Left Copper Chiller in Star San, Safe to Use? Pics Attached

[fauskie]

After my brew day I usually soak my boil kettle in a star san solution overnight, including my copper chiller.

Problem is, I forgot to drain and rinse the next morning and it was another week until I removed the copper coil. (went on vacation and completely forgot about draining kettle).

Nice layer of greenish blue film/chalk on outside of coil as you can see in the pictures. It also turned the inside of my boil kettle the same color.
I was planning on giving everything a real good scrub down with PBW, rinse, then a quick spray down of a Star San mixture.

Take a look at the coil in the pictures below, anything I need to be concerned about with the coil and kettle, assuming I can remove all of the greenish crud and clean everything really well?


Thanks in advance!

 

[day_trippr]

"It's a GHOST COIL!"

Jeebus, I've never seen anything like that here!

I would use whatever is necessary to remove all of that blueish crapola before using that poor IC anywhere near beer. I'm betting some manual scrubbing is going to be necessary...

Cheers!

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

This doesn't really help the "safe to use" question but just a little useless knowledge. It just oxidized the copper which would happen on its own after a while exposed to the elements. The statue of liberty is made of copper and it looks blueish green just like that for the same reason.

Like I said, not very helpful, just stupid trivia in my head.

 

[day_trippr]

The Statue of Liberty is covered with verdigris, which is decidedly poisonous. She'd make a lousy boil kettle, that's for sure...

Cheers!

 

[snowtires]

try baking soda

 

[Brulosopher]

try baking soda

Try water... why in the world are you wasting StarSan on soaking your boil kettle? I've been at this hobby for quite awhile and I've never sanitized my boil kettle, except for boiling wort for 60+ minutes in it. Unnecessary

 

[fauskie]

The Statue of Liberty is covered with verdigris, which is decidedly poisonous. She'd make a lousy boil kettle, that's for sure...

Cheers!

Verdigris is my main concern. If there is any question on it being unsafe, I'd rather scrap it and start new.....

Thx for reply!

 

[fauskie]

Try water... why in the world are you wasting StarSan on soaking your boil kettle? I've been at this hobby for quite awhile and I've never sanitized my boil kettle, except for boiling wort for 60+ minutes in it. Unnecessary

Yeah, I just got back into the hobby after a 3 year layoff so I've been a little overboard on the cleaning/sanitizing after breaking out the equipment that's been stored away, lol!

 

[oldmangrimm]

SWMBO is a jeweler and says that a mild acid (apple cider vinegar or lemon juice) and a soft sponge should take the oxidation off.

 

[Skipper74]

why in the world are you wasting StarSan on soaking your boil kettle? I've been at this hobby for quite awhile and I've never sanitized my boil kettle, except for boiling wort for 60+ minutes in it. Unnecessary

Not to pile on, but even if you wanted to sanitize your boil kettle and wort chiller (which I agree is completely unnecessary), you are doing it at the wrong time. As soon as the equipment dries, bacteria will again be able to live on it. As stated above, the boil will kill that bacteria, but if you want to sanitize it, the time to do it would be immediately before you use it.

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Not to pile on, but even if you wanted to sanitize your boil kettle and wort chiller (which I agree is completely unnecessary), you are doing it at the wrong time. As soon as the equipment dries, bacteria will again be able to live on it. As stated above, the boil will kill that bacteria, but if you want to sanitize it, the time to do it would be immediately before you use it.

To be more on his side, everything I use gets cleaned and sanitized before I use and then cleaned and sanitized again before storage. No it won't stay sanitized, but it ensures that nothing will stay growing in there anyway. Better to over clean than under clean

 

[Monster Mash]

There is no reason to sanitize anything up to the boil pot, if you want to sanitize your IC it should be done prior to putting it in the boil pot but most will argue that isn't even necessary.

I would try an acid to clean that off.

 

[tre9er]

Sanitizing before storage is something I see too many people do. It won't stay sanitary unless it's in a clean-room. Bacteria is in the air, hell it's everywhere. You're sanitizing it for a split second, then more bacteria falls on it. Sanitize things immediately before use, ie. pull them out of the star-san and use them that very instant. Time=unsanitary.

 

[ndoe22]

The same thing happened to me. I soaked the chiller in hot water and PBW for a few hours then used those green scrubbers. Cleaned up perfect

 

[tre9er]

General rule with copper chillers is to just spray it off with hot water to remove any chunks, perhaps a light scrub, nothing aggressive, then put it away. I spritz the top with SS before putting it in the wort boil for the last 15 minutes, which is how I sanitize it each time I brew.

 

[boscobeans]

Starsan lost its acidity over the week so the copper just did what copper will do when exposed to moisture and even some acid solutions.

Give it a soak in full strength (5%) white vinegar for about 2o minutes and the verdigris should come off with a little gentle scrub or brushing.

Make sure you get it all removed... Rinse well and inspect for any remaining specks. If needed spot treat with vinegar.

Rinse well and remember to dry your chiller before putting it away.

OMO

bosco

 

[WoodJRx]

In case these answers didn't answer it outright, NO!!!! Your IC is currently very poisonous. DO NOT USE IT how it is. That being said, as bosco said, it is pretty easy to clean up. Make sure it's completely clean (again, as bosco said) and it'll be good as new. But until you've done that, it is not safe to use.

 

[fauskie]

took a little elbow grease and a good bit of vinegar but I think I got it good....

thanks for all the replies!

 

[pabloj13]

It still looks a little funky. Why not just fill your brew kettle up with water, add some white vinegar (super cheap), and boil it for a few minutes? I bet hot acid would make it gleam again and make sure that anything that would come off into your acidic wort is already removed.