Haze on copper wort chiller?

[bassballboy]

I was (admittednly) lazy and and let my wort chiller sit in watter in an Aluminum pot filled with water to soack before I cleaned it for a few days. Now I notice there is a whiteish haze on the tubing, that I can scratch off but does not rub off without considerable force. Is this a problem? Is it common? Any tips on cleaning it?

 

[KevinW]

Either spray it with star-san or a vinegar solution, soaking in a star-san or vinegar solution is an option!

Either way the acid should "eat" away any oxide or discoloration you have on your chiller!

Just my .02 cents!

 

[Alemann]

Hot starsan soak should take care of it

 

[Stauffbier]

I agree with KevinW. If you use Starsan make it a strong batch, but vinegar works great! Here's a little something that might come in handy in the future;
http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB.html

 

[Bubba]

You might want to also boil it in water that should take care of any problems.

 

[bassballboy]

Thanks guys! I'm going to try soaking it in vinegar and h202 for a few minutes and hope that fixes it.

Hopefully the haze didn't taint my bock I made this weekend!

 

[Stauffbier]

Thanks guys! I'm going to try soaking it in vinegar and h202 for a few minutes and hope that fixes it.

Hopefully the haze didn't taint my bock I made this weekend!

If you have an extra spray bottle laying around you can use it to spray pure vinegar on it. This is what I do. I spray it about every 10 mins or so for an hour then rinse with very hot water. You could indeed boil it in water afterwards, but use distilled so you don't get calcium deposit on it..

 

[bassballboy]

If you have an extra spray bottle laying around you can use it to spray pure vinegar on it. This is what I do. I spray it about every 10 mins or so for an hour then rinse with very hot water. You could indeed boil it in water afterwards, but use distilled so you don't get calcium deposit on it..

I sprayed it with vinegar a few times then rinsed it and dried it... took 95% of it off. Thanks! I'll do another round tonight which should completely fix it.



Will the calcium that was on it before give my beer a really off taste? I'm not sure what effect it will have... I cleaned it as best I could but there was definitely calcium haze on the chiller and I used it to chill the beer....