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See: [url:3g6p5oek]http://www.brouwland.com/shop/product.asp?cfid=4&id=2753&cat=400&dt=24[/url:3g6p5oek]

Plate heat exchanger welded

Will be arriving in Galway today, so I'll put on web site soon. Will cost Brouwland RRP of Euro 82.20.

I think the main advantage is that wort goes in very hot and comes out cold with zero delay. So there is no gradual cooling, and thus a much lower infection risk.

Its also much smaller and less cumbersome than a coil, and works with all boilers. Wort tap is connected via our standard silicone rubber tubing.

Brouwland description is as follows:

Chill your wort as professional breweries do with this ultra compact and very handy plate heat exchanger. With this device, consisting of 12 stainless steel plates, you can cool 20 liters of hot wort to 20°C in barely 10 minutes using plain gravity (no extra pump needed). You don’t disturbe the precipitation of the hot trub and because of the quick cooling you’re avoiding contaminations of your wort. The cooler is easy to use and to clean, the water-use is limited and the connections are standard (¾"). This is definitely a device that can not be missed by the amateur brewer who aims to achieve the highest quality.



Complete with tube-holders PE 12 mm x 3/4" F (018.263.1234) and user manual.

If your source water is cold, plate heat exchangers tend to be more efficient than standard homebrew immersion chillers, but I wouldn't say they offer a much lower infection risk. First, although they are quicker than immersion chillers they are not massively quicker. You save a few minutes maybe. Second, it is quite difficult to fully clean and sanitise plate chillers. There is always a risk that crud from the boil will get lodged inside and pose an infection risk in the future.

However, they do have one clear cut advantage over immersion chillers: they are much cooler. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Its not just that they are quicker overall, its that hot wort goes in and cold wort comes out so there are effectively no intermediate temperatures (like say 30 oC, 35 oC, 40 oC etc). Brouwland claim they are easy to clean, but I suppose the proof of that remains to be seen.

Yea, that's a good point. It should definitely help with avoiding chill haze by getting a good cold break.

Aahhh ... that's a great point . . .will have to put it on the web site !!

The down side of that is the cold break ends up in the FV.
I know some commercial breweries allow this but most go to great pains to avoid.