Wort chiller clean enough?

Hey guys, a buddy of mine gave me a Wort chiller to use. So I figured I would try to clean it up good before I use it. I have boiled it in a vinegar/water solution twice, and scrubbed it with a sponge and B-brite. Each time when the I dry it off with a paper towel, there is a little residue on the paper towel. I have attached a picture of the chiller and the paper towel to get some opinions on if everything is good.

Boiling copper in an acid probably is removing some copper. I think you're taking the cleaning a bit too far. I just rinse the crap off my wort chiller then give it another quick rinse before throwing it into the wort.

tmurph6 said:

Boiling copper in an acid probably is removing some copper. I think you're taking the cleaning a bit too far. I just rinse the crap off my wort chiller then give it another quick rinse before throwing it into the wort.

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That's what I was thinking as well. It looked worse than the picture when I first got it, so I wanted to make sure to get it clean. I'll soak it in my Star San solution on brew day until I use it

Just keep in mind star san is an acid solution as well, I have my wort chiller hanging from a beam so I just spray it with star san. I never thought these acids would harm copper but it's good to know. I probably wouldn't soak the chiller for the entire brew day. 30second contact is enough. Cheers.

ismedeiros88 said:

Just keep in mind star san is an acid solution as well, I have my wort chiller hanging from a beam so I just spray it with star san. I never thought these acids would harm copper but it's good to know. I probably wouldn't soak the chiller for the entire brew day. 30second contact is enough. Cheers.

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Thanks for the tip, glad you said something. I'll do that then

an oyx bath wouldn't hurt either

Your boiling wort will clean it lol. its acidic enough

no seriously i do add mine to a star san bucket about every 4th batch or so and only for a few minutes before rinsing.
its never given me an off flavor, so i dont pay that much attention.

Looks cleaner than mine.

After use I wash/rinse under a hot tap and hang in my garage.

On brew day I do nothing to it, just dust it off and add it to the pot as I take the pot off the stove.

I put mine in the kettle 10- 15 minutes before the end of the boil, that is plenty of time to sanitize it. As far as actually cleaning… I rinse it off after use.

Rinse it off. Look for crusty particles and remove them. Anything else is unnecessary. Put the chiller in the pot with 15 minutes left in the boil and it will be sterile. Good to go.

kh54s10 said:

Rinse it off. Look for crusty particles and remove them. Anything else is unnecessary. Put the chiller in the pot with 15 minutes left in the boil and it will be sterile. Good to go.

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This is pretty much how I treated my copper immersion chiller (before switching to a plate chiller). Pretty straightforward.

If someone gave me a well-used one, I'd want to look it over carefully and maybe even leak test it.

Using Starsan on an immersion chiller is just a waste of Starsan. If you put the chiller in the pot before the boil ends it will be sanitized by the stream.

PastorofMuppets said:

Your boiling wort will clean it lol. its acidic enough

no seriously i do add mine to a star san bucket about every 4th batch or so and only for a few minutes before rinsing.
its never given me an off flavor, so i dont pay that much attention.

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I do the same, not only does the star san sanitize it is also acts as an acid rinse to remove any oxidation. I also oxy between batches to remove wort residue.

Queequeg said:

I do the same, not only does the star san sanitize it is also acts as an acid rinse to remove any oxidation. I also oxy between batches to remove wort residue.

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I use left over star san after brewing to clean the deep oxydation on the copper. I dont use it to sanitize. I use the boil for that. So yeah like you said only acid rinse and only when it needs it.

glick said:

i put mine in the kettle 10- 15 minutes before the end of the boil, that is plenty of time to sanitize it. As far as actually cleaning… i rinse it off after use.

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+1