Herms Question

[coldrice]

Wort from mash will be recirculated through copper coil bathing in the HLT. When sparging commences I will reconfigure the hoses so the sparge water is pumped through the coil, thus purging it of sweet wort. No problems. After the boil, the copper coil moves to MLT and is filled with ice. The post-boil wort is pumped from the BK to the MLT with the coil then to the HLT to whirlpool. The problem: the coil is still filled with water that has not been sterilized. Is there a clever way of avoiding this or should I just boil the water in the HLT to sterilize and wait an eternity (the kettle will be wrapped in Reflectix) for the temp to drop to match my target mash temperature in step 1 of my brewing process. And also, how could I purge the remaining boiled wort from the coil? Appreciate the help, lemme know if that doesn't make sense.

 

[Brewchitect]

I usually sterilize the coil by recirculating the boiling wort from the kettle through my coil and back into the boil kettle towards the end of the boil.

 

[coldrice]

ahhh, nice. thats good. still don't know how to purge the coil though. only thing i can think of is after the bk has drained, boil a small volume of water like 2 gal and pump it through until it runs clear.

 

[Brewchitect]

yeah I guess that would be the best bet, but too much work for 1 or 2 beers at best. how about pushing it through with starsan solution? or an air compressor?