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  • Heat Exchanger Question

    Just want to know some thoughts on this.

    Is leaving the Heat Exchanger packed and closed off with water better than letting it drain out?

    My system has the H/E next to the Kettle, connected to a hard pipe that goes upstairs to the fermenter loft. During brewery 'down time'. (I live and brew on a seasonal island....very slow in the winter and crazy busy in the summer.)
    When packed with plain rinse water overnight the water in the H/E sits at 85-95 degrees. Is this a problem? In the winter, it sits at 65. Of course, I do a 30 minute 190F circulation during the brew, so I am not worried about contamination.

    A few times a year I leave the H/E packed with Caustic for the night and do the rinse in the morning.

    Getting back to my question. Should I leave the H/E packed or not?

  • #2
    In the five different breweries that I worked in, we didn't leave the heat exchanger with any water in it.

    That doesn't mean we were correct!

    Cheers, Tim

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    • #3
      Hey Matt:

      At Paper City, we always packed the heat-X with an Iodiphor solution, whether just overnight or weeks+. My two cents would be to do the same, as just water, no water (and perhaps cool caustic?) would be some very good environments for bugs. And you know the reputation of exchangers for nooks & crannies and what gets left in them. A better-safe-than-sorry move I say. What's cookin' on the Island?

      David

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      • #4
        Dido

        Originally posted by BeerBoy
        Hey Matt:

        At Paper City, we always packed the heat-X with an Iodiphor solution, whether just overnight or weeks+. My two cents would be to do the same, as just water, no water (and perhaps cool caustic?) would be some very good environments for bugs. And you know the reputation of exchangers for nooks & crannies and what gets left in them. A better-safe-than-sorry move I say. What's cookin' on the Island?

        David
        This has been my experience, the Iodiphor pack!
        Doug A Moller
        Brewmaster
        The Moller Brew House
        (405)226-3111

        Comment


        • #5
          I'd add that circulating boiling water through the exchanger (without cooling it!) is a particularly effective way of killing bad bugs, as heat penetrates where chemicals might not...

          Cheers, Tim

          Comment


          • #6
            Hello folks!

            I hesitate to pack with iodophor for extended periods as it tends to break down quickly. And could, under the right circumstances lead to corrosion, pitting, damage to your HE. Right or wrong, I always pack the HE with the last segment of my end of brewday CIP. Either hot caustic or acid, depending upon the cycle. Generally tends to stay effective longer than iodophor. I usually fire things up the next day or three, but with extended rest, say a week or more, I run a prebrew clean. Again either an acid or caustic depending upon the cycle.

            Aloha
            Ron
            Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
            Dexter, MI

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            • #7
              Yet another heat exchanger thing: we always backflushed the HE, rather than ran the cleaning chemicals in from the same direction. Really worked well for us!

              Cheers, Tim

              Comment


              • #8
                Packing with caustic is a great thing. Be careful of extended chlorine contact. Long iodophor contact time may kill bugs but if there is any little blob of stuff (trub/hop pieces) between or on plates, no amount of sanitizer will kill the creatures at the base of the blob. Only getting the crud out first will allow it to be sanitized. Suppose you kill with heat, this is more effective against blobs, but if there are blobs, they may just affect the taste of your delicious wort. High temp sanitizing may bake on trub proteins. Especially effective for getting crud out is repeated reversal of flush water-just look at what comes out. Rinse pulsing helps, too.
                So pack it in caustic if there may be crud, pack with sanitizer when there are no blobs.

                Comment


                • #9
                  packing the heat exchanger

                  we have found that if we are to leave the heat exchanger unused for a period of time that packing it with a very light solution of UNactivated Clorine Dioxide works really well after a good rinsing. The theory is that if there is any activity then that activity will reduce the PH of the solution inside of the heat exchanger and thus activate the ClO2 and kill the bugs as a result of their activity. Make sure that you contact your chemical supplier and discuss the proper concentration levels!!!!

                  brad farbstein
                  real ale brewing co

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Hiya' Kona,
                    It has been my practice to always run the HE through a back-flush three-chemical protocol after every brew (caustic, strong acid, sanitizer) and leave it packed with the hot sanitizer. I've always felt that the guts of the HE would be better protected filled with liquid sanitizer (Star San in this case) than to leave it empty. This way when I run my wort through it, the wort is pushing out the sanitizer through the hose and the sanitizer is removed via a "T-valve" just before the FV. Just my two cents. I'm sure there are a variety of different HE dogmas and they all probably work as well. It's just a matter of finding one that dovetails into your protocols and rhythm.
                    And remember, I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal labotomy but that goes without saying!
                    Prost!
                    Dave
                    Glacier Brewing Company
                    406-883-2595
                    info@glacierbrewing.com

                    "who said what now?"

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I don't know what the active ingredient in Star San is, but if it is iodine or chlorine based, then get your plates checked PDQ for cracks and pitting corrosion. Either of these will chew through stainless in a very short time, especially close to the joint gaskets. If there are any bugs left, they may grow in spite of the sterilant, releasing acid. Once the pH drops below about 11, then the chlorine or iodine gets to work and starts to chew up the chromium in the stainless.

                      'Fraid we have had a few instances of glycol contamination in beer / wort over the last few years in different companies in the UK, resulting in a couple of major product recalls.

                      Always keep the product pressure higher than the coolant. That way, at least the wort / beer doesn't get coolant in it.

                      Oh, and yes, as previously stated, always back clean plate heat exchangers.

                      Cheers
                      dick

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I was surprised to read Dick's comment about Iodophor causing pitting on stainless. Many times I've heard of Chlorine causing pitting, but never Iodine. Have others experienced this with Iodine? Dick, you've experienced this yourself?

                        Thanks,
                        Dan

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                        • #13
                          Yes, I have seen holes in stainless fittings in soak baths filled with iodophors. This was a few years ago mindst, and I think the formualtions have improved since then. Like chlorine, the key is to ensure the ph does not drop into the acidic range. We are currently using iodophor in soak baths, but I still wouldn't want to use it whree the results are hidden away in a heat exchanger.

                          One real advantage of iodophors of course is that the colour gives you a very rough and ready idea of how strong it is, at least to tell whether it is almost totally depleted / diluted or grossly overstrength. A minor advantage is it stains up protein & mineral scale, so you can easily tell if the items are clean - no brown stain - it's likely to be properly clean, Stain - get the green pads out

                          Cheers
                          dick

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                          • #14
                            Thanks, Dick. What are you guys packing the HE with? Or are you?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I leave mine packed with caustic after my post-brew CIP. The night before a brew day, I'll rinse it with hot liquor, then pack it with cool (not cold) iodophor. Every 5 or 6 brew cycles I'll back CIP it with caustic/rinse/acid. It's a bit of a pain to back wash on my brewhouse (I can't use the skid-mounted pump at all), but the peace of mind I get seeing nothing gross in the sight glass after 4 months of steady use is worth the trouble
                              "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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