How long can you keep the same Immersion Chiller?

[Bisco_Ben]

I ask this because I am trying to get my 10 gallon system going now that my brews are coming out a bit better than before. My last attempt at chilling the batch with a single somewhat new immersion chiller proved to be way too slow and I am thinking about hooking up my older chiller I made 2-3 years ago to use simultaneously in order to cool the bigger batches quickly enough. It doesnt have any green spots or anything it is just dull and somewhat dark kind of like a somewhat old penny I guess. I remember reading somewhere though that copper breaks down eventually and starts to leach unwanted stuff into our beer. So first off, what is this time frame from when an IC is useable until it should be thrown away. Secondly, do you think that my dull 2-3 year old IC is fine to use? Any input would be greatly appreciated as always.

 

[Erroneous]

I'd use it. Of course I use a hand me down ic that's probably around 15. If nothing else use one of them as a prechiller. You just stick one in a bucket of ice and water (and salt if you want to get fancy). Never heard of copper breaking down. Figure it wouldn't be good for plumbing then, though we're talking about hot wort not water.

 

[philrose]

when was the last time you gave it a bath in hot vinegar solution?

 

[Bisco_Ben]

never thought to give it a soak in anything. is it a good idea to give them a hot water/vinegar or perhaps starsan soak every once in a while? If so, how much vinegar?

 

[Greenbasterd]

i used star san on mine. its not an old chiller but it was made from old copper i had sitting around. it was basically brown. put it in a bucket of star san before i started the brew, by the time i was ready to put into the wort it was shinny as can be! the star san took everythi8ng off and left the star san water brown.. worked really good, then just rinsed it with water and in it went!!!

 

[Bisco_Ben]

Thanks for the suggestion greenbasterd i will try it out. THE GREEN BASTARD, FROM PARTS UNKNOWN!

 

[philrose]

Any vinegar will shine it up, then you can clearly see actual soil as opposed to tarnish or if there's damage to the chiller.

 

[Hammy71]

I've been using the same old tarnished chiller for going on three years or more. I dump it in for the last 15 minutes and thats it. I guess i think of it as I think of my grill. It's seasoned.....

 

[Yooper]

It's been a while since I've used my immersion chiller (as I use my CFC mostly) but I still use it occasionally. It's dull, but as long as there is no green (verdigris), it's fine. I have given it a bath in star-san solution, but not recently. And I'd have no qualms using it again tomorrow if I needed it!

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Yooper to the rescue. She's right. Verdigris is poisonous. I don't know what concentration it takes though. My IC is dull penny when it goes in.

 

[springer]

One of my chillers is over 10 years old and I would use it on my next batch of beer. Copper has been used in beer making for 100's of years . The problem with copper is when its in contact with stainless steel there is a galvanic reaction when you add an electrolyte which unfortunately beer is a great one . But the few minutes the chiller is in the beer and in contact with SS makes this really a none issue.

I clean the chiller every once and a while with a vinegar or starsan solution since copper is more acidic resistant than it is alkaline resistant, so bleach is a no no with copper

 

[Revvy]

Until you inadvertently leave it in the garage over winter and it freezes and breaks and suddenly you've made 15 gallons of something when you planned on making only 5.

 

[springer]

Until you inadvertently leave it in the garage over winter and it freezes and breaks and suddenly you've made 15 gallons of something when you planned on making only 5.

hey I only did that with my hose ..... How ya doing Revvy ?