Working with copper is not to be underestimated...

I'll keep this short, and spare you the story of my frustrations today. Suffice it to say that I will be wary in the future before deciding it's necessary to learn again how much fun soldering copper can be.

I just finished making a large immersion cooler out of 50' of 5/8" OD copper. It involved four 90 degree elbows and required some soldering.

I used non-lead acid flux and solder. I'm still concerned about safety; I'm making my first lager this weekend and would prefer that it not kill me.

What precautions should I take in cleaning my chiller? There are areas with excess solder, and no doubt some excess flux as well.

While I'm on the subject, I intend to use my old immersion chiller to run the wort through an ice bath, in attempt to get the wort close to lager temperatures. This means I'll be running wort through the same chiller through which I used to run dirty water. Should it suffice to run a significant amount of boiling water through this, or should I be more concerned?

Sit it in a bucket of white vinegar and water, or StarSan, and run hot water thru it - Take a scrubbing sponge to it, and you should be good to go.

Sanitize before use or place in wort 10 minutes before conclusion of the boil.

Hot PBW -> Hot Star San -> Clean.

In any case, a little flux isn't going to kill you.

Thanks for the input. I was prepared to do the above, using iodophor instead of starsan.

I highly doubt that the excess flux/solder will kill you -- remember the water you drink from the tap is most likely flowing through copper soldered in the same way (acid flux + lead free solder). I'd at least rinse it and then take either hang Glider or JKoravos suggestions for cleaning.

Iodophor will sanitize it but Star San's acid will really clean it, or so will vinegar. I'd just boil it in vinegar water to clean all the manufacturing and soldering gunk off before brewing with it.

You can sand the excess solder of the outside of the fittings till you just see the solder on the joint seams. Then flush away with hot vinegar or even pbw followed by sanitizing

If it wont kill you with your water supply in your home it's not going to kill you in your beer.

I remove excess flux with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol. Worth a try if you have it handy.

mvdilts said:

I highly doubt that the excess flux/solder will kill you -- remember the water you drink from the tap is most likely flowing through copper soldered in the same way (acid flux + lead free solder). I'd at least rinse it and then take either hang Glider or JKoravos suggestions for cleaning.

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+1 All the water in our house has been flowing through sweated (soldered) copper for 20 years. When we moved in, we found that some genius had plumbed with 1/2 gas line (soft copper, flare fittings) so flow / pressure was bad. I replumbed the whole thing, and given my skills with solder and torch, I'm confident that there's plenty of water / solder contact in there.

Even though my solder is lead-free, the dangers of metallic lead coming into contact with water in plumbing has been grossly overstated, to the point of hysteria. I cast bullets for 20 years, quit about 10 years ago. No ill effects, and from reading up on people who've done the same and been tested, I'll wager I don't show anything above background lead levels. Lead (or any other heavy metal) is an insidious poison, in part because it may accumulate in the body over long periods. BUT: like many other poisons, it must be in the proper form in order to be absorbed. Thus, the hazard of lead in gasoline was from its form in the antiknock compound tetraethyl lead. In metal form (bullets, solder, sheet, etc.) it's just not hazardous.

It's analogous to asbestos. In its natural form, asbestos is a rock, a solid. Unless it's turned into a dust so that it can be inhaled, it's not hazardous. Thus, most asbestos that is torn out for its own sake (not as a part of some larger project) actually just INCREASES the hazard. In its installed form, it's harmless.