boil the wort chiller in wort?

[yewtah-brewha]

One of my local brew shops suggests boiling the wort chiller for the last 15 minutes of the boil, has anyone ever heard about this? I am assuming to kill infections and reduce the possibility of contamination

 

[blaster_54738]

Yeah that's what I and everybody I brew with does

 

[yewtah-brewha]

I made a wort chiler from 3/8 copper tubing picked up at my local lowes store. Is there such thing as improper grade of tubing. they make 2 different strengths and i was wondering if one was better for food? getting ready to dunk it after this post. Wish me luck!

 

[Golddiggie]

At boiling temps, anything over a few seconds is long enough to sanitize. A couple of minutes will get it as close to sterilized as you can get without a pressure cooker. Do a google hunt if you don't believe me.

 

[GASoline71]

Heck... I've shoved mine in as late as just before flame out and never had a bad batch of beer. As long as the wort is still at the boil when you toss it in, you should be good.

I also dip my hop stariner in the boiling wort for about 10 seconds as well...

Gary

 

[yewtah-brewha]

You said: I also dip my hop stariner in the boiling wort for about 10 seconds as well... what do you mean? is this to clean it?

Heck... I've shoved mine in as late as just before flame out and never had a bad batch of beer. As long as the wort is still at the boil when you toss it in, you should be good.

I also dip my hop stariner in the boiling wort for about 10 seconds as well...

Gary

 

[jiggs_casey]

Mine goes in right around the '10 minutes left' mark. Afterwords, I rinse it off with hot water and hang it back up. The only time I really ever go out of my way to 'clean' it is if has been hanging there, collecting dust for long period of time. I usually don't brew during spring or summer much...

 

[JonM]

It'll work great in the boil. Just point the output away from your feet. :cross:

 

[yewtah-brewha]

That means my stir stick(plastic spatula) is now sanitised. I'm using it to move the wort around as the chiller cools the wort.

At boiling temps, anything over a few seconds is long enough to sanitize. A couple of minutes will get it as close to sterilized as you can get without a pressure cooker. Do a google hunt if you don't believe me.

 

[GASoline71]

You said: I also dip my hop stariner in the boiling wort for about 10 seconds as well... what do you mean? is this to clean it?

To sanitize it prior to straining the hops out of the wort after the boil.

Gary

 

[granpooba19]

That means my stir stick(plastic spatula) is now sanitised. I'm using it to move the wort around as the chiller cools the wort.

Yup, as long as it has been in the boil you're good to go. Anything that comes in contact with the wort after the boil you're going to want to sanitize with Star-San or some other sanitizing agent though.

 

[jbock220]

I made a wort chiler from 3/8 copper tubing picked up at my local lowes store. Is there such thing as improper grade of tubing. they make 2 different strengths and i was wondering if one was better for food? getting ready to dunk it after this post. Wish me luck!

"L" copper tubing and "M" copper tubing are both the same copper, one is just thicker walled than the other.

Also, stainless steal is less reactive than copper. Apparently those famed copper tuns in Europe are less desirable than SS. Sorry I can't site my source, I forgot where I read this.

 

[poislb]

I use to boil it for 15 min, but now I just put it in a bucket full of starsan. Reason being is if there's water still left in the coil it will boil and spit out of your hoses are not connect.. Ask me how I know.. I don't like to hook up the hoses till flame out cause of the heat the burner generates, lost hoses this way to..

 

[dk21]

Mine actually goes in for the whole boil. I found that to be easier than dealing with trying to move a very hot hop spider out of the way toward the end of the boil, plus my boil doesn't get interrupted when I drop the chiller in.

 

[dmbshat]

From my old biology days: Copper is a natural "bug" killer. You are better off just making sure the chiller is clean and free of debris. I use it now to control fungus in my water based systems.

 

[KeninMN]

Rinse it thoroughly after use and let it air dry before storage. If it starts to discolor soak it in StarSan for about 15 minutes to brighten it up. Other than that you don't need to boil it. In fact, it will act like a giant heat sink the second you add it to boiling wort...

Copper ions also scrub sulfur from beer, in addition to being a better heat transfer medium than stainless steel...