clean your elements!

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runningweird

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so many batches, so much good beer. then my last 10 gallon batch tastes like someone aged a camp fire log in it.

I never clean my element, it always seemed to be fine and made great beer.

it's soaking in a pbw mix right now. I'm going to miss that wheat beer.
 
How do you know it was your element?

How often do people clean their elements? What do you use? I have one of those Camco ripple elements and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to scrub it with scotchbrite or just kinda rinse it off.
 
I have a RIMS tube. I have to clean it every 3-4 brews or after every brew that has a large percentage of wheat. If not, I get a burnt taste from the particles buringing to the element. Wheat beers are horrible for particles I guess.....
 
I also have a rims tube and I clean the element after every batch. A fair amount of fuzzy stuff accumulates on it after the mash. I suspect it's the floury part of the grist that makes it past the false bottom when I first turn on the pump.

Hammy71, on your rims tube do you use the correct threads for the element (straight thread) or do you just use the standard pipe thread? Mine is starting to gall a little bit and I have to really wrench down on the element and I still don't get it to the rubber gasket. It doesn't leak, but I'd like to do it right if I can.
 
I also have a rims tube and I clean the element after every batch. A fair amount of fuzzy stuff accumulates on it after the mash. I suspect it's the floury part of the grist that makes it past the false bottom when I first turn on the pump.

Hammy71, on your rims tube do you use the correct threads for the element (straight thread) or do you just use the standard pipe thread? Mine is starting to gall a little bit and I have to really wrench down on the element and I still don't get it to the rubber gasket. It doesn't leak, but I'd like to do it right if I can.

I believe mine is just the regular straight threads. A little bit of Teflon tape and on/off she goes.
 
I always get a white/tan coat(protein) on my elements after a brew and have to give it a light scrub to clean it up. I wouldn't get too crazy scrubbing or brushing if it's anything but a stainless element in fear of damaging the coating.
 
I always get a white/tan coat(protein) on my elements after a brew and have to give it a light scrub to clean it up. I wouldn't get too crazy scrubbing or brushing if it's anything but a stainless element in fear of damaging the coating.

I soak it in a cup of PBW and use a toothbrush. If you get it quick then it comes off pretty easy.
 
Pbw won't remove that deposit on my elements. The only thing that seems to remove it is a strong acid rinse. I'll use sani-clean at double strength, while I heat it to about 160. I'll let it cool back down and the deposit is usually all gone.
 
I've only done a single brew so far with my electric element, but it wiped clean with a green scrubby pretty easy. I'd think it was just part of the kettle cleaning process to wipe it off, just like the rest of the kettle.
 
Scrubbed yesterday, there is still a very resilient layer of black on the element, all the caked on protein is gone though.
 
I use warm water with oxy free and a cotton dishcloth. I wipe down everything while its still warm and it all comes off with minimal elbow grease.
 
I haven't tried it myself, but I have read commercial breweries use TSP to clean the elements in electric kettles.
 
I have a RIMS tube. I have to clean it every 3-4 brews or after every brew that has a large percentage of wheat. If not, I get a burnt taste from the particles buringing to the element. Wheat beers are horrible for particles I guess.....

Corn is hard on elements too. I had to scrub pretty hard and get out a brass brush. Every other time a scrubby by itself worked.
 
I just ruined a batch where I had let the element run dry for a few seconds when sparging or something. Thought it wouldn't bother the beer, but after three months of aging this beautiful tripel, tasted just like you said. Campfire!
 
I've done 20 batches on my RIMS system. I always run the HLT water through it as I sparge which helps. Then, the night before brew day I fire up my boiler (1/2 bbl converted to Tri-Clamp outlet) and clean the RIMS tube and CFC with steam under pressure. The back pressure is created by attaching a Tri-Clamp and hose to the outlet of the RIMS tube (or CFC) and placing the other end of the hose in a Homer Bucket with cold water. Use a hose with Tri-Clamps at both ends for this as the weight of the fitting will keep it submerged in the homer bucket no matter how much racket is going on, and there will be a racket. It's like fireworks going off when the hot steam hits the cold water. I do this for about 15 minutes once the cracking sound starts, after which time the homer bucket is nearly to a boil. You will see a layer of grain debris on the surface of the water and you'll smell the sour grain as well.

I recently did a Munich Helles, which should highlight any off flavors from my system, and it won 2nd place at a homebrew show, so I am comfortable my system works. Props to Dave Smith in Ohio who came up with the method.
 
I have only one burnt batch of many that I had to dump. (always thought it was impossible to burn a batch cause it never happened before). I needed to take a break from the brew session and I let the wort sit in the kettle for about a half hour pre-boil. All the trub settled down low and stuck to the elements and burned black as night. Word of warning...keep the brew stirred up and trub suspended prior to boil, during the boil there is enough movement of the wort. The ramp up heating to boil with the element submerged in non-moving trub soup is potentially dangerous.
 
Hey guys, so what was this comment on wheat beer and electric systems? Is it not good ot make wheat style beers with an electric system? I have a recipe I am looking to make soon with about 10% of the bill is wheat. I don't want to ruin a batch... Could use some insight.
 
No worries about using wheat. Just make sure to keep stirring while bringing to a boil, to make sure your element isn't sitting in solids. After the brew day, clean the gunk off the element. I use a green scrubbing pad, and then recirc with hot pbw.

Just did a batch with almost half wheat, sample tasted fine. Element was definitely gunked up after, but cleaned up easily.
 
I scrub mine with a tooth brush after each brew session. If you stay on top of it, it doesnt get to bad.
 
this concerns me. I just use a commercial bucket heating element for my brews, and the only cleaning I do is a brief wash after each brew, but it has a lot of gunk on it. I figure that Oxy clean wash and a heavy rinse would get it quite clean indeed...............
 
I clean after every brew. I soldered 1" nuts onto my keggle so it's easy to unscrew every time. My old elements were cleaned too vigorously with a green scrubby and the nickel plating was removed (I use 2x 120v 2kW HWD elements ). This made cleaning extremely difficult. I replaced the elements and have been using the non-scratching pads to clean. Works like a dream, cleans quickly and haven't damaged the plating. Cleaning is a must after every brew as I find a film covering the elements after every brew. It's worse after higher gravity beers but even with lower gravity worts (~1.040) I still get a significant film on my elements.
 
I finished a Kal clone HERMS build this year. I've been able to do 8 brew sessions so far this year. I have no issues with the element scorching the wort. After the boil, I run the remaining HLT water into the boil kettle and add oxyclean and use a toothbrush on the heating element. It gets it fairly clean. There is always some faint residue on the element that never seems to come off, but it certainly doesn't look burnt and never causes any off flavors. As far as wheat beers go, I've never seen anything strange occur and I've brewed a hefe, belgian wit, and a hoppy wheat. Infact the wort that caused the most build up was an Imperial Stout. That one was very hard to clean up after. Just use hot water, oxy clean, and a good scrubbing.
 
I have a RIMS tube. I have to clean it every 3-4 brews or after every brew that has a large percentage of wheat. If not, I get a burnt taste from the particles buringing to the element. Wheat beers are horrible for particles I guess.....

Wheat beers are horrible for protein which is getting burnt on your element.


; )

Adam
 
Hey guys, so what was this comment on wheat beer and electric systems? Is it not good ot make wheat style beers with an electric system? I have a recipe I am looking to make soon with about 10% of the bill is wheat. I don't want to ruin a batch... Could use some insight.

Just clean the element afterwords and you're good.

The higher protein content results in more crud caked onto the element.

I'm not sure whether all sized proteins cake equally or if it's the larger molecular weight proteins that are responsible for most of the crud on the elements; if it IS the larger molecular weight proteins a protein rest should help a little bit. (Which you should be doing for hefe's anyway; you convert the large chill haze inducing proteins to small molecular weight head and body-forming proteins and FAN which is your primary yeast nutrient.)


Adam
 
Commercial brewery cleaning cycles first use alkaline cleaners to remove organic deposits (mainly yeast crud) but it also helps remove the protein crud on elements, followed by a rinse and then acid to sanitize.

-PBW is the home brewer friendly alkaline cleaner; the right kind of dishwasher tabs can work too but you REALLY need to research them. Bringing the water + PBW up to boiling does a lot of the work for you but won't fully remove the crud -simply rub it with a wash cloth and it will be clean in a jiffy!


If you don't want to scrub just use Citric Acid (available at most home brew shops in a crystaline form over by the wine ingredients) and water and boil it for a few minutes. -The stuff is magical and will clean the element 100% without scrubbing.


I add 1-2 gallons extra into my HLT and then while the boil is happening add PBW to my HLT water and start dismantling my mash fitting and hoses and then I soak them in the HLT water after it gets hot for a while; I then recirc the liquid from the HLT through my pumps and mashtun and then after chilling and transferring the liquid out of my BK and rinsing it, I pump the PBW into the BK and power up it's element for 5ish minutes. -A quick scrub with a rag and the elements are 95% clean.

Every 3rd-5th brew I boil with citric acid. I also rotate my elements between my boil kettle and my HLT which helps too (tri clamp fittings are SO easy to swap).


I've only ever brewed with electric elements; I was in Ireland the last 5 years and almost everyone there boils with electric elements as 240v power everywhere and very expensive propane makes it a no brainer.


Adam
 
Sani-Clean 5ml per liter and everything will come off even the most stuck on char will flake off after a few days of soaking. I found a container used for storing spaghetti and keep it fill with the solution, right after I fill fermentors I pull the element and drop in.
 
I only use a soft sponge and cold water to wash the element. Everything wipes off easily. No detergent or cleaner needed. About 5 mins of work.

About once a year I put a scoop of oxiclean in and bring to 180-190F for 30 mins to get looking brand new and sparkly (for no other reason that I like things to look new and sparkly). ;) Here's the first batch of beer after after I did that sort of cleaning:

IMG_2186.jpg


The element at this point had seen about 60 10-gallon batches.

The only exception was the one time I used liquid hop extract (like a thick syrup). That stuff left a sticky tar-like substance all over the inside of the kettle and I spent a good 60-80 mins and 2/3 of a bottle of oxiclean spray getting everything clean. What a pain, but the Pliny the Younger clone was worth it.

Kal
 
Hmmm. So this campfire taste - could it be described as a slightly bitter watery/metallic taste? I've done 5+ 15 gallon batches of lager with an ULWD Camco 1500 watt RIMS tube. Then I put a batch of pumpkin wheat through it and since then my house Lager has an off taste as described earlier... I pulled the element and it had stuff burnt on - not too much but it was there.
 
No, he means like sucking on an ashtray. It's not subtle.

Kal

I've had this occur in 2 of my beers. I keep thinking it is the red malted wheat. Or I think I am either mashing too thick or spargeing too hot but can't be sure yet as it's only occured the 2 times, each sporadic, yet both were essentially the same mash/sparge quantities and temperatures.
 
Yup. Mine often looks similar. Sometimes I scrub a bit more to get the buildup off the stainless. I usually always want to keep the element clean.

Once a year or so I boil a scoopful of oxyclean powder in there and it gets everything sparkly.

Kal
 
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