Copper Immersion Wort Chiller and Starsan

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patjofo

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Just bought a Copper Immersion Wort Chiller and was wondering if it is ok to sanitize it in a 5 gallon bucket of starsan a few minutes before chilling the wort. I have heard about boiling it during the last 15 minutes of the boil but that is not an option because I will be using a hop spider in my kettle.
 
patjofo said:
Just bought a Copper Immersion Wort Chiller and was wondering if it is ok to sanitize it in a 5 gallon bucket of starsan a few minutes before chilling the wort. I have heard about boiling it during the last 15 minutes of the boil but that is not an option because I will be using a hop spider in my kettle.

Starsan actually works well on copper. It will clean as well as sanitize. I don't own. Wort chiller, but a friend does. His method is to dip the chiller in a bucket of starsan, and let it sit there for about 3-5 minutes. He then rinses I well to wash off anything that had come off the copper. Finally, he sprays on more starsan about 10 seconds before immersing it in the wort. Says that is only to kill what might have been in the water. Personally, I think it's overkill, as the hot wort will kill anything that he got on it by rinsing even if it doesn't get boiled.
 
masterfool101 said:
Starsan actually works well on copper. It will clean as well as sanitize. I don't own. Wort chiller, but a friend does. His method is to dip the chiller in a bucket of starsan, and let it sit there for about 3-5 minutes. He then rinses I well to wash off anything that had come off the copper. Finally, he sprays on more starsan about 10 seconds before immersing it in the wort. Says that is only to kill what might have been in the water. Personally, I think it's overkill, as the hot wort will kill anything that he got on it by rinsing even if it doesn't get boiled.

Hmm that sounds interesting. I would think that dipping it in water after the starsan would defeat the purpose of the starsan seeing that it's no rinse sanitizer.
 
Hmm that sounds interesting. I would think that dipping it in water after the starsan would defeat the purpose of the starsan seeing that it's no rinse sanitizer.

Patjofo, I agree. One you dip it in water after 3-5 minutes in StarSan. Defeats the purpose. But then he sprays it with StarSan before putting it into boil kettle. It's overkill. disinfecting twice, but between those times, possibly contaminating it. If concerned about it, the boil for 15 minutes works great. StarSan it seems would be fine. StarSan will do the job. But you need to make sure there are no chunky, dried-on crud on the chiller. So since not putting in the boil becaue of hop spider. StarSan will work, but I'd look for dried up crud on chiller and scrub before introducing to your wort.
 
Would the hop spider/bag fit inside the coil of the chiller?

If so you could just lift the hop spider out, put the chiller in and drop the hop spider back in the boil so that the bag is inside the coil.
 
Tupperwolf said:
Would the hop spider/bag fit inside the coil of the chiller?

If so you could just lift the hop spider out, put the chiller in and drop the hop spider back in the boil so that the bag is inside the coil.

That seems like a good idea but my concern would be that the copper coil could get pretty hot and melt the 1 gallon nylon painters bag
 
The copper coil isn't going to get any hotter than the surrounding wort. If your hop spider bag hasn't melted by that point in the boil it's not going to melt by contacting the copper coil.
 
Star San is an acid, and will probably corrode the copper very slightly over time. and that corroded copper will mix into your wort. I feel safest just letting the chiller boil with the wort for the last 10 mins to get it sanitized.
 
Why not just throw it in from the beginning of the boil. I usually clean mine while I start the boil and don't get it in until about 20 minutes left, but I don't see why just having it in from the very beginning would be an issue.
 
StusBrew said:
Patjofo, I agree. One you dip it in water after 3-5 minutes in StarSan. Defeats the purpose. But then he sprays it with StarSan before putting it into boil kettle. It's overkill. disinfecting twice, but between those times, possibly contaminating it. If concerned about it, the boil for 15 minutes works great. StarSan it seems would be fine. StarSan will do the job. But you need to make sure there are no chunky, dried-on crud on the chiller. So since not putting in the boil becaue of hop spider. StarSan will work, but I'd look for dried up crud on chiller and scrub before introducing to your wort.

The point is that as an acid, the starsan is first CLEANING the copper coil. The things dissolved off the copper by the starsan should be rinsed off prior to placing it in the wort, else they end up IN the wort. The chances of contamination from tap water is incredibly small (this is why we say its ok to use as top water ...), and chances are anything left on there will be killers by the reapplication of starsan (onto clean copper, which is less likely to be dissolved than the oxides on the coil previously), or by the temperature of the water (pasteurization occurs at 162).
 
masterfool101 said:
The point is that as an acid, the starsan is first CLEANING the copper coil. The things dissolved off the copper by the starsan should be rinsed off prior to placing it in the wort, else they end up IN the wort. The chances of contamination from tap water is incredibly small (this is why we say its ok to use as top water ...), and chances are anything left on there will be killers by the reapplication of starsan (onto clean copper, which is less likely to be dissolved than the oxides on the coil previously), or by the temperature of the water (pasteurization occurs at 162).

Thanks for your help! This makes sense to me now. Good to know that I can sanitize in starsan as a backup. Going to try and boil the coil and hop spider on top of it as suggested by others, seems like it will lead to less corrosion over time.
 
Does anyone use the hop spider and the boiled immersion chiller method?
 
When I first got my chiller I tried the typical method of letting it sit in the kettle for the last 10 minutes of the boil. The problem I encountered was with the garden hose connections -- over that 10 mins. the heat would sort of warp the connections somehow and when I turned on the water it would spray out everywhere! So I decided to just submerge my chiller in star san for a few minutes instead from that point on.

Didn't think about the copper degrading over time. Any danger to this?
 
When I first got my chiller I tried the typical method of letting it sit in the kettle for the last 10 minutes of the boil. The problem I encountered was with the garden hose connections -- over that 10 mins. the heat would sort of warp the connections somehow and when I turned on the water it would spray out everywhere! So I decided to just submerge my chiller in star san for a few minutes instead from that point on.

Didn't think about the copper degrading over time. Any danger to this?

Why not just wait to connect the water lines until the boil is over? The copper will be fine in starsan, especially if it is clean to begin with. It would be a problem if the coil was oxidized green everytime you immerse in acid.
 
50ft - 3/8" dia IC in dishwasher. Run on sanitize setting w/ no soap. Leave it sealed in the dishwasher until boil is over. Drop it into kettle.

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IC in Washer 2.jpg
 

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