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Flux removal

NDeselle

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Aug 26, 2010
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Location
North Texas
HI all,

I have finished building a wort chiller to work with a custom brew kettle I built.  It was my first real soldering job that was non electronic.  I am guessing that I went a bit overboard with the flux.  It worked well and the chiller doesn't leak but I am wondering what the best method is to remove the paste flux so that it does not contaminate my beer.  Any ideas??

Thanks,

Nathan
 
Use cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol. Or, when it is heated using a wet rag will also remove flux.

JB
 
Don't worry about it.

Most modern  plumbing fluxes  are similar to the Oatey flux whiuch is
Zinc chloride ( corrosive, but not enough in flux to harm you)
Ammonium chloride  (not toxic unless in  very large amounts) 
Petrolatum ( Petroleum jelly not toxic)
Tin (may or not be essential to human health)
Copper  ( a nutrient) 
Bismuth ( mostly harmless)

I bet you could eat the whole  shoe polish size can of  flux and be just fine.  Maybe get a stomach ache.





 
Very cool.  I have tested the chiller and it works good cooling down plain old hot water but I was freaked out about flux poisoning of some kind.  I did notice the chiller had developed a bit of green at the joints while it was sitting in the garage.  I wiped it off but is there anything I should do to keep it clean or just clean it each time I want to use it?

Thanks,

Nathan
 
The patina helps protect your chiller, leave it alone. I hose off the chiller (if I use it- (I BIAB so I don't have to)) to get the chunks of dirt, spider webs and such off! The boiling wort sanitizes it. When you pull the chiller out rinse it and that's it. Don't remove the oxidation that is there because it forms on new metal only. Once you have it , it acts as a protective barrier.
 
When I start chilling, I catch the first, hottest discharge into my mash tun pot and a bucket. 

When done chilling, I put the chiller in the bucket of clean warm water. 
 
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