Cleaning immersion chiller

[BigNastyBrew]

Brewing my first batch in a year on Sunday. I know...

Anyway, I want to clean my immersion chiller before I stick it in my beautiful wort. I remember something about boiling in a vinegar/water solution but I can't recall the concentration/ratio. Can anyone tell me what that is?

[sharkmuncher]

Brewing my first batch in a year on Sunday. I know...

Anyway, I want to clean my immersion chiller before I stick it in my beautiful wort. I remember something about boiling in a vinegar/water solution but I can't recall the concentration/ratio. Can anyone tell me what that is?

Something around 5% should do the trick. I always just drop mine in 1x starsan for a few minutes. Mostly, the idea is to wash it in a mild acid solution to clean off the oxidized copper, otherwise, it is washed into your acidic wort.

[mthhurley]

After the initial cleaning on a new coil, do you all do anything on subsequent batches?

I just hose it off each time and let the boiling wort do the sanitation.

[Bugeater]

After the initial cleaning on a new coil, do you all do anything on subsequent batches?

I just hose it off each time and let the boiling wort do the sanitation.

..

That is all you need to do. Just get all the chunks off the chiller with the hose. You don't need the chiller to be shiny. It will develop a nice dark patina. The time to worry is when you see it develop some green tarnish spots like you sometimes see on bronze statues. This green stuff is toxic. That is when you need the vinegar or Star San process to get it all clean again.

Wayne

[Chemiker]

After the initial cleaning on a new coil, do you all do anything on subsequent batches?

I just hose it off each time and let the boiling wort do the sanitation.

I hose it and scrub between the coils with a brush, but that's it. It comes out of the wort so nice and shiny that I don't feel like I have to do much

[brewinhard]

+1. I quickly scrub mine and rinse well, then hang to dry.

[spiderwrangler]

Another good thing is to get all the water out from the inside of the chiller, hitting it with compressed air, or just blowing on it will get the majority out so you donnm't have it sitting wet inside.

[Stinkfist]

Another good thing is to get all the water out from the inside of the chiller, hitting it with compressed air, or just blowing on it will get the majority out so you donnm't have it sitting wet inside.

not really sure why it matters what is on the inside of an immersion chiller....unless you make a stupid mistake or it somehow springs a leak?