Leaving immersion chiller in boil

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evanmars

EAC Wannabe
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Any reason not to leave the immersion chiller in for the entire duration of the boil instead of putting it in during the last 10 to 15 minutes?
 
You could get really fancy and have another pot circulating boiling water through your immersion chiller, but that's a little silly if you can do full boils already. Other than that, it will just get in your way for longer.
 
I think I may be the only brewer on these forums who does not boil their immersion chiller. Boiling it for 15 minutes or longer, or any length of time, really, just seems like complete paranoid overkill to me. The hoses and fittings get hot, you have work around it, and I'm not sure I want that big hunk of oxidizing metal sitting in my boiling wort all that time (which is probably paranoia on my part).

I clean my immersion chiller in warm, soapy water before putting it away, so it's clean on brewday. When I need it on brewday, I rinse it off with hot water and give it a quick dunk in sanitzer and that is all. I have never had an infection, and if I ever do get one I doubt it will come from my chiller.

Just my $0.02...carry on.
 
I am building an electric HERMS stand and am thinking about putting a chiller coil in the kettle similar to the coil in the HLT. Use something like swagelock fittings so I can remove the coil to clean and quick connects for the water in and out.
I usually use a hop bag and it is a pain to have to lift the bag out of the wort, put the chiller in while the hop bag is draining, then put the bag bag in, in the center of the chiller.
 
I think I may be the only brewer on these forums who does not boil their immersion chiller. Boiling it for 15 minutes or longer, or any length of time, really, just seems like complete paranoid overkill to me. The hoses and fittings get hot, you have work around it, and I'm not sure I want that big hunk of oxidizing metal sitting in my boiling wort all that time (which is probably paranoia on my part).

I clean my immersion chiller in warm, soapy water before putting it away, so it's clean on brewday. When I need it on brewday, I rinse it off with hot water and give it a quick dunk in sanitzer and that is all. I have never had an infection, and if I ever do get one I doubt it will come from my chiller.

Just my $0.02...carry on.

Clean mine well after brewing, and then stick it in my starsan solution bucket for about 15 minutes before I go to use it. No problems, and I don't have to cool down the hot copper you get by boiling it (even though copper is great at heat dissipation).
 
I am building an electric HERMS stand and am thinking about putting a chiller coil in the kettle similar to the coil in the HLT. Use something like swagelock fittings so I can remove the coil to clean and quick connects for the water in and out.I usually use a hop bag and it is a pain to have to lift the bag out of the wort, put the chiller in while the hop bag is draining, then put the bag bag in, in the center of the chiller.

brilliant. that is a fantastic idea and I am on my way to the store to make my very own.... seriously.... going to add a QD for a whirlpool port as well.
 
I think I may be the only brewer on these forums who does not boil their immersion chiller.
One more here. I put my IC in my Star-San bucket for about 5 minutes then into the wort at flameout. A quick hose-down afterward and it's ready for the next run.

-Joe
 
If anything, I would think the copper would be beneficial my supplying some trace nutrients. Entire copper breweries have been common place for years. I've even heard that a brewery tried to switch to all stainless couldn't replicate their brews until they realized the copper was crucial. Once it was added to their system they were golden. Anyone remember the name of the brewery I'm thinking of? I wouldn't try to avoid copper, I would do the opposite.
 
One more here. I put my IC in my Star-San bucket for about 5 minutes then into the wort at flameout. A quick hose-down afterward and it's ready for the next run.

-Joe

+1. only been doing this for 3 months but i do not understand at all why you would let that thing sit in the pot for an hour. i let mine sit in a 5g of Idophor while i boil. an hour in idophor.. i get cold water running thru it the last 5 min of the boil so it goes in the pot cold already...
 
I am building an electric HERMS stand and am thinking about putting a chiller coil in the kettle similar to the coil in the HLT. Use something like swagelock fittings so I can remove the coil to clean and quick connects for the water in and out.
I usually use a hop bag and it is a pain to have to lift the bag out of the wort, put the chiller in while the hop bag is draining, then put the bag bag in, in the center of the chiller.

brilliant. that is a fantastic idea and I am on my way to the store to make my very own.... seriously.... going to add a QD for a whirlpool port as well.

That makes three of us. I have the same plan.. If anyone else it doing this, I'd like to know.
 
I am building an electric HERMS stand and am thinking about putting a chiller coil in the kettle similar to the coil in the HLT. Use something like swagelock fittings so I can remove the coil to clean and quick connects for the water in and out.
I usually use a hop bag and it is a pain to have to lift the bag out of the wort, put the chiller in while the hop bag is draining, then put the bag bag in, in the center of the chiller.

Are you incorporating that big-ass industrial chiller you scored from work?
 
Copper is great to have in the boil as it adds nutrients for the yeast. But I normally let mine soak in my bucket with starsan for 5 minutes or so. DOn't overdue the Star san soak or it will remove all of the oxidization from the chiller. 5 minutes makes mine super shiny.

Linc
 
My only concern with boiling the IC for an hour is the attached tubing. Most ICs are connected with vinyl and it gets really soft, even with 10 minutes in the boil. I have hose-end connections on mine, and I know that the garden hose gets soft (and I can't find a high-temp garden hose locally), so the other option would be trying to connect the hose when the thing is hotter than hades. No thanks on that.
 
I was planning on attaching with couplings and compression fittings like jcdillan did in his HLT. It would be more or less permanent. Add one more fitting for the return line for whirlpooling the wort during the chilling process.
 
Considering the fact that 170 degrees will kill any bacteria on contact and my wort is 212 at flameout, when the IC goes in, the only thing I am concerned about would be off flavors from debris and residue on the IC. So I keep it clean and don't worry about infection.
 
I boil mine. It's easy for me to just leave it in the whole time. Before any liquid goes in, I feed my pickup tube through the coil and position it in the center of the kettle, then I boil away. It doesn't make much of an inconviencence for me, and it's one less thing I have to do during my brew session. No need to put it in, it's already there!
 
I think I may be the only brewer on these forums who does not boil their immersion chiller.
Another one not boiling the IC. Stick mine in the dishwasher on antibacterial setting along with the other stuff used post boil. Don't open the dishwasher door until the stuff is needed.
 
I am building an electric HERMS stand and am thinking about putting a chiller coil in the kettle similar to the coil in the HLT. Use something like swagelock fittings so I can remove the coil to clean and quick connects for the water in and out.
I usually use a hop bag and it is a pain to have to lift the bag out of the wort, put the chiller in while the hop bag is draining, then put the bag bag in, in the center of the chiller.

brilliant. that is a fantastic idea and I am on my way to the store to make my very own.... seriously.... going to add a QD for a whirlpool port as well.

That makes three of us. I have the same plan.. If anyone else it doing this, I'd like to know.

I was planning on attaching with couplings and compression fittings like jcdillan did in his HLT. It would be more or less permanent. Add one more fitting for the return line for whirlpooling the wort during the chilling process.


Add me to that list... If/WHEN I get a keg to turn into a kettle I was thinking of using a 50 ' roll of 1/4 copper I had laying around to make a monster coil in the brew kettle.... would need to figure out a way to weld some standoff's on the insde of the kettle to support it though.... figured I could make a pretty dense wall of cooling coils an inch or so away from the sides of the kettle that way.....
 
Considering the fact that 170 degrees will kill any bacteria on contact...

Little late to the party, just ding some research on ICs, just wanted to clarify that you statement is 100% complete not true. 170F is just barely out of the range of some bacteria's preferred temp. Most don't do well at that high a temp, but it certainly doesn't kill them. Many can form spores that are resistant to all but high pressure/temp (think autoclaves and pressure cookers). Anyway, microbio lesson for the day...
 
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