Boy is this a silly question...

...for those of you with big kettles or keggles, but the outer part of the ball valve, and the nipple that you attach your tube to...those never come into contact with the boiling wort. Do they need to be sanitized before use, or do they get hot enough during the boil that sanitizing isn't necessary?

not silly, but...gets pretty hot on the stove and with the boil...wouldn't worry. If you don't attach the barbed nipple for the boil, I'd sanitize (don't use bleach you will pit if SS or brass...use iodophor). My $0.02 and not had a problem to date. Cheers!

Good question!! I was wondering the same thing for I am going to be installing a ball valve in the near future

i have a SS drain tube attached to my valve on my brew kettle. i just open and drain straight into the carboy. but, i am a sanitation freak. before you get ready to transfer, get a cup or bowl of sanitation sollution and submerge the nipple in it for a minute or to too make sure.....but that's just me....

El Pistolero said:

...for those of you with big kettles or keggles, but the outer part of the ball valve, and the nipple that you attach your tube to...those never come into contact with the boiling wort. Do they need to be sanitized before use, or do they get hot enough during the boil that sanitizing isn't necessary?

Click to expand...

Actually, this one of those questions that makes you go....hmmmmm.

I use a counter flow chiller, so the wort that exits my kettle is hot. I do not santize or do anything special to the ball valve exterior and I have no infection problems. If you are using an immersion chiller and draining cold wort, you might want to do something here. For practicality, you want to be able to leave the hose barb on the valve attached all the time. Here is an idea: take a length of heat resistant tubing - silicone or somthing that can take boil temps. At the end of the boil just before you start chilling, slip the tubing onto the barb and hold the other end up. Open the valve briefly so that boiling wort fills the tube partially, then close the valve. The heat from the wort should santize the ball valve and the barb pretty quickly, maybe 2 minutes. Then disconnect the tube (don't burn yourself, it will still be hot). This method keeps you from fooling with sanitizer.

Be sure to give us a report on the Hop Stopper.

Prosit!

Do your own thing, but with respect to tnlandsailor...it sounds complicated...IMHO, if it heats with the boil, your probably "all set" if it does not, sanitize in your typical solution...no fuss no muss! Cheers!

El Pistolero said:

...for those of you with big kettles or keggles, but the outer part of the ball valve, and the nipple that you attach your tube to...those never come into contact with the boiling wort. Do they need to be sanitized before use, or do they get hot enough during the boil that sanitizing isn't necessary?

Click to expand...

I dont sanitize mine because of the heat involved, but i do make sure that its clean enought that i cant see anything with the naked eye. If you got a counter flow chiller setup then you dont need to sanitize, because the boiling wort will kill everything off, but if you chill your boiling wort with an imersion type chiller then yes you need to sanitize because your wort will be coming out at room temperature and more prone to infection. Good rule of thumb is that if its questionable on whether or not to sanitize it, sanitize it anyway. Hate to see you waste a batch.

Good question. I've only done on brew so have not yet thought about it.
How about poiling a gallon of water first while waiting fo the mash then drain it. That should sanitise it?