How to clean immersion chiller

After brewing I clean my immersion chiller with dish soap and water. But after a few uses it can get pretty dirty. Do I want to soak it in PBW ( or oxiclean )? I tried that and the PBW water turned green. Do I want to then rinse and soak in an acid solution like star san?

Thanks!

I've always just sprayed mine off with a hose when finished using it and have never had problems. That seems to keep it plenty clean for storage.

Oxyclean will oxidize the copper. So definitely don't do that again. Every few batches I soak mine in a hot water and white vinegar solution then rub any junk off with a paper towel. I usually rinse it right after I take it out of the wort to keep most of the stuff off though,

Bar Keepers Friend will make it shine, if you want it to shine,,

Henrythe9th said:

Bar Keepers Friend will make it shine, if you want it to shine,,

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I'm really just interested in getting any corrosion or dirt that normal washing does not get rid of.

I would just use hot water and a scrubby. That should do for most of it. I've never had a problem and I use mine regularly.

Dishsoap works for most stuff, just rinse well. No need to use fancy cleaners, etc. Before using, just spray dust/dirt off. Any oxidation will come off in the boil, no real way around it....but Barkeepers friend will definitely give you that "baseline" clean you're looking for....

Henrythe9th said:

Bar Keepers Friend will make it shine, if you want it to shine,,

Click to expand...

+1 this is my go-to cleaner for anything copper or stainless. works great!

BeerPressure said:

I've always just sprayed mine off with a hose when finished using it and have never had problems. That seems to keep it plenty clean for storage.

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Me too. It's important to spray it clean before wort dries. I then turn a Homer bucket upside down and let sit on it to air dry. Afterwards, it is stored in the Homer bucket.

Mine gets another spray rinse before using.

Last week after brewing I let it soak in water in my brew pot while I aerated and pitched, etc., then I just washed it in the tub. It sounds like that is doing enough.

Am I the only one who runs it through the dishwasher with my brew pot?

You are supposed to clean them?

if your chiller is black you should clean it. If it's shiny then your probably OK

ALSO,

There is some thought that the hop oils don't just rinse off with water. If you leave hop oil resedue on the chiller and brew pot it will oxidize and leave a flavor in the next batch.

Make a 5 gallon bucket of starsan and soak it. after about 10 mins it shines like new and no scrubbing!!!

JOHN51277 said:

Make a 5 gallon bucket of starsan and soak it. after about 10 mins it shines like new and no scrubbing!!!

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+1 I do this, it works wonders.

I harvest the water from my chiller in my mash tun (wash out mash tun, then fill with water). When my wort is cool I drop the chiller in the mash tun. Chiller gets rinsed clean and I'm happy.