Wort chiller woes

yeah, copper is not as cheap as it used to be. blame China.

i usually dont stress too much about cleaning my wort chiller. just rinse off the sticky wort in the sink, give it a shake and that's it. it goes into boiling wort for 10 minutes before the next use. its just needs to be cleaned so crud doesn't grow on it in between brewing. plenty of water to rinse is all i do.

you can repair your copper pipe. one method is to cut out the split piece with a thumb wheel, then use two compression fittings and a new piece in between.
an easier but less elegant method is to just cut the split piece and slide some braided vinyl tubing over the OD of the pipe. use two hose clamps per side. it will work, it won't leak if tight enough. i have done it.
Cheers.

 

I tend to just keep a 5 gallon bucket of some of the really hot water that comes out of the chiller when it is first turned on - after I'm done chilling I usually just drop the chiller into that water with a bit of dish soap and use a nylon bristle brush to get the goop off.

I've done both Starsan and vinegar - both are fine and get it all nice and shiny.

 

White vinegar and hot water work well. I have also put water and white vinegar in a 5gallon bucket and let it soak overnight. All the oxidation was gone in the am.

 

I have never scrubbed my wort chiller. It gets a simple rinse only after it comes out of the kettle. Then on brew day, my first step is to mix up 5 gallons of starsan in my primary bucket and dunk Señor Chiller in the solution. About 3+ hours later, it comes out shiny as new. Boil for a couple of minutes and game on.

I would be very cautious in splicing a break in my chiller. Of course anything can be patched, but you would really want a thorough test before using again.

 

agreed. hose clamps need to be tightened right up until they snap. then tighten again use two. check each time to be sure you don't leak any more than a drip, if that.
for the cost of new copper, i am that frugal.
Cheers

 

I would just cut out the bad part and solder in a coupler. Assuming, of course, that the rest of it was still sound.

As to cleaning my chiller - a thorough rinse with the hose is all it gets. Then again before I use it to get the spider webs off of it

FYI, $57 for 50 feet of 1/2" copper is a steal! It was twice that a few years ago. (OTOH, I could be horribly out of touch)

 

I have a counterflow and just run water through it. I second the not leaving it outside. During my last brew day the hose on the counterflow burst right at the start of cooling. I had to cool 10 gallons with ambient air. But, now I have a 50 ft counterflow instead of the old 20 ft. Can't wait to try the new one.

 

Mine gets a soak in starsan while everything else is going on. Comes out looking like new.

 

It's none of my business, but that's a boatload of StarSan for what is, arguably, unnecessary.

I'm just sayin'

 

I think he's using it for the acidity. CLR would be cheaper. He could use vinegar, but the smell might be too much.

 

It's only 2.5 gal, and that covers all sanitizing needs for brew day. Some gets poured back into a gallon jug for any future needs. That may be too much for some, but it works for me.

 

I use two cups in a five gallon bucket. I also have problems cooling to pitching temp in the summer, so I use a reall crappy cooler as a precooler that sits in ice water and feed the outlet from that into the inlet of the cooler in the wort. You can repair the crappy one and still use it for something like that instead of worrying about it ruining the beer. Just an idea.

 

I learned this lesson a few years back.