[Richard]

I feel the same way as BrewBama. I like to be able to take everything apart and see that it is clean. This discussion has me thinking, though, that if some gunk is hiding in a crevice and doesn't come out with hot water and cleaner being flowed in both directions, would it affect the beer? To rephrase an old question: If a piece of gunk falls in a crevice and there is no beer around to touch it, does it cause contamination?

[BrewBama]

To rephrase an old question: If a piece of gunk falls in a crevice and there is no beer around to touch it, does it cause contamination?

Based on the evidence above, I guess not.


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[Slowbrew]

To rephrase an old question: If a piece of gunk falls in a crevice and there is no beer around to touch it, does it cause contamination?

Based on the evidence above, I guess not.


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I don't have a plate chiller but I have heard that if you are concerned, you can always bake for a couple of hours.  Basically autoclaving it in your oven.

Paul

[ynotbrusum]

I never got a plate chiller, but I am wondering about my counter flow chiller.  It’s all stainless and maybe I should give it a good cleaning along those lines and then bake it.  I rarely use it since I bought the Jaded IC, so I should store it ultra clean....

[mabrungard]

The intake in my kettle is shrouded with a stainless braid and that does a great job of keeping larger particles out of the flow heading to my plate chiller.  When I backflush or circulate caustic, I only see minor crud in the flow.  I'd say that having an effective prefilter is an important consideration in keeping a chiller clean and sanitary.

[goose]

The intake in my kettle is shrouded with a stainless braid and that does a great job of keeping larger particles out of the flow heading to my plate chiller.  When I backflush or circulate caustic, I only see minor crud in the flow.  I'd say that having an effective prefilter is an important consideration in keeping a chiller clean and sanitary.

+1

[narvin]

I bet if you could take your chiller apart once you get it running crystal clear you would still find gunk in the crevices.

I highly doubt that, but okay.

I'd believe it.  People who have baked their chiller and carbonized whatever hop or protein deposits are inside find that black water does come out for a while.  Is that a problem, though?  Probably not, as long as you pasteurize it with some hot wort recirculation.  When I used a plate chiller, I didn't trust just using sanitizer because most of the ones we use as homebrewers are quickly inactivated by organic material.