Cleaning the element

[Nmnbrewer]

So I did a step mash with a protein rest and ended up with an element that was pretty black and scorched. Funny enough that it didn't translate into a scorch flavor in the wort. Anyway. Tried scrubbing with a heavy duty green scotch pad. Little luck. Just decided to run it dry. Man did that smell. Wow. However it worked like a charm. Element is a bit darker in color than new but no residue left on it. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1504363454.353846.jpg

 

[Dcpcooks]

Think that's pretty much a no no. You'll cut the expected life of the coil dramatically. Or as they say in a xmas story you'll shoot your eye out

 

[augiedoggy]

I guess you haven't seen the many post from passedpawn advocating that's how he's cleaned his for years...with ulwd it works... Anything else spells disaster..

Personally I would just be sure to be stirring the mash when I decided to do the step and turn the element back on since that will prevent the proteins that settled on the element from sitting there and scorching to it when the heat came back on.
When I scorched my wort with my old rims I couldn't tell until it fermented because the wort it so sweet.

 

[h22lude]

I've read a few posts from passedpawn saying he does this with great success. I personally still don't trust it. It seems like it should reduce the useful life of the element but that is just me assuming.

I soak mine in PBW for 24 to 48 hours and scrub with a green scrub pad. Any spots left I put lemons on. I leave the lemon on for a few hours. The rest of the stuff comes right off. Lemons work great.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I guess you haven't seen the many post from passedpawn advocating that's how he's cleaned his for years...with ulwd it works... Anything else spells disaster..

Personally I would just be sure to be stirring the mash when I decided to do the step and turn the element back on since that will prevent the proteins that settled on the element from sitting there and scorching to it when the heat came back on.
When I scorched my wort with my old rims I couldn't tell until it fermented because the wort it so sweet.

I have not seen passed pawns posts on this topic. He's been around a bit so I'll defer to his track record.

 

[passedpawn]

I have not seen passed pawns posts on this topic. He's been around a bit so I'll defer to his track record.

Works for me. I imagine it's not "good" for the element, but I don't have data to know how bad it is. Been doing it for a long time (I do it after every session now). I'd only do it if your element is easy to change (mine is). And, it needs to be incoloy (not stainless), ULWD, etc.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKG3UjT0Wz4[/ame]