Prepping a New Wort Chiller

[Redbeard5289]

Greeting Everyone,

I just finished making a 45 foot immersion chiller out of 1/2 in copper, not the greatest soldering job I have ever done but there are no leaks. I was wonder if there is anything I need to do to the chiller before I use it tonight.

I scrubbed it with a nylon bristle scrub brush, rinsed it off with tap water then boiled it in water for 30 minutes, rinsed it off again and then set it on the countertop to let it dry.

Is this enough prepping to get the new chiller ready to use or do I need to do something else?

What have you done to your chillers to get them ready for brew day/night?

Thanks for the help
Redbeard5289

 

[weirdboy]

I'd say that should about cover it. I can't think of much else you could do.

 

[steveo929]

Make sure you read it bedtime stories and tuck it in at night. And keep a night-light on b/c it might get scared.

 

[Redbeard5289]

steveo929

I don't think my son would appreciate sharing his bed with the wort chiller, ha ha.

Just wanna make sure that the wort chiller is good to go so I don't get any off flavors with the inaugural brewing night tonight.
I have read so many tutorials and how-to's on this forum and I don't recall anyone ever talking about the prep work they did to their newly built chiller before they used it in their brewing applications.

Redbeard5289

 

[Redbeard5289]

SO I brewed the American Amber recipe in Jamil's & John's Brewing Classic Styles Book last night. Put the immersion chiller into the brewpot with 15 minutes left of the 60 minute boil to sanitize it. Hooked up the water connections after flameout and went around the side of the house to turn on the faucet. Walked back around and stuck the thermometer in the pot.

WOW! I walked 20 feet from the faucet back to the brewpot and the wort was down to 165ºF. I slowly stirred the wort with a large spoon around the inside of the coils as I continued to watch the mercury fall on the thermometer.

From boiling to 70ºF in 10 minutes! WOW!! This is the fastest I have ever chilled my wort down. Of course after it is all said and done and the yeast has been pitched all I can think is, why the heck didn't I build one of these sooner.

Redbeard5289

 

[Maltose]

did you also use the whirlpool attachment to send wort back through the coils?