Therminator cleaning tip

[BrianL]

Started using a Therminator about 6 batches ago. First few I pumped hot PBW back and forth through it for a good 20 minutes right after use and then sanitized in star san before use. I thought I'd boil it for a thorough sanitation after like 3 batches. After the boil there was a surprising amount of what looked like small bits of break material and probably hops in the bottom of the pot. I've done this the last few times and find the same thing each time. If you're just doing a PBW cleaning you might want to try this and see what you get.

Let me know if anyone has any better cleaning tips.

[TastyMcD]

I've had a similar result. I do a similar PBW both directions cleaning after every use. Once every few months, I boil water in my kettle and recirc it through the Therminator. The return flow from the Therminator causes a whirlpool in the kettle and when I'm finished there's a small amount of little bits in the center of the kettle. In use, I recirc hot wort through the Therminator before use. Based on my results, I can only assume that that sterilizes any particles that might be in the Therminator. Your results may vary.

Tasty

[Cliff]

surprising amount of what looked like small bits of break material and probably hops in the bottom of the pot.

Crap'll stick to the innards of any of those HEX that are not designed for food applications. If you want one made for a food app you gotta pay a gozillion dollars for a HEX that can be disassembled and cleaned. As a general proposition, the industries that use plate heat exchangers are using them because of the space saving characteristics they bring to the party.

Whether the crap that gets stuck in a sealed plate HEX will ever be an issue is, I should think, largely a question of build up. Boiling ( or baking ) them is probably spot on.

[ajdelange]

Let me know if anyone has any better cleaning tips.

Don't know about better but I can tell you what I do. I use my beerline cleaning pump and either beer line cleaner or just caustic in water. I recirculate the solutin backwards through the chiller for about an hour and yes, all sorts of interesting (and frightening) looking stuff comes out. The beer line cleaner pump intake hose has a fine screen which catches this stuff. Periodically I stop the pump and clean the screen. This has worked for me so far IOW the thing chills but does not infect my wort - so far.

[BrianL]

I brewed Monday, I pumped hot PBW through it right after. Then soaked it in PBW for 24 hours, then blasted hot water through it about a half dozen times and I'm still getting particles shooting out of it....crazy. It saves some time on brewday, but starting to question if its worth the trouble/risk.

[telejunkie]

What about good old fashion cheap vodka...ethanol is a good solvent. If possible, you could leave the vodka soaking in the wort side between brew days to keep it sanitary & possibly help clean out some of the embedded particles. Not sure if that would detrimentally impact the metals in the plate chiller in the long term though.

[MNHazmat]

How much heat can one of these chillers take before they come apart? Would a "clean" cycle in the oven effectively incinerate any internal contaminants allowing them to be more easily washed out, or would it melt the brazing?