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Shirron Plate Chiller

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:18 pm
by cyburai
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Shirron PLate Chiller

The Shirron wort plate chiller is a highly-efficient, compact plate-type wort chiller similar in design to the Therminator. This chiller is made of 10 plates of 316 stainless steel that have been brazed together with pure copper in an oxygen-free furnace. The Shirron Chiller has a bit less surface area than the Therminator, but in our testing it was still very effective at rapidly reducing wort to pitching temperatures.

This chiller has 1/2" NPT threaded male hookups for the wort, and standard 3/4" Garden Hose threads hookups for the chilling and waste water. Wort may be pumped or gravity fed through the chiller.


I purchased a blem before Thanksgiving, and all I can say is that these chillers are amazing. Moved 10 gallons from 210 degrees to 65 degrees in 10 minutes. Straight into carboy. I am using a pump, but many people use these in gravity setups without any problems.

I love this, easily one of the best purchases I have made since starting.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:20 pm
by philip
How tough is it to clean?

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:35 pm
by Greenblood
Backflush with water then hang to dry. Easy as pie.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:45 pm
by Blktre
FYI from a CFC user and reader of other cleaning reviews ive read about plate chillers. Just backflushing isnt enuff to clean these things. Beerstone will form easily after 2-3 batches. Its been suggested that these things be backflushed w/ PBW or other cleaner and be left loaded overnite, then a quick rinse after that and stored dry.
As a CFC user i can tell you first hand that just a backflush rinse isnt enuff to combat beerstone. Please dont ask me why i know this :oops: At the very least a backflush w/ boiling water immediatly after each use.

John and Sean, ive read and talked w/ folks that have had these things clog up w/ hops. What have you guys found is the easiest way to keep this from happening??

Nice review!

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:48 pm
by philip
Greenblood wrote:Backflush with water then hang to dry. Easy as pie.
This is what I've always heard/read but I'm wondering what Sean has found in actual use.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:51 pm
by Greenblood
We have yet to run into any problems with clogging. Considering we have used it all of 3 or 4 times, we will have to see if it becomes a problem. The stainless braid we are using in the keggle along with the use of a hop bag, realy limits the amount of trub that goes through the chiller.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:52 pm
by Greenblood
philip wrote:
Greenblood wrote:Backflush with water then hang to dry. Easy as pie.
This is what I've always heard/read but I'm wondering what Sean has found in actual use.
Sean and I are both using the same chiller, as we are brewing together.

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:11 pm
by Joe Yoder
Ian and I have been using one of these since mid summer and have not had trouble with clogging. I backflush and drain and have not had any trouble (yet). Very easy to sterilize, you can just boil the entire unit.

We had trouble in the summer getting down to ale temps, but since the water has cooled (sometime in November) it has worked great. Next summer we will probably just add a post chill copper coil (running the beer inside the coil placed in a bucket of ice water) Prechilling the water before running it through the chiller did not work well, we used a LOT of ice and still had trouble getting the beer chilled.
Joe

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:33 pm
by Blktre
Joe Yoder wrote: We had trouble in the summer getting down to ale temps, but since the water has cooled (sometime in November) it has worked great. Next summer we will probably just add a post chill copper coil (running the beer inside the coil placed in a bucket of ice water) Prechilling the water before running it through the chiller did not work well, we used a LOT of ice and still had trouble getting the beer chilled.
Joe
Yea, same w/ a CFC. I agree that a post wort chiller cooling the wort a second time in the bucket of ice is way, way faster and more efficent than prechilling chill water.....

Again, nice review guys!

Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:28 pm
by Greenblood
Glad you and Joe spoke up on this, as Sean and I had anticipated this problem, but were planning on prechilling the water instead of post chilling the wort. Good info!

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:06 am
by cyburai
Thought I might give an update on this after 20+ batches on it.

One thing to keep in mind with this chiller, as with all chillers. It will only works as well as the temp of your tap water running through it. During the summer, I do an initial knock out to drop the wort temp into the below 140d. Then gravity feed ice water through the chiller to get my target temp of 68d.

Cleaning has not been a problem. I backflush it AS SOON AS I AM DONE. I push hot PBW through it occasionally (every 3-5 batches) to keep the beerstone from being a problem.

Overall, nearly a year later.. I am very satisfied with this purchase and would easily recommend it to others.