Cleaning a counterflow chiller
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 7:50 pm
by ReaseB
What is the best way to keep a counterflow wort chiller clean. Mine is the copper tubing and garden hose variety. Are cleaners and sanitizers safe to use on the copper. I was thinking of PBW and starsan, but I didn't know if those products would oxidize the copper.
Rease
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:04 pm
by Henning1966
How about just running some boiling water with a healthy dose of viegar followed by a good boiling water rinse should do the trick i would think.
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 8:07 pm
by Homegrown Hops
PBW is good to go on copper and I believe that StarSan is also. You could check
http://www.fivestarchemicals.com/ if you like.
HH
Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:33 am
by Danno
I always follow a regiment of pumping hot water (to get rid of most of the stuff), followed by PBW (to clean the rest of the gunk out). followed by sanitizing with StarSan and then one final rinse with hot wayer. StarSan will take the copper to a bright shiny surface again if left more than a couple of minutes and you don't want that.
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:31 am
by tnlandsailor
Just take this as another data point. I don't use any cleaners at all on my copper tube-garden hose chiller. I think the biggest contributor to "funk" in the chiller occurs between uses. The copper tube can never completely dry out, therefore there is moisture + air + time = mold.
In my case, I just flush it really good with high velocity water from the hose right after use, then fill it with Iodophor and cap the ends. It is now 100% full of sanitizer, so nothing grows. Even if the sanitizer breaks down, there is no air to contribute to "funk" growth. When I go to use it again, I flush it out with water again, refill with fresh Iodophor, let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes, drain out the Iodophor and use it.
If it never dries out, no real crud can collect, therefore rinsing is very effective at getting "stuff" out as long as you do it right after you use it. About once a year (about 100 gallons of beer later), I'll flush it with PBW, but I've gone as long as 2 years without doing that and there are no ill effects. This has been my practice for the last 5 years.
Like I said, just another data point. I would never say cleaning it every time is a wasted effort.
Prosit!