Cleaning your balls?

Question:
how often do you guys and ladies disasemble and clean your ball valves on your brew kettles, HLT, MT or what ever?

Do the three piece ones make that big of a difference?

Oh, sorry about the title of this post. Had to get ya to read it some how.

I've never removed my ball valve from my MLT. It's pre-boil, so I just clean it well and run hot water through it. I pull out the false bottom and the tubing, and wash it with hot water also.

I always start with the top side of the left one since it's the biggest. And then do the bottom side of the right one. I have a 3 piece and fortunately, I have never had it broken down. But, I expect that the older it gets or, the more I use it, I will have a more dificult time getting any fluid out of it. It's arranged to be a quick disconnect type but, I always have a hard time getting the female side of the QD to open up. No matter how much beer I have put in it, sometimes that female side is closed tighter than a, well, lets just say I have a difficult time poking into it.

I always cleaned my system before and after brewing and that has keep all of the valves clean. Not insulting anyone's brewing intelligence. I would hope everyone cleans before and after.

Kind of a related question. Why do ball valves turn much easier after they are sweated on to they system? I found that was weird and I hope I didn't melt any plastic inside. But I can't be the first person to wonder that, and I'm sure the manufacturer would have thought of that.

msheraw said:

I always cleaned my system before and after brewing and that has keep all of the valves clean. Not insulting anyone's brewing intelligence. I would hope everyone cleans before and after.

Kind of a related question. Why do ball valves turn much easier after they are sweated on to they system? I found that was weird and I hope I didn't melt any plastic inside. But I can't be the first person to wonder that, and I'm sure the manufacturer would have thought of that.

Click to expand...

I am all for a quick rinse before flame on but, if the system was clean when it was put away then why bother with a full scale cleaning just prior to? Lest you are one of those germaphobes, and if that's the case then mebe this ain't for ya'.

so not the post i was thinking.....

I just rinse everything immediately after I'm done with it. As in I dump and rinse my mt while my boil is going/etc.
I will oxiclean my whole system about once a year........

+1 above. I just rinse everything with high pressure hose water after the brew and call it done. About every 5th brew, I'll mix up some warm oxiclean or PBW water and pump it from vessel to vessel.

MLT - never, kettle - never. I just brush them out.

Just hose everything out after use, run clean water through any tubing and valves, and leave open to dry before putting away. I'll rinse it again with water (BK and MLT) before use just cause they do sit in the garage and I brew Once a month.

My water is liquid rock but, good beer still gets made from it. It's hell on my tuns tho' in scale.

Every 3 to 5 brews dpending on how much tap water I use I deep clean first with PBW (15 minutes rest at 140 each tun) and follow up with an Acid Wash/Rinse depending on remaining scale.

I just put a little peanut butter on 'em and let the dog lick 'em clean...