mash turned copper manifold green

Just finished cleaning out my mash tun and noticed green spots all over the copper.It's not totally green but spotty and streaky. Is that normal, or should I have used a different type of copper?

those green spots are poisons. get them off before you use it again.

this is the first time using it, btw

Copper Sulfate is the corrosion on copper, similar to iron oxide which is rust on steel. The low PH of your mash causes that. Some people worry about it some don't.

guess that's one of the things I could expect from forgetting the 5.2

mikeysab said:

guess that's one of the things I could expect from forgetting the 5.2

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I doubt it. 5.2 is garbage. Total snake-oil.

smizak said:

I doubt it. 5.2 is garbage. Total snake-oil.

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i forgot it and got 5% less efficiency so...

Not using 5.2 doesn't make any difference to the original question. Even without, unless your water is over 8 PH you got close to 5.2 PH. I never use 5.2. I have 8+ PH water & correct my water profile before heating to about 7 ish and usually hit between 5.2 & 5.6 in the mash. Anything below 7 is acidic of course therefore your copper turning green.

so then it's nothing to worry about, right? I looked up verdigris, which I read is real bad, and it's not that. It's not something growing on the pipe, it just looks like blotchy dark spots. I thought maybe I chose the wrong type of copper but I don't think so. I think it's nothing but I wanted to see what you guys thought about it and if it's anything to worry about

I don't think it's any thing to worry about. Eventually all the copper will get discolored and form a protective barrier. Then the copper will stop leeching into your beer. Copper is a mineral that your body needs so it's not going to poison you. You didn't use lead to solder the joints did you? That WOULD be dangerous.

chemman14 said:

i forgot it and got 5% less efficiency so...

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A little but...

I got 78%, 82%, and 87% efficiency on my last three batches. No 5.2. All because of volume differences. Or crush. Or maybe the grain. Mash chemistry is way too complicated to make a claim that a single salt/mineral additive will always lock in a ph of 5.2. Five Star told me themselves in an email that it is only designed to bring down ph from hard water, yet it doesn't say so on the product. A.J. Delange did mash experiments with it and couldn't even bring down mash ph at four times the dosage.

mikeysab said:

so then it's nothing to worry about, right? I looked up verdigris, which I read is real bad, and it's not that. It's not something growing on the pipe, it just looks like blotchy dark spots. I thought maybe I chose the wrong type of copper but I don't think so. I think it's nothing but I wanted to see what you guys thought about it and if it's anything to worry about

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If you are worried about it, soak it in a mild vinegar solution to get rid of it. The only time I do this with my copper is after it has sat around for a long time and gets that blackened look. Nothing to worry about, contrary to what one said in this thread.

+1 on the vinegar solution. I made my manifold out of an old piece of copper tubing that had been laying around in my garage for years. After I was done making the manifold, I put all the pieces in a baggie with vinegar and it looked brand new in about 30 seconds.:rockin:

I thought the issue was when copper turned blue

I'm gonna give it a vinegar bath just to get rid of that funky new design. It reminded me of that spongebob episode whem mr crabs gave everybody spoiled krabby patties. Whoops, maybe I've been home with the kids too long