Beer Forum

Hey all,

More of a lurker than poster, but I've run into a situation where I could use some help from the BN Army.

My copper counter flow chiller (Chillzilla) has developed a flow restriction (it's clogged) on the cooling water side. Water still gets through, but at a much lower flow rate. Has anyone experienced this before and if so, how did you remedy it? Other than sending hot PBW through the cooling water side, which I doubt will do much good, I'm not sure what other options I have.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks much!

I would heat up a few gallons of PBW (near boiling), keep it hot and recuirculate it through the chiller (requires a pump) for as long as it took to clear the clog. Maybe an overnight soak in PBW first.

In the words of Chris Farley..."Stupid, Stupid, Stupid." - referring to me of course.

As soon as I hit submit, I realized I should back flush with the garden hose. Don't know why I overlooked this before. Anyway, worked like a charm. I had a bunch of grass clippings and other material clogged in there from 10 years of use. My flow rate is now back to normal.

Thanks for the suggestion!

KidHop wrote:I had a bunch of grass clippings... in there from 10 years of use.

Grass clipping in your CFC???

Yes on the cooling water side. I have 200' of garden hose feeding it. I'm sure from having the hose lay on the ground leads to grass clippings and other matter accumulating in it over time.

Laughing my ass off.

In my opinion, beer equipment is just that, beer equipment. No other hosuehold uses. Cleaned and stored properly until the next batch.

Kbar wrote:Laughing my ass off.

In my opinion, beer equipment is just that, beer equipment. No other hosuehold uses. Cleaned and stored properly until the next batch.

+1

Even my white, potable water hose gets drained and hung up after each brewing-only use.