Awful craigslist deal of the day

Although the price is OK, I don't know if I want to have all that lovely toxic patina in my wort.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/for/504746700.html

It's nothing that a little soak in starsan won't take care of....

Eh, doesn't look that bad. Looks a little small maybe. My chiller looks about the same color after every use. $30 is a pretty good price for the copper.

Eh, looks nasty and dirty to me. Struck me as sad that he couldn't clean it up just a little before selling it. My other immersion chiller never got dirty like that when I'd use it, so it seems odd to me.

Well since you guys think it's not so bad now I may just buy it, toxic patina be damned mmmmm copperiffic....

Didn't you ever clean a penny by soaking in vinegar?

Dunk it in a solution of vinegar and a bunch of salt for a few hours and it'll come out looking shiny as new.

PBW also does a bang up job

wort is acidic and will remove that oxidation. but your instincts in the matter are correct; you don't want that oxidation to be dissolved into your wort. clean it of particulate matter (dirt) first then soak it in white vinegar for a few minutes and it should come right off, maybe with a little gentle scrubbing.

i read somewhere that chlorine bleach will cause copper to turn black. don't sanitize copper with bleach.

Didn't Palmer just write an article about brewing metallurgy in a recent Brew Your Own magazine?

I'm at work so I don't have the article offhand, but I think he mentions something about this exact issue (copper, oxidation, what to avoid, etc). Can't recall if it's the most recent issue, or one of the back ordered issues I just got.

It might be worth a read before you buy this.

billtzk said:

i read somewhere that chlorine bleach will cause copper to turn black. don't sanitize copper with bleach.

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???

I soak copper in bleach quite often (does a bang-up job cleaning an MLT) and never have had a problem.

I always soak mine in white vinegar. Works great. Just curious, what does adding salt do?

chris21274 said:

Didn't Palmer just write an article about brewing metallurgy in a recent Brew Your Own magazine?

I'm at work so I don't have the article offhand, but I think he mentions something about this exact issue (copper, oxidation, what to avoid, etc). Can't recall if it's the most recent issue, or one of the back ordered issues I just got.

It might be worth a read before you buy this.

Click to expand...

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB.html

Cheesefood said:

???

I soak copper in bleach quite often (does a bang-up job cleaning an MLT) and never have had a problem.

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this is where I read it, cheesefood. palmer says don't do it. thanks to soulive who also just posted this link since i probably wouldn't have found it otherwise.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB.html

chris21274 said:

Didn't Palmer just write an article about brewing metallurgy in a recent Brew Your Own magazine?

I'm at work so I don't have the article offhand, but I think he mentions something about this exact issue (copper, oxidation, what to avoid, etc). Can't recall if it's the most recent issue, or one of the back ordered issues I just got.

It might be worth a read before you buy this.

Click to expand...

think it was november 2007 same issue with brutus ten

Rhoobarb said:

I always soak mine in white vinegar. Works great. Just curious, what does adding salt do?

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I never used salt when I used to clean pennies as a kid, and it always worked okay, but when I googled it a while back it seems every resource says to use salt. Apparently it produces hydrochloric acid, making it stronger than vinegar (acetic acid) alone... An explanation I found:
http://www.chem.umn.edu/outreach/Card-SaltVinCopper.html

Salt, or sodium chloride, combines with acetic acid from the vinegar to produce sodium acetate and hydrogen chloride. Hydrogen chloride is a strong acid and the combination of it and sodium acetate rapidly cleans the surface of the penny (most pennies are 95% copper, 3% zinc, and 2% tin on their surface).

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