Gone green!

[Andres Falconer]

After 18 months in deep storage, due to a temporary pandemic relocation, I returned home and found my copper coil chiller turned into the Statue of Liberty. It looks beautifully green! Not an emergency, as I have another - thankfully, stainless - chiller, but how can I clean this off and make it safe to use again? I can imagine that the inside of the coil looks no different…
Any advice?

 

[3 Dawg Night]

That is beautiful. Looks like something from a magazine.

From JaDeD's website: "While some normal oxidation of the copper will occur, proper cleaning and maintenance will help protect your chiller against excessive oxidation, or verdigris (a bright bluish-green encrustation or patina formed on copper or brass by atmospheric oxidation). If verdigris does start forming, we recommend boiling the chiller in a water & vinegar solution, scrubbing it with a stiff bristle brush, steel wool, scotch pad or similar and then drying it off until no more greenish powdery oxidation remains. For more stubborn spots, you could also rub the green areas with a solution of ammonia and salt using a thin cloth or shoelace."

I wouldn't worry about the inside of the chiller, since it's not touching your beer.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Good old vinegar! I'm surprised there's no baking soda involved in the recommendation. Vinegar & baking soda seem like the Universal Solution For Everything.

I'll try that. Then again, I could start a museum of retired brewing equipment. That will look much nicer than the buckets and picnic coolers.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

In elementary school, we did an experiment where we left some dirty/oxidized pennies in vinegar overnight. They were bright and shiny the next morning!

 

[user 298779]

Good old vinegar! I'm surprised there's no baking soda involved in the recommendation. Vinegar & baking soda seem like the Universal Solution For Everything.

I'll try that. Then again, I could start a museum of retired brewing equipment. That will look much nicer than the buckets and picnic coolers.

Start the museum!! My wife has been trying to do that with my stuff and it seems to disappear

 

[user 298779]

Start the museum!! My wife has been trying to do that with my stuff and it seems to disappear

Back in the day living in 3rd floor apartment I used a corny keg (rubber top and bottom) as my HLT. It was narrow, lighter than keggle, and held temp when insulated. Had to pre-fill from boil kettle. Had to order stainless coupler from McMaster Caar cause they were hard to find. Paid a welder to TiG coupler to corny. Oh the good ‘ol days…NOT!!

The things I did brewing on balcony…can’t believe I wasn’t evicted…but then again I did some stealth ops when brewing…

 

[day_trippr]

So nasty, yet almost beautiful

 

[nekrowizard]

If you have really stubborn spots you could make a paste out of PBW and lemon juice

 

[Barbarossa]

Oh thank god. For a moment I thought we were having an invasion of eco-friendly brewers.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Oh thank god. For a moment I thought we were having an invasion of eco-friendly brewers.

It ain’t easy being green…

 

[Andres Falconer]

Update: like new (and a bucket of green vinegary water to go with it.)
Thanks for the advice!

 

[day_trippr]

I gotta say this image is gonna haunt me for a day or two.
That color is almost out of this world yet it's fundamental chemistry at work.
It really is...lovely!