Copper Chiller Turned my StarSan Green

On my last brew day I left my copper IC in my Bucket O' StarSan for longer than usual, maybe 15 minutes or so. Normally I sanitize it for only a minute or two. Last night when I opened the bucket to sanitize some bottles, the StarSan had turned green. Not a bright Irish Green, but definately green. The StarSan smelled like normal and foamed like normal, but I dumped it and made a fresh batch anyway.

I assume this was caused by the copper IC. Am I right? Has this happened to anyone else?

Yep, thats just the copper disolving and oxidising in the acidic star san solution. Just dump it and make some more

Why put the IC in sanitizer? When I used an IC, prior to converting to a CFC, I would just plunk the whole (clean) thing in the brew pot for the last few minutes of the boil and let the boiling wort sanitize it.

mcaustin said:

Why put the IC in sanitizer? When I used an IC, prior to converting to a CFC, I would just plunk the whole (clean) thing in the brew pot for the last few minutes of the boil and let the boiling wort sanitize it.

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I used to do that, but I stopped for a couple of reasons. First, plunking a cool chiller into the boil stops the boil for a few minutes, and I don't like that. I also noticed that the boiling wort made the chiller super shiney, which means whatever corrosion/gunk that was on the chiller was going into my beer.

But most importantly, I boil outside and cool inside. This means I have to carry my hot boil pot into the kitchen. It's not hard to do, but I don't want to do it with chiller hose dragging on the floor. When I get inside, I plunk the (already connected) chiller into the pot and turn on the water.

Gotcha. Some good reasoning there.

Interesting post.
I used my IC for the first time brewing this past weekend.
I just sprayed the IC down with Star San a couple times before using it and then figured anything left would be killed off with the boiling wort immersion.
Anyway...loved using it and am so glad I decided to invest sooner than later.
I carry my brew pot down to my basement where the IC is already hooked up in the slop sink.
Now that its summer...fermenting goes on down there.

Heres a pic of the resulting Oatmeal Stout brewed this past weekend for $h!ts and giggles: