mash tun cleaning

Hey guys I've only done one brew in my life and that was a few weeks ago, so heres one fairly stupid question, how do you guys clean your mash tun? All I did after my brew day was pour the grain out and spray clean with water to get all the grains out, scrub the sides, etc. thats the easy part, but as far as my little screen tube and the valve assembly this seems like it would be harder to clean, all i did was filled the 5 gallon tun up a few times each time opening the valve and letting all the water drain through the valve. Is this adaquete enough for cleaning?

Since mash & sparge temps are below the sanitization threshold, I fill my MLT with StarSan as well.

I don't sanitize my mash tun bc it's preboil......theres no need to


Yup, I basiclly just dump the grains and hose it out....

Me too.

The cows jam on the grain, and the dogs seem to like the rinse water, but I don't sanitize at all.

awesome, thanks for the fast responses everyone

As Alamo said, no need to sanitize as it's pre-boil. Save your sanitizer for where it's needed. I just rinse out my tun, run some water through bulkhead, let air dry and put away.

Get it clean enough that nothing will grown in it before you use it again and don't think twice about it.

I don't sanitize my mash tun bc it's preboil......theres no need to

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Well, duh- why didn't I think of that?

I run some rinse water back through the drain to backflush the hose braid

I rinse it out. It's pre-boil so it's not crucial to cleaning.

I just dump my grains into a flowerbed. When I start my immersion chiller, I collect the first five gallons of hot runoff into my MLT, and toss in five tablespoons of One-step. When I clean the rest of my gear, I use the MLT as the staging area... ultimately saving the kettle for last. When I've transferred to the fermenter, I hose out the trub, and then dump the cleaner into the kettle to scrub it.

I use a rectangular 52 quart cooler. I dump grains, rinse with hose, put 2 gallons of hot water in and a scoop of pbw. Then I put mash paddle, drain hoses, pyrex measuring cup and anything else used in mashing and let soak for half the boil. Then drain through spigot to clean and rinse.

I just dump my grains into a flowerbed. When I start my immersion chiller, I collect the first five gallons of hot runoff into my MLT, and toss in five tablespoons of One-step. When I clean the rest of my gear, I use the MLT as the staging area... ultimately saving the kettle for last. When I've transferred to the fermenter, I hose out the trub, and then dump the cleaner into the kettle to scrub it.

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Nicely done! Way to keep the same amount of utensils/equipment in use and not have to dirty up any else. All my spent grain goes to the compost heap, save a couple of scoops for the dog. Honestly, it never really occurred to me to use the hot runoff from the IC to help clean! I'll have to do that tonight when I brew up my pumpkin ale.

On a related topic, does one need to do anything to a brand new setup (ie: flyguy's cheap MLT conversion) prior to using it the first time. I was thinking just run some hot water through before my first mash.

Nothing special. Two things you could check out though: 1. Does it leak? 2. What kind of temperature will it hold. Put in some hot water 130-160 and close the lid. Wait an hour and see what the pre and post temps are. This is not super important, but it is nice to see what kind of efficiency you are getting.

I don't sanitize either, all I do is give it a good rinse.

any need to dissemble the valve for complete cleaning?

I do the same as most everybody else said, good rinse and (I use a 10g round rubbermaid cooler) put a piece of papertowel between lid and body so air can get in there and dry the thing out, or turn upside down with lid off.

Just don't leave the mashed grains in it for a few days... OMG. Stench from the devil himself will ensue.

When the wort is in the fermentator, I still have the waterhose running through the platecooler.
I take the cooler outside and flush water through the wort in- and outtake. After that connect the filter to the hose to flow water through it.
After that I take the mash and boil kettle and dump what's still inside in de garbage.
With the waterhose still running I clean both kettles with just water and put them upside down in the garden. The next day (or few) I take the kettles out the garden en top them up with hot tapwater and Chemipro Oxi. Put all my little hoses and filter in it and leave it until the next day.

I dump the grain and rinse with water, store it upside down with the lid off. Before I brew I shake it a couple of times to get the spiders out.

A few days ago I replaced the o-ring on my out valve and found some pretty nasty brown slime in the old seal. I had used the mash tun maybe 3 times since its last inspection. I had only done a hot rinse after those brews. Sure everything that comes from the tun gets boiled, but the hands that touch those parts also touch yeast containers, fermenters, and airlocks.

I will be doing more cleaning in the future.

Wow, I knew I was anal but I may worse than I originally thought...
I completely disassemble all of my equipment after each brewing session. Scrub with a scrubby and a tubing brush with a mild oxyclean solution and rinse with hot water very thoroughly and then towel dry. Prior to use all cooper parts are soaked in a vinegar & water solution for 24 hours to remove copper oxide and then rinsed in very hot water just prior to assembly. My brew room is cleaned and then wiped down with a starsan solution and let dry every time I use it (ceiling, walls, floor)... brewing or bottling.
I can't help it... I just cant, I got to clean everything.

Im about the same as everyone else. Its pre boil, so there is very little I do to it. I scoop out the grain, make some dog treats, toss the remaining grain, hose out the MLT, open and close the valve a few times letting water run through it, and thats about it till I fill it up again.