?'s about Counter-Flow Chiller Care

[Ed_Savage]

I just purchased a used counter flow chiller from a guy on craigslist.

He said he used it for three batches, and now his wife is making him quit the hobby. What a sin! He actually sold me about $800 dollars OR MORE worth of stuff for a measley $300. Alot of it was brand new and never used. His loss is my gain.

Anyway It is a Fearless type counterflow chiller. It has clear hose on the outside, with copper inside. I noticed a few little patches where the exterior of the copper tubing is getting some corosion. Is there a solution I should pump through to prevent/clean this with?

Also It has orange caps sealing the ends of the copper tubing. I want to clean the internal tubing thoruoghly before I use this. What cleaning methods do you guys use for the inside of the tubing as well?

I just want to make sure this is imaculate before it ever comes in contact with my beer.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Vinegar is corrosive and will "scrub" away any bad corrosion. It isn't recommended for regular cleaning, but for "seasonal care", it's not a bad way to go.

Beyond that, most folks just run sanitizer through it before and after every use. Incidentally, I found that leaving sanitizer in the tubing when you start siphoning makes it really easy! Just let the chiller run onto the ground until you start to see wort...

 

[Ed_Savage]

cool man, thanks.

 

[Cheesefood]

Copper has natural anti-bacterial properties, soyou don't need to worry too much baout contamination. After hosing out your kettle to get rid of the main gunk, you can fill it with water and OxyClean and gntly heat it to help dissolve some of the kettle crud, then run the hot OxyClean solution through your CFC to get rid of the internal gunk.

As for the stuff on the outside of the copper, don't worry about it.