Wort chiller

I just bought a wort chiller off of someone. Whats the best way to clean it? Just soak in sanstar or something?

I just rinse it off after use then put it in the boil with 10-15 minutes left to sterilize. If there is any sticky crud left a little scrub with a brush is enough. I might use some oxyclean but don't waste your Starsan - there is no need to sanitize it.

If it get's really caked on crap, I use a regular kitchen sponge and use the scrubby side. If you have some scotch brite around the house, that works as well. That gives it a nice new shine to it as well, because you are basically polishing the copper.

For the first time, hot water and maybe a little soap. Rinse it off really well.
When I run water through the chiller, I collect the water in the bucket I use for fermentation temperature control (a big one from Walmart). When I'm done chilling, I stick the IC and anything else I need to clean into that tub of hot water and use a washcloth. Works pretty good.

Wait... are you supposed to put the chiller in while its still boiling? Or can you just put sanitzier on it and then put it int he kettle after you have removed it from the heat?

sok454 said:

Wait... are you supposed to put the chiller in while its still boiling? Or can you just put sanitzier on it and then put it int he kettle after you have removed it from the heat?

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The guy who runs our lhbs said he never has to use sanitizer on his chiller. He just puts it in during the last 15 minutes of the boil and its as shiny as the day he bought it

half_whit said:

The guy who runs our lhbs said he never has to use sanitizer on his chiller. He just puts it in during the last 15 minutes of the boil and its as shiny as the day he bought it

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You beat me to it but that's exactly right. I now use a CFC but when I used to use my IC, I would scrub it down with Oxyclean after brewing, then before the next brew, I would just rinse it with water. Then put the chiller into the BK 15-20 min before the end of the boil.

Well I think I actually put sanitizer on it before I put it into the wort to chill... Note to self... put it in 10-15 minutes to sanitize!

Thanks everyone for the advice, excited to get to use this Friday. Sure as hell will beat ice baths!

I'm looking forward to using mine too, got a brand new one for my b-day, screw those ice bath's.........

Don't waste your expensive sanitizers. The steam will do the trick and you don't have to pay anything extra for it.

Holy Crap! I can't believe the difference the wort chiller makes in my brew time. Went from 1.5 hours to about 15 mins to bring it from boiling to >90 degrees.
Poured wort from kettle to fermentation bucket added water topped off to 5 gals and added yeast. Wow! cut my time by a bunch!!!

biohazard-brewing said:

Holy Crap! I can't believe the difference the wort chiller makes in my brew time. Went from 1.5 hours to about 15 mins to bring it from boiling to >90 degrees.
Poured wort from kettle to fermentation bucket added water topped off to 5 gals and added yeast. Wow! cut my time by a bunch!!!

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Yup. I used a wort chiller for the first time yesterday, myself. My last batches burned through two 20lb bags of ice each in a bath before cooling sufficiently and took about an hour to get there. Immersion chiller took 15 min to go from 212F to 75F. I'll never ever deal with a ridiculous ice bath again.

I just made a wort chiller yesterday. I used 50' x 3/8" for the main chiller and 20' x 3/8" for the pre-chiller. I didn't connect everything up, but I made the coils.

mtnagel said:

I just made a wort chiller yesterday. I used 50' x 3/8" for the main chiller and 20' x 3/8" for the pre-chiller. I didn't connect everything up, but I made the coils.

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nice work, wish I would have made mine

It really wasn't that difficult. I used a paint can for the smaller one and a corney keg for the bigger one. I just wrapped the tubing around them tightly. Then I used a tubing bender (like this one, but I got mine at Home Depot) to make the 90 degree and 90+ degree bends. Now I just need to connect the plastic tubing with clips, add the hose/barbed connection and add a couple clips like in the video to hold the pieces that go straight up to hold the whole thing together. I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend.

I followed this video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6w4b0-5tvM"].[/ame].

A cup or two of vinegar in a pot of water just big enough to place the chiller in will do a great job getting it really clean.

I made one yesterday, too. I bought a 50' 3/8" compression fitting kit for $60 shipped from coppertubingsales.com. The bends aren't too pretty, but I did them by hand, and I had some issues wrapping around the keg at a couple of turns, but I am happy as can be with the finished product. I left one fitting off because I'm putting vinyl tubing on the outlet. I brew outside, and I'll be draining the water onto the grass/driveway as I'm cooling the wort....I can't wait to try this sucker this weekend!

Topher79 said:

I made one yesterday, too. I bought a 50' 3/8" compression fitting kit for $60 shipped from coppertubingsales.com.

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That's a pretty good price. I paid $47 just of the 50' 3/8" copper tubing and $9 for the barbed fitting alone. But I need mine by Saturday so I didn't have time to wait.

Topher79 said:

I made one yesterday, too. I bought a 50' 3/8" compression fitting kit for $60 shipped from coppertubingsales.com. The bends aren't too pretty, but I did them by hand, and I had some issues wrapping around the keg at a couple of turns, but I am happy as can be with the finished product. I left one fitting off because I'm putting vinyl tubing on the outlet. I brew outside, and I'll be draining the water onto the grass/driveway as I'm cooling the wort....I can't wait to try this sucker this weekend!

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One small suggestion. Bend your inand out tubes down a little more, that way if you spring a leak the water will drip on the ground and not roll along the tubing and into your wort.

Also, reuse the water. Use it to fill a bucket or your MLT so you have nice hot water to rinse things in.