Cleaning your wort chiller

Star San and boiling water. Great for cleaning any copper.

Vinegar also works very well for cleaning copper chillers.

I stick mine in the boiling wort ten minuets before flameout...clean and sanitary.

The bad thing about putting your chiller in the boil is the fact you get all oxidation off the copper in your beer. I use Star San to sanitize, wash well after using to chill.

MtnHiBrewin said:

The bad thing about putting your chiller in the boil is the fact you get all oxidation off the copper in your beer. I use Star San to sanitize, wash well after using to chill.

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My beer doesn't last long enough to worry about oxidation...

I never sanitized my wort chiller. I used copper long before starsan, just rinsed it off with hot water.

I only clean mine after many many batches. It will indeed get a build-up of proteins after time. Strong StarSan solution or vinegar takes it off. Then I boil it in water for a few minutes to create an "oxide" layer so to speak (probably not the correct term). Then I do the last 10 mins of the boil there after. I only have to do this about once a year. More if I've brewed a lot of dark beers.

I tend to get crud buildup on mine after almost every batch. I run it under hot water after every use, and wipe it down, to minimize junk getting into next batch.

jeffjm said:

I tend to get crud buildup on mine after almost every batch. I run it under hot water after every use, and wipe it down, to minimize junk getting into next batch.

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I guess I didn't mention, but I do this too. I collect the first few gallons of really hot water coming out of the chiller in a tub, and then I rinse the chiller in that after a quick wipe down.

Just rinse it off after use. Rinse it again before using - wipe or brush off any crud still there, put into the boil a few minutes before flameout. No worries, no need to add any other tasks to your brewday. The boil will kill any bacteria etc.

MtnHiBrewin said:

The bad thing about putting your chiller in the boil is the fact you get all oxidation off the copper in your beer. I use Star San to sanitize, wash well after using to chill.

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I was told by an LHBS owner that cupric oxides from the chiller help mitigate dimethyl sulfide, so they're actually good for your beer. He's a bit of a kook, and I ended up with a stainless chiller instead, so I never looked further into it. Perhaps there's some truth to it?

AnOldUR said:

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Uhhh, is that bright orange rust all over it? That's no better than the green oxidation.

Edit: Can't be. Copper doesn't have Fe in it in a large enough amount of rust. What am I looking at?

Edit2: Ah, I figured it out. You used steel wire to hold the coils together. Yup, that's rust. Gross.

thadius856 said:

I was told by an LHBS owner that cupric oxides from the chiller help mitigate dimethyl sulfide, so they're actually good for your beer. He's a bit of a kook, and I ended up with a stainless chiller instead, so I never looked further into it. Perhaps there's some truth to it?.

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That's correct as I know it...

Ah, I figured it out. You used steel wire to hold the coils together. Yup, that's rust. Gross

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Yeah, that's just plain nasty!

looks like hard annealed copper wire and type-acl tubing to me. They react differently.

thadius856 said:

Edit2: Ah, I figured it out. You used steel wire to hold the coils together. Yup, that's rust. Gross.

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Ahh, no. Might not be the sharpest pencil in the pack, but give me more credit than that. :cross:

It's copper ground wire pulled from electric cable. Looks like that after exposed to the heat from the sanitize cycle in the dishwasher. Once it's been in room air for a few days it all looks the same. Never thought too much about it, but probably what amandabab said about the different types of copper is the cause.

That chiller has been in over 150 boils. It's made from 50ft of 3/8" copper tubing. During the mash it goes in the dishwasher on sanitize cycle with no soap along with anything else I'll need post boil. Stays closed up in there until the boil is over. Then hook up the water lines and drop it in the wort. After chilling it goes back in the dishwasher to get cleaned.