wort Chiller?

I started my chiller build last weekend out of 50 ft of 1-2 in copper and im going to soldier the ends tommorrow and i have a question. the copper is starting to turn from shinyto dull how will this effect the wort ? and does it need to be cleaned on the outdside before each use ? or is this just normal? i would like it to stay shiny all the time as i must be part crow.:rockin:

It's always going to dull as it sits. Ideally, you'll give it a soapy scrub down with a green scrubby pad before you dunk it in the wort... buuuuuuut I'll admit that I'm pretty lazy and don't really get too concerned about doing that.

It's going to get nice and shiny again after you stick it in the boiling wort. Don't worry about the shiny factor. It doesn't affect anything.

Put a few cups of white vinegar in a bucket of water. Let the copper sit in the solution for a few hours and it will turn shiny again. It's always good to do when you first use it and then again whenever it gets dull.

nicholasae25 said:

Don't worry about the shiny factor. It doesn't affect anything.

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Another vote for dont worry.

As long as there is nothing green growing on the copper, you will be fine.

All you need is to keep it free of obvious debris and organic material. Just scrub it down before use and stick it into your BK during the final 10-15 mins of your boil. That will effectively sanitize it and when your done chilling, pull it out and give it a rinse and maybe another quick scrub before storage. Cupric oxide (aka the green patina seen on such famous statues as Lady Liberty and lots of domed roofs) is the only thing that can cause issues, but if you keep it clean and free of debris it should be fine and won't develop anything like that. For that to develop, you'd have to have an active galvanic reaction taking place with your wort chiller, which you'd be hard pressed to see happen indoors in someone's home.