Used mine for the first time on Saturday. The thing worked great. It brought the temp down into the 60’s in the same time an ice bath took the temp into the 90’s.
Definitely clean the chiller before you use it the first time. Quite a bit of dirt and other gunk came off during the cleaning. Glad it didn’t end up in my beer. I usually forgot steps like that.
I just ordered mine! Can’t wait to use it…I used my propane burner for the first time on Saturday, it was great to do it outside in the beautiful weekend weather we had!
The directions that came with mine actually said to use trisodium phosphate to remove any oils. Guess it worked, no weird flavors.
I cleaned mine by soaking it in a diluted vinegar solution. Then wiping it down with just a paper towel.
i made mine out of a copper tube. i boiled it in water before i ever used it in my wort. but didn’t notice any crud.
Now i just rinse it off and put it into my kettle 15mins before the end of the boil
I love the immersion chiller. It seems weird that I can chill my wort faster in the spring and summer than winter but I don’t have a hose hooked up outside during winter and my kitchen sink won’t adapt, (nor would my wife to taking the sink apart).
I used an ice bath my first year of brewing, then I got my IC. One of the best brew tools a brewer can have. Here with Cheyenne water, I get my wort from 202 degrees (boiling at this altitude) to 75 in 7 minutes. Awesome.
Paul
I just built a bigger one for my larger setup, 50’ of 3/8" copper. They work well if you stir or whirlpool.
