[bluedog]

So besides a green scrubber, barkeepers friend, and elbow grease - does anyone have an easier way for cleaning a copper immersion wort chiller?

[etbrew]

Soak it in PBW then rinse.

[chezteth]

Soak it in PBW then rinse.

+1 to this method.  easy and effective

[jptheelder]

Soak it in PBW then rinse.

+ 2. never had an issue this way.

[bluedog]

Does PBW leave it looking new or is it just a sanitizer? How long of soak do give it? I usually use starsan - I left some brass in there overnight and turned it a cool green color...

[BrewArk]

PBW is a cleaner, not a sanitizer.  After cleaning, you put the immersion chiller into boiling wort to sanitize it.

[blatz]

spray it off with the hose after every use, put in boiling wort with 15 left to go, never been an issue 

[richardt]

Is it even necessary to clean a copper IC with PBW?  What is PBW getting off your IC that you're concerned about having in your brew kettle?  Is it the oxidation layer?

After use, I simply rinse the IC off with water.  It tends to take on a mottled greyish-coppery color during storage.

On the next brew day, I hook up the IC  to the garden hose.  I rinse the IC with the water that flows out of the output end (to get the dust off of the IC).  The IC gets placed in the boil kettle for the last 15 minutes of the boil--it gets shiny copper colored due to the acidity of the wort.  I don't notice a greenish residue during storage.

Any problems doing it this way?  

[BrewArk]

Is it even necessary to clean a copper IC with PBW?  What is PBW getting off your IC that you're concerned about having in your brew kettle?  Is it the oxidation layer?

After use, I simply rinse the IC off with water.  It tends to take on a mottled greyish-coppery color during storage.

On the next brew day, I hook up the IC  to the garden hose.  I rinse the IC with the water that flows out of the output end (to get the dust off of the IC).  The IC gets placed in the boil kettle for the last 15 minutes of the boil--it gets shiny copper colored due to the acidity of the wort.  I don't notice a greenish residue during storage.

Any problems doing it this way?  

I wouldn't think so.  Unless, you have something in your storage area that rinsing won't remove.  I use a counter-flow, so I like to clean it pretty good before storing it, then prior to use I rinse, and then follow by running hot wort through (that I return to the boil) for sanitizing.

-Rick

[tubercle]

spray it off with the hose after every use, put in boiling wort with 15 left to go, never been an issue 

That's what I do. Take it out of the wort, spray it down, hang it up side down until the next time I use it.

 Why do you feel it necessary to clean it? Placed in the wort for about 10 minutes before the end of the boil will sanitize the surface. Besides, that lovely patina that washes off is nutrients for the yeast.

 RDWHAHB

[tschmidlin]

Besides, that lovely patina that washes off is nutrients for the yeast.

As long as it's not verdigris (you know, the green stuff), that can't be good for the yeast - it's a fungicide.

[tubercle]

Besides, that lovely patina that washes off is nutrients for the yeast.

As long as it's not verdigris (you know, the green stuff), that can't be good for the yeast - it's a fungicide.

 I agree, not the green but the dark brown. Mine doesn't have time between uses to grow green

[bluesman]

spray it off with the hose after every use, put in boiling wort with 15 left to go, never been an issue 

+1

This ^^^^^

...works every time. 

[hopfenundmalz]

spray it off with the hose after every use, put in boiling wort with 15 left to go, never been an issue 

This works for me, too.

The only time I used PBW is when it was new, and and the copper coil straight from the box still a little oily after I formed/made it into a chiller. 

Other than that, rinse, boil, repeat.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Mine doesn't have time between uses to grow green

The same here.