Holy copper IC!

[MaltyMonster]

Let me set the scene:
It's a cool, overcast morning in a WNY garage. The hum of the propane burner at the last 20 minutes of the boil is as intoxicating as it's contents will be. The copper immersion chiller cries out for cleaning before sanitized in a boiling hot tub of brown ale. My eye catches a silver coloration mid-way down the copper coil... a hole! My to my dismay I find that my chiller is rendered useless, leaving me to chill my 5 gallons of liquid gold in my bath tub for much longer than is recommended.

So now that the horror story is out of the way it's decision time: what's my next chilling option?

- Another copper IC - not thrilled about buying another, especially if it ruptures after one season of use (? I must've done something terrible wrong for this to happen).

- SS IC - same thing just more durable. Have a hard time spending money on something I already have/had even if it is SS this time.

- CFC - commercially-available and homemade alike all use copper, a material that I'm wanting to get rid of from my brewing setup.

- Plate chiller - speed and cool factor, but cleaning sounds like quite a bit of effort (I do my best with cleaning my equipment immediately, but I rarely do a dry brewing session which means my energy/effort at the end of a brew session is severely lacking - suck it up? I know :-( ).


Anybody thrilled with their solution enough that they would say get this hands down? I'm leaning towards a plate chiller (dudadiesel) for the convenience, but the SS IC is a close second for ease of use/cleaning.

 

[Evan_L]

Just patch it. Especially if you know where the hole is.

 

[beeber]

Why not repair the leak?

Copper is great for chilling, it transfers heat well. It also helps get copper ions into your brew. If it were me, I would find a way to repair the leak.

 

[MaltyMonster]

I just logged back in to add this option!

I think I'll give that a shot and put the money towards more grain...

Thanks guys

 

[barnaclebob]

What could cause a hole to form?

 

[MaltyMonster]

Really good question; I haven't the slightest clue other than corrosion...

 

[rlmiller10]

Copper should not corrode though, just for a green oxide layer.

Was it in a place where it could have been punctured by hitting something while being moved around? Was the hole in the middle of a small concave?

If not it could have just been a manufacturing defect in the tubing.

Copper is very simple to solder. Get silver solder (no lead) some flux paste and a torch from home depot. There are numerous youtube videos on how to do the actual process.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Do you sanitize your chiller in starsan? Everytime I do I notice it shines just like new. Likely it is taking a thin layer of copper off each time. Might be the cause.


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[govner1]

Let me set the scene:

It's a cool, overcast morning in a WNY garage. The hum of the propane burner at the last 20 minutes of the boil is as intoxicating as it's contents will be. The copper immersion chiller cries out for cleaning before sanitized in a boiling hot tub of brown ale. My eye catches a silver coloration mid-way down the copper coil... a hole! My to my dismay I find that my chiller is rendered useless, leaving me to chill my 5 gallons of liquid gold in my bath tub for much longer than is recommended.



So now that the horror story is out of the way it's decision time: what's my next chilling option?



- Another copper IC - not thrilled about buying another, especially if it ruptures after one season of use (? I must've done something terrible wrong for this to happen).



- SS IC - same thing just more durable. Have a hard time spending money on something I already have/had even if it is SS this time.



- CFC - commercially-available and homemade alike all use copper, a material that I'm wanting to get rid of from my brewing setup.



- Plate chiller - speed and cool factor, but cleaning sounds like quite a bit of effort (I do my best with cleaning my equipment immediately, but I rarely do a dry brewing session which means my energy/effort at the end of a brew session is severely lacking - suck it up? I know :-( ).





Anybody thrilled with their solution enough that they would say get this hands down? I'm leaning towards a plate chiller (dudadiesel) for the convenience, but the SS IC is a close second for ease of use/cleaning.

If you go for a new chiller I'd say hands down a CFC! You might even be able to use the copper tubing from your old IC to build the CFC.


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[MaltyMonster]

Copper should not corrode though, just for a green oxide layer.

Was it in a place where it could have been punctured by hitting something while being moved around? Was the hole in the middle of a small concave?

If not it could have just been a manufacturing defect in the tubing.

Copper is very simple to solder. Get silver solder (no lead) some flux paste and a torch from home depot. There are numerous youtube videos on how to do the actual process.

I'm wondering if there was still water in this thing from last time I brewed and it froze in the pipe. The puncture is jagged and facing outward - indicating a pop of some sort.

 

[NateLTB]

I upgraded to a SS plate chiller at the beginning of this year and I love it. I can chill a ten gallon batch from boil to 70 in about eight minutes.

 

[Ticebain]

Do you sanitize your chiller in starsan? Everytime I do I notice it shines just like new. Likely it is taking a thin layer of copper off each time. Might be the cause.


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Isn't stars an and copper a bad idea? I have heard that a half hour in starsan will eat a penny straight down to the zinc core. I have heard my lhbs dudes tell numerous people that they should never put their chiller in starsan


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[HumulusHead]

Just throw the chiller in near the end of boil.

Voila


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[masonsjax]

Sounds like you've decided to go with a repair, which is what I'd do. Just a couple quick thoughts to consider though:

SS is not nearly as good a heat conductor as copper is.

Unless you're going to use a pump to recirculate, a counterflow or plate chiller will not allow you to partially chill a batch, which is useful in doing hop stands.

 

[MaltyMonster]

I do have a pump and would be able to do that, but I still love the simplicity of the IC which ultimately why repairing is the best choice for me. Malt guy over hops so hop stands are not likely to be in my future...

 

[dbkdev]

Just throw the chiller in near the end of boil.

Voila


Sent from myPhone

Don't "just throw it in" if your chiller goes into the hot wort one color and comes out all shinny, where do you think all that residue went? Make sure you scrub clean and rinse your chiller well before immersing. Or don't and claim there's no difference, it's your beer.

 

[HumulusHead]

I meant just for sanitizing instead of starsan. Agreed don't throw a gunky chiller in the boil


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[dbkdev]

Haha ok, just wanted to make sure nobody interpreted that the wrong way .

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Isn't stars an and copper a bad idea? I have heard that a half hour in starsan will eat a penny straight down to the zinc core. I have heard my lhbs dudes tell numerous people that they should never put their chiller in starsan

Yep it almost definitely is a bad idea, the acidity of the starsan eats away at the copper pretty quickly from my understanding. That's why I thought it might be the culprit but not if it's a outward facing hole...likely freezing is the cause. I just dunk it in quickly because I don't like heating up my chiller so much in the boil.


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[MaltyMonster]

Yep, this chiller has never been contact with starsan. I'm going with the freezing cause...

 

[reynolds5520]

I'm wondering if there was still water in this thing from last time I brewed and it froze in the pipe. The puncture is jagged and facing outward - indicating a pop of some sort.

That does indeed sound like freeze damage. If you have to store it in a location that freezes, make sure you blow all the water out.

 

[jbaysurfer]

I don't get this: "CFC - commercially-available and homemade alike all use copper, a material that I'm wanting to get rid of from my brewing setup"

Copper is great for brewing. Don't use bleach on it, and don't soak it in starsan (an occasional quick rinse is ok) and it'll last forever. Unless...of course...you burst the tubing with frozen water.

 

[MaltyMonster]

I mean the thermal transfer properties are awesome, I just had the understanding that copper was a less than ideal material for brewing, particularly when it comes to boiling wort.

 

[masonsjax]

Almost every commercial brewery I've seen in person uses a copper boil kettle. Post fermentation you don't want copper, but traces are fine, even beneficial for the yeast before ferm.