Stout polished my copper IC should I be worried?

[WilliamWS]

Just finished brewing a milk stout and while rinsing my well-used copper IC I noticed some really shiny spots on it. It quickly became apparent that I could basically just wipe off all of the oxidation on any part of the chiller that had been in the wort. I brew 2-3 times per month and don't recall this happening before (though I only brew one or two stouts per year). Is it something I should be worried about? Is it possibly because the wort is a little more acidic since it has more roasted grain than the styles I usually brew?

 

[Golddiggie]

Every time I use my IC it's nice and shiny right after... Given a few days, the patina starts to come back (from the air)...

I wouldn't worry about it... Just wipe any drek from it as you're cleaning it off and you should be fine...

 

[Conan]

My IC has a nice line of 'pretty, shiny, fresh' copper that was in wort, sharply contacting 'nasty, weathered, old' copper that sits above the waterline. I consider my brew sessions an opportunity to clean all my copper fittings. As a side note, if you have an Cu in your kettle (diptube, etc.) do you notice them being shiny as well? Mine are always clean and pretty after a brew. In fact all my Cu stuff stays fairly clean always, and I brew maybe once a month. Kyle

 

[Hex]

As long as there were no green copper oxides visible before you started, you should be fine, the yeast like/need copper and will clean it out of your finished beer.

 

[Revvy]

It happen s all the time. Some even believe that the copper in the boil is good for fermentation. They believe it is actually good for yeast.

Yeast also requires trace amounts of copper for its metabolism, and some modern all-stainless steel breweries have had to add copper to prevent hung fermentations.

You'll be fine.

 

[Golddiggie]

So since brass ball valves are 60-70% copper, looks like they're actually GOOD to have on kettles... Right?