Sanitisation of CFC's

[marmite]

We had a MCB workshop on Saturday where we made among other things a counterflow chiller.( My thanks to Chris for his excellent workshop at the Spring Thing and from where I got the idea) I could not believe how efficient it was because when we tested it out,the boiling water came down to 16c at the outlet.
When I got home I decided to modify it so it would fit into an old SS Burco boiler (mini) so the whole thing could be kept clean and tidy in a sealed container.
I will post some pictures shortly but my question for the moment is what steps should I take to keep it fully sanitised both in use and in storage?

 

[calumscott]

Obviously a good flush through after use is a good idea.

I guess the only methods of sanitation for use are:

1) recirculate boiling wort through it (with the coolant off!) for the last ten mins of the boil with a little pump.
2) recirculate steriliser through it, then rinse it through.

 

[adomant]

probably a good idea to clean it out between uses as cooled wort is sticky and tends to leave deposits which are quite stubborn if left and although you can still sanitise it, you wouldn't want the crud in your brew!

this can be done with oxy or caustic soda or blasting a steam mop through it amongst other methods

 

[Fil]

or if u make one like this a bottle brush to clean, and flame out recirculation to sanitise

 

[Richard Swindellls]

I realise this is an old thread now. I recently made a 9m (29') CFC and was wondering about sanitation. I am interested in any hints and tips different to my process (below) to clean/sanitise the CFC. I've used mine for 2x brews and am worried about messing up with sanitation as time goes on with any wort buildup in the pipe etc.

To make the CFC I used 10m of 10mm copper pipe and 16mm (5/8") ID PVC hose with 15mm soldered T-junction for the cold water in and out with compression fittings for the 10 to 15mm joins in case I want to mod it at a later date.

My current process is:
After use:

• I flush the wort pipe with first runnings of saved hot water from cooling the wort then recirc once it runs clear.
• Recirc a bucket of hot Chemipro Oxi solution for a while (nom, 10 min)

Before Use:

• Run some cold through the wort pipe before use, removing any standing water
• Circulate hot wort for 10-15 mins before cooling to sanitise

Writing this down it looks like a lot more faff than putting an IC in 15 mins before flame out, but it's all done while the mashing or boiling. I have found the like-for-like, the CFC cooling is far superior (estimate 1-pass) to the 10m IC I previously knocked up, saving me min 1/2 hour easy (just my limited experience so far).

Cheers.