It seemed a few weeks back I was constantly getting weekly emails from some of my favorite on line homebrew retailers. Each week it seemed like one retailer was trying to out do the offer from the other the previous week. Finally, I got a 25% offer from MoreBeer.com and I couldn’t pass it up. I had a handful of things I need to get and it was time to pull the trigger on a new plate chiller.

After building the brew stand I knew that eventually I wanted to get a plate chiller. I have found that in the first couple runs of the stand my brew day has the potential to pick up a little more organization and efficiency (speed). It was always my hope that if I could incorporate a plate chiller I could shave a little more time from the day by combining chilling wort with moving wort to the fermentor.

As I have said before, I don’t want my brew days to fly by. It is a hobby and good way to spend some personal time. However, scheduling a long brew day against other commitments can be tough. I have been working towards a more streamlined and timely brew day. So that hopefully I can brew a little quicker, and also find time to brew more often.

My primary concern with the plate chiller has always been clogging it and keeping it clean. For a short while I had played with a stainless mesh kettle screen similar to a HopStopper. It worked really well until I started doing a recirculated chill process. The recir process would eventually clog the fine mesh vs. just a simple drain out of the kettle where all the hops are in suspension and gradually come to the filter screen. So it will be time to re-investigate that little tool before I get the chiller in line.

Speaking of being in-line; my intended set up with be to go: Kettle–>Pump–>Chiller–>Fermentor.

Hopefully, I’ll get this new toy cleaned up, sanitized and ready for action before the new year is out. I am however in process of potentially moving my brew setup to a new part of the house. So using that Shirron Plate Chiller may have to wait until next year.

BREW ON!