Wort Chiller Cleaning - Vinegar

[mgortel]

I read that the oxidation can be cleaned off of your wort chiller by soaking in vinegar......

I assume that as long as it is rinsed off well there will be no "vineger" flavor aor adverse aeffect on the beer?

 

[rico567]

No....vinegar is an acetic acid solution. If it's rinsed off, there will be no residual taste from it. What I don't understand is why it's being used in the first place. The wort, being acidic to start with, keeps the copper of my wort chiller pretty clean & shiny. I suppose if the thing were put on the shelf for a long while, until it turned really brown or green....

 

[ErieShores]

I used vinegar and salt on mine with and took it right off after a soak in SS. No residual taste or smell.

 

[mgortel]

Well...it is pretty clean....but does have some oxidation, etc. on it....and I dont want it to end up in the wort.....as you suggest the wort does a good job cleaning it! But of course I dont want the stuff in the wort.

Thanks

 

[mbtech]

I would definitely clean it with a soak in vinegar, salt, and water. If you don't, all the tarnish will come off in your beer. I wouldn't want that in my beer.

 

[fatherbigfoot]

star san should clean it as well

 

[RedGlass]

PBW is amazing for cleaning chillers.

 

[mgortel]

Vinegar cleaned it on contact...amazing.

Spo I was wondering if I can just submerge the wort chiller in Star San and just put in kettle after boil is done....as opposed to boiling it in kettle the last 15 mins??

 

[mbtech]

PBW and Starsan are great products...but I'm a cheap ass. Vinegar is the way to go.. I put the chiller in for the last 10-15 minutes of the boil. If you make beer often enough, you shouldn't have to clean the chiller with vinegar. I've only cleaned mine once initially. And by the way, iodophor is way cheaper than Starsan in the long run for sanitizing other stuff.

 

[944play]

I had been noticing that my chiller is not coming out of the wort with a glistening shine anymore. This thread inspired me to give it a soak in StarSan, but it did nothing. I ended up scrubbing it with an all-purpose scrubby (not as aggressive as a green ScotchBrite). It was covered in what I can only assume is hop resin.

Guess I should be doing more than a dunk in collected coolant water to clean. Would a preemptive dip in StarSan at the end of a brewday keep the hop crud off, or maybe Oxiclean?

 

[iron_city_ap]

About how much vinegar and salt are you guys using?

 

[mgortel]

I poured vinger in a low sided pyrex dish...and diluted about 50%. Just about 3/4-1" deep.....enough that I could set the wort chiller in there ion its od and spin it around 360 degrees to get all surfaces clean.

 

[mgortel]

I didnt use any salt.

Also, as someone else suggested.....Star San does a hell of a job cleaning it also......