Beer cooler water treatment?

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johnmac
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Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by johnmac » Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:01 pm

Is there a product sold specifically to treat the water in the ice bath of beer coolers? Mine has a thick growth of green sludge.

Carnot
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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by Carnot » Tue Jul 24, 2018 5:29 pm

That suggests an infection of algae or bacteria, most likely the latter. Alternatively it could be copper corrosion debris. If it is soft and slimey then bacteria is likely, and if a malachite green hardish deposit then a copper salt is possible. Some Vanish (or equivalent) should shift any bacteria and something like citric acid should go some way with a copper deposit. A photo would help.

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Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by LeeH » Tue Jul 24, 2018 9:14 pm

Cheap vodka?

I used anti freeze in mine as I did the mod to get it down a few more degrees. But something food grade would be safer however unlikely cross contamination is.


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johnmac
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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by johnmac » Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:25 pm

I think I'll try central heating corrosion inhibitor.

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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by LeeH » Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:11 pm

Ok.


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Fil
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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by Fil » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:16 pm

if manky why not clean it, if fitted with a recirc pump? fill with warm water and recirculate some laundry oxi before draining n flushing
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by PeeBee » Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:18 am

The fluids/additives for computer water cooling systems?

I've been meaning to try these but they might only be anti-freeze in fancy colours. Didn't really want anti-freeze because the coolers rely on the "ice-wall" as a storage system for "cold" - but that could be wrong thinking, after all glycol chillers don't rely on "ice-walls". Some of the computer coolant fluids are labelled as "non-toxic" so can't be poisonous "anti-freeze". But these fluids can cost a lot (e.g. sold per litre bottle for "ready-mix").
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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by sonicated » Sun Jul 29, 2018 7:00 pm

Funnily enough I have plans to pump water from my keezer around my fermentation chamber to keep it cool. I was also concerned about keeping it clean so bought some Tesco Value bleach today. This post from Graham Wheeler seems to suggest 375ml of Tesco Value bleach in 25 litres (15ml per litre) will do the trick.

It's worth noting value bleach is less strong than other bleach so adjust accordingly. My figures were for 1.5% sodium hypochlorite bleach.

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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by Carnot » Tue Jul 31, 2018 7:26 pm

I have a Maxi 210. The instructions are very specific about not adding anything to the water. I would be hesitant with using a central heating corrosion inhibitor that is not fit for aluminium and even then I would be careful. Bleach would work for sterilising but make sure is is well flushed out afterwards to avoid any corrosion issues. I would also be reluctant to use an ethylene glycol based antifreeze. One possible alternative would be USP grade MPG (mono propylene glycol) which is a pharmaceutical grade. You can get it from eBay.https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... l&_sacat=0. However I really do not see the point but if you want to fork out on a reasonably safe alternative it is your choice.

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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by sonicated » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:11 pm

My crazy idea worked. I put a pump in with a 10m PVC tube coming out of the keezer into the Fermentation Chamber (which can hold 3 x 25 litre buckets) and then back again. The garage was 30C and it got the FC down to 22C in about five minutes and took half an hour to get it to 18C. In this heat I have the keezer set to 0C so it probably won't work if you have it set at 12-14C but at the moment I want my beer cold!

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johnmac
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Re: Beer cooler water treatment?

Post by johnmac » Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:01 am

I would be hesitant with using a central heating corrosion inhibitor that is not fit for aluminium
Is there any aluminium in a beer cooler? Mine appears to be copper, stainless and plastic.

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