Proper Care and Use of Copper Counterflow Wort Chillers

Systems, Gear, & DIY
1

Greetings.  I have a copper counterflow wort chiller and would like to know the proper ways to:

  1. Clean the chiller after brewing (Currently I backflush it with cold water right after the brew)
  2. Store it between brews (I brew like 4-6 times a year, so it may be awhile between)
  3. Prep the chiller on brew day (Do I need to sanitize it with hot water or ?)

I’ve seen many different opinions on this like storing it dry or full of iodophor, etc.  So I’m looking for the right way to do this to maximize the life of my chiller.  THANK YOU!

2

Flushing with a good cleaner is necessary after each use (forward-flush, back-flush, flush).  Just make sure you are confident that the tubing is clean with no remaining debris.  After cleaning, flush with clean water.  Ideally, if you can then dry the inside of the tubing then you can feel confident that nothing is going to grow in there during storage.

I would not store it with any liquid inside the tubing.  Totally bone dry is best; the closer to that you can get the better (you could blow it out with an airhose to dry it if you have one; or even vacuuming it out should accomplish the same).

Running a little cleaning solution and sanitizer through it on brewday can help alleviate any concerns of contamination risks associated with it; and running some boiling wort through it just before chilling can provide extra insurance as well.

All that said, there’s the RDWHAHB way of doing things: flush with water and put away wet - flush before next use and run boiling wort through it to sanitize.

3

I bring my mash water up to near boil and run through my Cfc to my mash tun. This sanitizes my cfc and pre heats my cooler mash tun. Before I’m ready to chill I also use auto siphon to pump star SAN through chiller, probably not necessary but I do it. When chilling I fill a bucket with run off water and run it through cfc after kettle is clean and brew day is done. I blow out the water and that’s it. Been doing that for probably 2 years without any issues

Note this is for a coil type cfc. I wouldnt trust this process with a plate chiller

4

This is my SOP. I do run hot PBW through it every 5 batches or so.