So whats going on here?

I have brewed three times using this RIMS tube. I flush it after each brew but this is the first time I have taken it apart.

Here's a shot after rinsing with a jet of plain water.

Looks like it was run dry and got burnt out to me. Make sure you start recirculating and don't have any airspace before you turn the element on.

If I was a betting man, I would say I did not dry fire it. I recirculated the wort for several minutes each time to insure there was no air locks before turning on the element. A fellow brewer just stopped by and mentioned it looked as though hot break stuck to the element and then scorched. Thoughts? It is just a regular element from Lowes. 1500w, regular density.

If it wasn't dry fired then I'd concur that some sort of "gunk", whether that be break material or hop leaves, stuck to the element while it was fired. You could soak it in a CLR solution to see if that cleans it up a bit.

Thanks Wyazz. I only use it for mash temps so the hop debris is no concern. I didn't use it today as I was concerned about off flavors.

After cleaning it, you may want to take it and just suspend it in a bucket of water and turn it on. Leave it run for 30mins or so and then taste the water, just to be sure that nothing is leeching out that may give you an off taste.

Or even better just heat some water up to boiling in a pot on the stove and put it in there for a while. This way you don't electrocute yourself.

It looks like it was caused by dry firing on the top part of the element. It looks as if the burned part is the top part, the way you have it arranged. This makes me think it could not be particles.

When you start your recirc, before turning on the element, make sure to blast it with the pump valve full open a couple times. If you start your recirc at a trickle, it may not be enough pressure to push out air that may be trapped in the tube.

My main BK element looked the same way after the first brew....which I know for a fact was never dry-fired. I think it's proteins/hop matter that got stuck to it. It comes right off with a light scrubbing. Whatever it is, it seems like it'd be a good idea to keep it from building up because it'll decrease the life of the element. Let's face it....these elements were meant to be used in just water, not 1.060 SG wort.

I'd be interested whether this happens more with the "black" elements vs the stainless/chrome ones. FWIW, mine is a black incoloy "lime-life" element.

I think that one was a chromed/SS element.

i actually witnessed my element dry fire. I was running in autobrew from the BrewTroller and the sparge water was already at temp and I thought it was just setting idle, well the sparge water drained below my temp sensor and element and the BT fired up thinking the water got cooler. I heard sizzling and before I could hit the kill switch the GFCI tripped. The element have drooped, melted and popped open like a firecracker. My point is that in my experience if it dry fires it will fail completely. Mine hadn't been dry for no more than 30 seconds.

I'm afraid to see what's up in my RIMS tube now. Performance is fine, though. But I'm surprised how often I've potentially dry fired these things. It's not even so much loss of flow, but me being a dumb arse about it. Hard plumbing sometimes makes me forget what is open and draining and what is closed.

Good point pickles. Mine was working fine last time I used it 30 days ago.

I will brush it off and run plain water thru it for about 30 minutes then taste the water after it cools for off flavors. If none then I will use it tomorrow on a batch. U will keep you posted.

Spoke with a good friend last night and he suggested Bar Keepers Friend (BKF). I soaked the element for about an hour in hot water with BKF added:


Then I scrubbed with a stiff bristled brush, then a fresh piece of green scrubby:


And this is the best I could (or would) get it:


I have rinsed it well with cool clean water. I will reassemble, run clean water thru the RIMS tube for a few minutes, then try it out on a brew today. Once I am done brewing, I will disassemble the tube and check it again. I'll keep you posted.

Okay, here it is after an hour long mash of brown ale.






I just hit it with a green scrubby again and it was back to clean.

looks like you found something else to add to the checklist.

I know. It sucks kinda. I long for the days when I just had one brew pot and a 10 gallon cooler for a MT!!! Seriously thinking of selling all I have and getting one of those Braumeisters.



http://www.speidels-braumeister.de/product_info.php/info/p2_Braumeister-20-litres.html

Yeah, those are cool. I'd get the big one if I were you. (But not the BIG one). They're kind of overpriced, they could make an absolute killing in the US if they'd bring it down a notch.

About the elements....mine seems to look like that after every brew. I pulled my RIMS element after recirculating oxiclean, and it actually looked pretty good. I could see the residue had been reduced to a "slime" as it was broken down. I just wiped it with a paper towel and it was spotless.

I wonder if a recirc of CLR might break down the deposits and clean the elements a bit better?

pickles said:

i actually witnessed my element dry fire. I was running in autobrew from the BrewTroller and the sparge water was already at temp and I thought it was just setting idle, well the sparge water drained below my temp sensor and element and the BT fired up thinking the water got cooler. I heard sizzling and before I could hit the kill switch the GFCI tripped. The element have drooped, melted and popped open like a firecracker. My point is that in my experience if it dry fires it will fail completely. Mine hadn't been dry for no more than 30 seconds.

Click to expand...

I just installed one of these in my kettle a few weeks ago (not from this vendor, but the same sort of item):



http://cgi.ebay.com/Water-Liquid-Level-Float-Stainless-Steel-Switch-Sensor-/270714297777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f07d45db1

It's connected in-line between the SSR and my PID. If the liquid level drops too low, then the PID is not able to fire up the element.

Pretty good insurance for under $9.

Yambor44 said:

Okay, here it is after an hour long mash of brown ale.






I just hit it with a green scrubby again and it was back to clean.

Click to expand...

Are you running that RIMS tube in a horizontal position?
That element looks quite short (high Watt density?) and I wonder if maybe there are bubbles forming around the element that cause it to run hot and make deposits. If it is not too complicated, can you try to run the tube in a vertcal position with the element at the bottom? That may help moving the bubbles away from the element.

I wonder if the element was zinc or nickel plated and the plating simply came off. Remember these are water heater elements. I bet there may have been a little electrolysis going on and the plating was less nobile than the stainless steel so it was eaten away. I just took a scrubby to mine until I got down to nice shiny copper and I clean it up after every brew. This is the same reason why people put zinc's on their boats. In a marina there is a fair amount of electrolysis and the zinc is sacrificed so your outboard, inboard-outboard, or prop shaft and rudder are not eaten away.

I don't think it was coated with anything. I do run it horizontal, but this last batch I tipped it so that the element side was a tad lower.

I am seeing some bubbles every now and then from the exit of the tube and had figured it was being created by the element (say each time it fired. I believe this to be part of the issue and will see if I can install it vertical for the next brew session to compare.

I feel the bulk of the buildup is simply grain matter that recirculates from the bottom of the MT thru the tube and back to the top of the MT.

What about $1800.00 for all of my setup?? Is that a fair price for thousands of dollars worth of equipment???

It's going very well so far. Wait until you build your panel and start using your planned setup. With that, the heating element issue goes away as well.

P-J said:

It's going very well so far. Wait until you build your panel and start using your planned setup. With that, the heating element issue goes away as well.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I need to stop being skeered and just get to cutting....