Check your Equipment before Brewing!!!

[Falcon3]

I was having a great day brewing today. My mash hit perfect temp, my efficiency was the highest I've ever had, my sanitation was going well....
Then came time to shut the burner down and start the wort chiller. Turned on the cold water, closed the lid, and went inside to make sure my carboy was ready. I came out five minutes later to an overflowing pot!

It took me a second to realize it wasn't a boil over, but by the time I had removed my wort chiller from the pot, the damage was done. I checked gravity and it was down to 1.025 at about 100 degrees- I probably could have salvaged something, but I was so pissed I threw the whole thing out.

The wort chiller had a tiny crack in the tubing. Now I'm trying to decide whether to make a counter-flow or stick with the immersion.......

Lesson learned: Check your equipment before using it....otherwise you'll ruin a batch pretty quickly...

 

[Bobby_M]

There are two ways to prevent this. The first is the design of the coil itself. The in/out leads should extend well over the top of the pot and actually bend downward. If by chance the hose connection leaks, it drips on the ground and not into the pot. Even better, have actual hose threaded connections soldered directly to the copper coil. Clamps on PVC tubing will always leak if you don't keep tightening.

 

[Falcon3]

The plastic tubing and attachments were not the problem- the copper tubing cracked near the bottom. I've used this chiller for 20+ batches, and never had a problem......until today..

 

[atoughram]

Hmm.... A good reason to replace my coil chiller with a plate chiller...

 

[mikeysab]

Did you leave it outdoors in freezing weather with water in it? That'll cause the copper to burst.

 

[scubasteve03]

Did you leave it outdoors in freezing weather with water in it? That'll cause the copper to burst.

I did this a few months back. Who would of thought it would freeze in southern Arizona in February? I didn't but i always test my chiller before I brew.