I am noticing some black dots inside the tubing of my chiller. I always clean and dry it as best as I can, but it just never drains completely.
I could simply replace the tubing, but I imagine there is also some mold growing inside the coils. Normally I’d think bleach, but it’s a SS chiller, and I heard bleach would be bad.
Suggestions?
Bleach will eat the plastic hoses. Did try it. Got different color on the hoses and they did become kind of hard. Did replace them all. Now use a product. Cald A33 dry. Its desloves all the nasty stuff. Its a product what they do clean scubadive equipment with. Next step do let it soak in starsan .
Over 10 years on me chiller and still has the same tubing that it came with. I will use a brush to the outside before and after, but not done anything to the innards. Try switching the hoses around so what was chillin’ now is expelling heated water? Sneezles61
I soak mine in a bucket of One Step for an hour or so. Almost always get some gunk out. Then blast hot water through. If more gunk comes out, I do it over. You can also try using one of those long handle little brushes that are used to clean a dip tube. It won’t go all the way but you can get most of it by shoving it in from both ends.
Before turning on the water I let some boiling hot wort go through. I figure that should kill most anything.
I am assuming this is a counter flow chiller.
It’s an immersion chiller. I know what’s inside the lines can’t hurt my beer, but it’s the principle of knowing something isn’t clean.
How about vinegar in a squirt bottle and spray it into the tubing. You’re talking about the vinyl tubing correct?
Don’t be anal.
It don’t matter what’s Insids. And it gets disinfected evddytime you plunge it into the boiling g wurt
If you’re really worried about it find a way to pump PBW through it and replace the tubing if necessary. In future batches try blowing the water out with air.
OK. Still not a bad idea to be cautious even with an IC. There is always that chance the vinyl tubing pops off or even the copper or SS tubing gets a crack in it. Clean tap water getting in your beer shouldn’t hurt it. Water flowing through dirty tubing might so why not have it clean.
Sure in boiling wort should kill most everything but you still can’t be too careful.
