Rusted Wort Chiller

So waiting for what seemed like ages, I finally got my new equipment today. I looked at my stainless steel immersion wort chiller only to see pitting along the sides and visible rust

I called Midwest to see what I could do and the guy was very nice and said to bring it in and they'd replace it. The only problem is that I live two hours away.

I guess this is what I get for sending someone else to pick this stuff up for me just because they live closer. Oh well, road trip. Sorry for the rant. Just had to vent.

are you sure that is rust?
stainless steel dont usualy rust, its a hole point why we use stainless steel!
it has to be overheated to a high temperatures or come in a contact with a strong acid for order to rust.

Can you post a picture?

I'm pretty sure it's rust....I guess I'm not sure what else it could be. I'll take a picture and try to post it. I'm not sure how.

There. This is the best pic I could get. On the third coil down. The brown spots. There are numerous spots like that all over this "brand new" wort chiller.

Apologies in advance if the pic doesn't work

nope...couldn't get pic to work....still trying

OK...down at the bottom it says that I may not post attachments. I've been a member for 2 or 3 weeks now. I have the required number of posts for attachments...I think it was 25.

Oh well. I'm no metallurgist but this looks like rust. It is rough, brown, and found in areas that feel like they are pitted out of the metal. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm obviously not going to use it like this.

My only other choice is to make the trip to take it back. I'm going to look at the positive. My first actual trip to the brew store

you have to be a premium member to post pictures!
dude that suks, you know what. i tell you what, just give it back to them and get your money back! no way in hell that a good, brand new stainless steel wort chiller can rust like that.
other option for you is make a counterflow chiller from it, but stainless steel dosen't have good heat exchange rate as a copper.

Thanks for the advice bohdan. I'm going to go and ask a few questions and at the very least get my money back. I thought that ss would be the way to go over copper because of the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about rust or oxidizing or any of that. I know that ss is only 94% as efficient as copper as far as the cooling goes, but hey, it's stainless steel. But it appears that this unit was scraped, dropped, or something.

If I need to spend a few more bucks for a copper one, then fine. If nothing else I'll try my hand and constructing one myself. I just really didn't feel like I had the time to do that at the moment (with taking on this new hobby and all).

You can post pics by using a hosting site like flickr or photobucket, then link your pic here.

Stainless steel WILL rust....given enough time, or under the proper conditions. I don't know the specifics, but in the case of this unit, it's clear that it should just be exchanged. I've never had anything but stellar service from Midwest, and I don't expect you'll have any problems there.

rico567 said:

Stainless steel WILL rust....given enough time, or under the proper conditions.

Click to expand...

it sure will but not a bran new wort chiller?! its defective or something.

I'm making the trip up Monday morning. Nice thing about teaching is that I'm off until the 4th now. So I have the time to be able take care of this (and to hopefully brew my first ever batch). Thanks for the replies