Do I really need to boil my coil?

[Eric]

Personally I would not take the risk.

That's it for me. The relative risk of a less sanitised coil versus reduced circulation for aroma hops.

[Kev888]

Thats my concern too really. Its not so much that it couldn't work more often than not, more that the extra risk of 'not' (or extra effort in avoiding it) seems to be addressing a problem which doesn't really exist in practice. You should see my IC afterwards; absolutely full of hops, but I can tell no difference in their imparted hoppiness.

Cheers
kev

[Maltmaniac]

I'll continue to boil it for 15 minutes, and personally I'm glad some of the hops gather in the centre cause it stops too much crap landing on my hop strainer and blocking it. Don't think it affects the hop extraction either so err on the safe side for me. Something that's been lying about for a week or so with the possibility of sugary goodness hiding somewhere is always worth a boil.

[Jim]

I agree with the people who say don't worry too much about it.

Unless you're cultivating yeast you don't need to kill every single bug - after all, we don't boil our FVs, do we? Just a short soak in bleach (or whatever you prefer to use) and a rinse with tap water!

And once the beer's in the FV it's a lot more vulnerable that when it's still in the boiler, scalding hot.

[trucker5774]

I agree with the people who say don't worry too much about it.

Unless you're cultivating yeast you don't need to kill every single bug - after all, we don't boil our FVs, do we? Just a short soak in bleach (or whatever you prefer to use) and a rinse with tap water!

And once the beer's in the FV it's a lot more vulnerable that when it's still in the boiler, scalding hot.

Yes, but we do clean our FVs and they don't have the crevices that a chiller has, If you miss a bit it can easily be mouldy. I just don't see a problem with putting the chiller in 15 minutes from the end......................hey, but I use an air lock too

[darkonnis]

Well depends, if i remember right he's on about a coil chiller which lives in the boiler so there shouldnt be any crevices, its just a coil of pipe? The plate chillers though.... I'd definitely boil them just because i cant inspect the insides.

[guypettigrew]

Well depends, if i remember right he's on about a coil chiller which lives in the boiler so there shouldnt be any crevices, its just a coil of pipe? The plate chillers though.... I'd definitely boil them just because i cant inspect the insides.

Yup, it's a coil chiller. Seems to me that dropping it into the boiling wort just before turning the power off, then leaving it for the 30 minute hop soak at 80C+ should strongly discourage any bugs from growing during fermentation. Before going into the boiling wort the coil will have been sitting around completely dry on a shelf for a couple of weeks or so. Another discouragement to spoilage arganisms, possibly?

Guy

[Mitchamitri1]

I stopped using my cooling coil when the hose pipe came off, I moved house, and it went missing. Have had a number of brews just sealing the lid and letting it cool overnight and the beers have been spot on. I assume I'm running a risk, especially as I make 80+ pints a time, but I haven't paid the price for it yet.