Cleaning a Charred Element

[willeck2]

Over the winter I converted to an electric BIAB system. I love that I can stay inside where it is warm, and I've made a few good beers with it. On my last brew I noticed a burning smell and realized the liquid wasn't transferring through the bag quick enough, and that an air pocket must have formed near the element. I quickly stirred the mash and fixed the situation. Everything tasted fine when I took a gravity reading right after I finished brewing. Now it's a few weeks later and I took another gravity reading and I get a slight burnt taste to it. I took a look at the element and it was caked in a burnt black mess. I soaked in PBW and scrubbed for all I was worth with a stainless scrubby, some of it came off, some of it didn't. The. I got the idea to break out my dremel with a small grinding stone attachment and I went to town on it. I got all of the black off. The. I started to wonder if I had just done any damage to the element? It is a stainless element, and it all looks shiny and is down to the metal now. Any input?


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[armstrong529]

As long as you haven't gone all the way through the stainless with the dremel, it won't have damaged the element at all. It should live to boil another day.


Grant

 

[TimL]

I did something similar with my element. I would recommend just boiling and discarding some water a few times in the kettle to get rid of the last few bits that might come off when the element is heated. My setup has been working fine since that occurred.


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[atoughram]

I initially took a rotary wire brush on a drill motor to mine and took most of it off. I then did some reading and found that the element I have can be dry fired - so I gently did that and the rest of the gunk came off.

Good luck!

 

[crane]

I've used muriatic acid to clean a scorched element before with really good luck. I followed the directions and mixed it with water in a plastic bucket and dropped the element in. Let it sit for a day and rinsed it thoroughly.

 

[atoughram]

I've used muriatic acid to clean a scorched element before with really good luck. I followed the directions and mixed it with water in a plastic bucket and dropped the element in. Let it sit for a day and rinsed it thoroughly.

I would also think that oven cleaner would work pretty good. It doesn't seem to hurt elements in the oven either!

 

[traviswalken]

I've used sand paper with no issues


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