runs clear, but I can’t help but wonder about any protein junk left in there. I use a nice hop screen, so I don’t really worry about hop matter. After every few brews I give mine a hot PBW recirculation followed by a hot water rinse.
Any other advice you could offer for proper maintenance?

Thanks

[BeerPal]

FYI, here is a pic of the Shirron plate chiller that MoreBeer carries cut open. This is a brand new one that had never been used:

[nathanm]

Whoa. Does the wort move from left to right and hit all those little pockets? I always pictured that the plates were flat. I have one of those and although I soak it in PBW or Oxyclean after each use, I usually fill it with water and put it in the oven @ 250F for about 45 minutes while the wort is boiling.

[BeerPal]

I could be wrong but I think water runs through holes 1, 3 & 5 etc. while wort runs through holes 2, 4 & 6 etc. in the opposite direction, if you get my meaning.

[nathanm]

Yes, that makes sense. Just found this that helps explain the picture you posted above. they must have just cut through it with a hack saw.