Copper rust inside counter-flow chiller?

I have a standard copper tube and garden hose CFC. I ran some star-san through it after I was done brewing last time to help stop it from growing nasty crap inside. Then I left it out on the deck for a week like an idiot. Today I finally got around to purging the copper tube with hot water and to my dismay, a bunch of blue copper oxide came out during the first few seconds. Totally clear after that.

Is this something I should be concerned about?

I think that happened because of the leftover starsan residue. You'd probably want to rinse it with water afterwards. It is an acid afterall. You can also scrub the inside of the tubing by putting a foam earplug in it and forcing it through with city water pressure.

Bobby_M said:

You can also scrub the inside of the tubing by putting a foam earplug in it and forcing it through with city water pressure.

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That is an amazing idea!

I'm not taking credit for that one. I read it on here somewhere.

I might have been the one to mention that method a while back.

thanks...im sure many will adopt the method.

Another use is as a temporary plug for the CFC tubing when it is stored between uses

Has anyone ever used a freshly-removed earplug to provide the inside of the CFC with a natural water resistant coating? It might also protect from acid intrusion...

jk

Use small ball bearings and you can shoot squirrels with it!

Maybe it's just me, but I think if you use Starsan on your chiller on a regular basis your chiller may find God because it will become holey. I would use a non acid cleaner and sanitizer.

I use Preperation H suppositories to coat my chiller

I got the same thing on some of the fittings inside my HLT cooler from soaking in Starsan. Is it going to affect my mash at all?

Bobby_M said:

I think that happened because of the leftover starsan residue. You'd probably want to rinse it with water afterwards. It is an acid afterall. You can also scrub the inside of the tubing by putting a foam earplug in it and forcing it through with city water pressure.

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Hey have you guys been stealing our ideas?

Down under we call them a Chillerpig™

My CFC process:

cleaner (PBW or Oxyclean) for about 10 minutes, then a rinse, then a StarSan soak just before use. After use, a quick run thru the cleaner, then StarSan, then a quick rinse (because StarSan is acid, after all) and cap the ends.
Next batch, repeat process.

Everything I use gets a hit with StarSan. It just gets a rinse before storage.

I use an ice chest filled with cleaner and a cheap pond/fountain pump to push cleaner thru tubing, chiller, etc. Same with the StarSan.

ausdb said:

Hey have you guys been stealing our ideas?

Down under we call them a Chillerpig™

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I didn't even know the Aussies even knew what wort chillers were.

Starsan shouldn't be a problem as long as it's flushed. Afterall, wort is acidic too (which is why ICs come out purdy). If you really wanted to counteract the acidity, a final run with a little baking soda water would neutralize.

Well, what I'm worried about is whether there is now a coating of copper oxide inside the tube that's going to taint the wort. I'm hoping as long as I do a lengthy hot water flush and then a quick star-san flush right before I use it, it should be fine. Then afterwards, a hot water flush, and then blow the water out of it before bringing it back inside.

ReeseAllen said:

Well, what I'm worried about is whether there is now a coating of copper oxide inside the tube that's going to taint the wort. I'm hoping as long as I do a lengthy hot water flush and then a quick star-san flush right before I use it, it should be fine. Then afterwards, a hot water flush, and then blow the water out of it before bringing it back inside.

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As the others have said star-san is acidic so running through some warmed up star-san will clean out the oxide. Otherwise mix up citric acid from the supermarket at 2%w/w and run that through warmed up. I usually heat some star-san or iodophor up in my kettle whilst mashing and pump it through my chiller to sanitise the kettle valve, piping and chiller ready for end of boil.

Looks like I'll have a good use for my little aquarium pump again...