Wort Chiller Scepticism

[keat64]

I half built a wort chiller a year ago with microbore copper pipe.
It's been sat in my garage ever since, incomplete.

Today I've had a brew day and thought, I ought to finish the wort cooler and give it a try.

I can't believe the speed the wort is cooling.,

Normally my fermenter will be in a bath of cold water for at least a few hours.
At this rate, the cooler will have done the same job in around 20 minutes.

I guess now my concern is whether or not the copper will impart any flavour.
Three weeks will tell I guess.

 

[keat64]

And 10 minutes later it's ready to pitch.
Impressive.

 

[pvt_ak]

I’ve got a copper pipe cooler and no flavour impacts.

 

[terrym]

Commercial brewers extensively used equipment fabricated from copper before stainless steel became cheap and readily available, so is unlikely to have impaired any taste to the beer or it wouldn't have been used. Also the water that comes out of your tap is likely have been in contact with copper at some time or other.

 

[keat64]

It shaved about 2 hours off my process.
I shall be using it on future brews.

 

[peebee]

Copper? Deters all sorts of marine life from growing in your cooler. They put it on wooden boats for that reason. And it'll stop slugs crawling about in it. Would a stainless steel, aluminium or plastic one offer that?

Does have a tendency to turn vivid green though. Dry them well (difficult to dry inside) or keep full of water to keep air out.

 

[prog99]

I started using one two brews ago. Don’t know why I didn’t move to one sooner.

Did you also get more cold break as well?

 

[Clint]

Yeah nice n easy. Just don't forget to bung it in your kettle and boil it in your wort for the last 15 minutes or so to sterilise it. After I chuck mine in the sink and scrub it with a plastic type pan scourer,rinse then put it back in the brew shed.

 

[Sadfield]

You'll not taste it, however the mildly acidic wort will dissolve copper into your beer. Worry not, this is a good thing for both yeast health and reducing sulphur flavours in beer.

 

[matt76]

Nice work fella, great job I made one recently too and found similar time savings in cooling the sort. Not noticed any issues putting it in the boiling wort, I just leave it in for the last few minutes to sterilise it.

 

[Dutto]

I knocked this up after massacring the type of micro-bore that you describe!

All I ever do is:

• Before - Rinse it with cold water, give it a quick spray with StarSan and immerse it in the wort.
• During - The Hop Spider sits in the middle of the cooler if required otherwise, I give the wort a stir now and then to speed up the process.
• After - I give the cooler a rinse with cold water, drain the water out as much as I can and then give it a quick spray with StarSan before putting it away until next time.

I'm always amazed at how shiny the cooler is when it's removed from the wort. I regard it as an indication that the pH is alright.

BTW, note that the In/Out connections hang over the side of the boiler. I never trust any connection and today I had to repair the outlet connection to stop a leak!