11 replies to this topic

[positiveContact]

I get a build up of crud on my chiller after a while.  Just dark brown stuff and mostly near the wort line.  It seems like it's cooked on break and hop material so I just soaked it for a few days in starsan and scrubbed off as much stuff as I could.  It's not uniformly shiny now but now I'm wondering if I need to do something to repassivate the copper prior to using.

 

or is this nothing to worry about and and I should just rinse and use it at this point?

[djinkc]

I wouldn't worry about it

[positiveContact]

i just hate that if I wipe it with a paper towel the towel looks tan/brown after.  seems like it's gross that this is going into the beer.

[HVB]

I would hose it off good and let it air dry and call it good.

[djinkc]

i just hate that if I wipe it with a paper towel the towel looks tan/brown after.  seems like it's gross that this is going into the beer.

Actually, that's stuff that didn't go in your beer

[macbrak]

It seems like there is some interesting water chemistry stuff that must go on with wort chillers. I have a brewer in my hb club that always has a sparkling clean chiller with little effort. I seem to have a regular patina until recently. After and have been paying more attention to mineral additions it seems to slough off the last couple times.

 

I have done pbw soaks in the past with minimal results.

 

I always spray off what comes off (which usually is little) and would definitely remove anything that seems to come off. Having said all that I'm very RDWHAHB about this.

[positiveContact]

even after scrubbing mine went back to having some patina almost immediately once it dried

[SchwanzBrewer]

Mine has patina on it. I use a soft scrubby to clean it after use.

[Poptop]

I gave mine a soak in hot oxy clean and man, the particles that let loose.  

[Stout_fan]

Personally, I just wash off the big chunks. At 15 min of boil time it's sanitized.

RDWHHAHB fer sure!

[LeftyMPfrmDE]

After wrapping up a brew session, give the kettle and IC chiller a soak in a pbw tablespoon per gallon soak and rinse cycle. while running the pump. Chiller always comes out bright.

[positiveContact]

After wrapping up a brew session, give the kettle and IC chiller a soak in a pbw tablespoon per gallon soak and rinse cycle. while running the pump. Chiller always comes out bright.

 

no beer pumps here (just submersible and an aquarium pump for beer lines).  I just found that over ten or so batches there gets to be a rough feeling buildup on the chiller particularly around the beer surface line.  I'm guessing it's just cooked on hop and break material but it looks kind of nasty.  now that I've cleaned it off the chiller still looks pretty clean after one batch even though all I did was rinse it after.