Wort chiller question
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BlueHouseBrewhaus
Well-Known Member
It depends on the chiller. Mine is a simple immersion chiller that only circulates water. I give it a good rinse and scrub, drain it and put it away until next time. Putting it in the wort for the last 10 minutes of boil is enought to sanitize it for the next brew. A counterflow chiller will be more involved since it circulates wort. I don't know if the initial flow of wort is enough to sanitize the innards or more measures need to be taken to clean it like running boiling water through it after use. Maybe someone else can weigh in on that.
The most intuitive thing to me when I used a copper coil was to boil water in my kettle and soak-boil it. It usually came out pretty bright and shiny after a good solid boil, no chemicals, and always worked out for me. Don't forget to insert the coil at least 15 minutes into your wort before use to sanitize it.
Clean it? What? LOL. I just rinse it after every use and blow the water out of it. 15 minutes in the boiling wort will kill almost anything. Mine has a nice patina on it. It is going on 5 years old I suppose.
dkevinb
Well-Known Member
I do what Hammy does. I hose it off and drop it into the boil about 15 minutes before the end. I then collect about the first 10 gallons or so of the really hot water coming out of the chiller at the beginning of the chill in a rope tote. When I'm done chilling I drop the chiller in the hot water in the rope tote, rinse it with a hose, blow the water out, and hang it to dry.
