50' copper immersion chiller - add to kettle dry or full of water?

Systems, Gear, & DIY
1

I am always looking for efficient ways to shorten my all-grain, +10 gallon batch brewday.  Therefore I’ve been adding my IC with 20 minutes left in the boil, without any water in it - just connected hoses.  My thought is, this way, it takes less time for the wort to get back to a boil after immersing it in the kettle to sanitize it, and I can complete my boil more quickly.  Is there any danger of bursting the coil by doing this, rather than running water through the connected hoses and IC before immersing it?

As regards a different lesson learned, I found that tipping it upside down to drain it after the boil is done and hoses are disconnected, it doesn’t always drain well, and if left outside in the unheated garage it can freeze and burst the coil.  So now I keep it stored in my heated basement.

2

A lot of people sanitize their copper IC by putting it in the kettle at the end of the boil.  There’s nothing to worry about.

3

Yeah, but does it matter if water isn’t inside the coils when you immerse it?  I’ve only been doing it for about 8 years, but I just had to ask!

4

if you put an IC in the kettle full of water, the water will just boil out of the IC, really doesn’t matter.

5

Makes sense.  It definitely must have been ice that ruptured the one I left in the garage in winter…  Thanks.

6

I drain mine before I put it in, that makes for less water to heat up to get back to a boil.  Saves some time. It takes a couple of seconds to fill it back up when you open the tap.

When I was in Germany working one year, the chiller was left in an unheated shed.  Only worth scrap value when I came home the next year.

7

I would mostly drain it before putting it in so you don’t have boiling water spurting out of the ends of the IC.

8

+1

It has the potential to burn you if you don’t drain it.

9

It abolutely does not matter.  If it did, my IC would have been destroyed years ago.

10

As to the draining - I rotate my IC after use so that all the coils drain.

11

To drain the IC, I blow it like a tuba.

12

I sanitize mine with starsan and drop it in right at flameout with all the hoses hooked up already so it doesn’t puke boiling water on me!

13

+1