Ball valve on cold side. How sanitary is it?

[kiwipen]

I'd like to know what you think about ball valves for brewing, bot on the hot and cold side. They seem difficult to clean well without disassembling. Soap, water, yeast, wort, sanitizer and other stuff could get trapped in the cavity.

According to Wikipedia a Cavity Filler Ball Valve would be beneficial.


Am I overthinking this? How are the ball valves from SS Brewtech?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Huge difference between the cleanliness between the hot and cold side.

Hot side needs to be clean. Cold side needs to be cleaned and sanitized.

I run PBW after every brew day in the hot side. The cold side gets a hot PBW wash, a hot rinse at the same temp as the wash and then a sanitize cycle. I do break down all the clamps and gaskets on the cold side every time. I will beak the valves down every few batches on the cold side as well.

I’ve been using ss ball valves for several years without issue. True triclamps are more sanitary than ball valves.
I think your overly concerned and a good cleaning regime will keep you safe.

 

[kiwipen]

True triclamps?

Edit: I know what triclamps are, but I'm not sure what you mean by "true triclamps".

 

[jalc6927]

You can never be to clean and sanitary

 

[aprichman]

IMO it's risky to have a ball valve on the cold side but lots of people use them without issue.

 

[Dcpcooks]

True triclamps?

Edit: I know what triclamps are, but I'm not sure what you mean by "true triclamps".

No threads, butterfly valves.

 

[mattdee1]

In 3 years of brewing I've only ever had one infected batch, and I'm 95% convinced the cause of it was a dirty ball valve on my brew kettle.

Up to that point I'd gotten pretty lackadaisical with doing a thorough cleaning of that valve because after a few dozen batches it never seemed to cause a problem, and because I assumed that the exposure to the heat during the boil would do a good enough job of sanitizing it.

It was a 10gal batch, split into a pair of 5gal buckets. On bottling day I was disheartened to see that both buckets had developed an infection. If it were only one of the two buckets with an infection, there would be multiple possible causes -- maybe that particular bucket was poorly sanitized, maybe something was introduced to only that bucket when pulling gravity samples, or whatever. But since both were bad, I had to take a look at what common factors would be in play on the cold side for the entire batch of beer, and pretty much the only things I could come up with were the brew kettle itself post-chill, and that valve (I don't even use tubing when transferring from kettle to fermentors; I just let it gush out the valve into the buckets to help oxygenate the wort).

I remember when I brewed the infected batch, it was after a period of a few months where my gear had just been sitting idle, so that probably gave a bunch of germs a chance to take up residence in the valve. I disassembled it to have a look, and sure enough, it was pretty gross. I thoroughly cleaned it, and now I have a second ball valve on-hand so I can swap them back and forth to always be sure I have a perfectly clean one ready to go on brew day.

 

[Dcpcooks]

IMO it's risky to have a ball valve on the cold side but lots of people use them without issue.

It’s only risky if you don’t break them down for cleaning and sanitizing. I wouldn’t assume a cip process is sufficient to clean a ball valve threaded or not. All valves, gaskets clamps and hoses should be cleaned and sanitized. Gaskets and hoses should be replaced as needed.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Not all tri clamp butterfly valves are CIP sanitary though-- you still need to find encapsulated sanitary/tri clamp ball valves. Otherwise you are just removing threads, but still have the "void" surrounding the ball in the valve that needs more critical breakdown for full cleanliness and sanitation.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Everybody knows about 3-piece ball valves, right? Designed for easy disassembly and cleaning. More costly, but you'll get it all back the first time you don't have to dump a batch.

I only have one, but it is the one that matters, the BK drain. It is the last ball valve my wort sees, since I use an electronic speed control on my pump and a pinch clamp on the transfer tubing.

 

[MrBJones]

What if you boiled a couple gallons water in the bk, then drained it out the ball valve... wouldn't that kill anything in it?

 

[GPP33]

I use two piece ball valves which get disassembled and cleaned each use. Two piece are easier to get apart than 3 piece. I did not clean them for my first dozen or so batches and when I finally did I was appalled at the amount of gunk in them and shocked that I haden’t had an infection. The BK ball valve gets cycled/soaked in sanitizer prior to installation for each brew day.

 

[Joe17]

I have a ball valve on my boil kettle and after it is my March pump and then my plate chiller. I disassemble the valve and pump about ever 4 batches. In the meantime I will boil about 5 gallons of water and run it threw the valve , pump and the chiller for about 10 min. Dump repeat and then at the last 10 minuets of boiling the wort I will recirculate it threw the valve , pump and the chiller. At the end of the brew day I will run hot water threw the hole set up and call it good. I have yet to have an infected batch.
I understand you guys are debating the sanitation of ball valve’s but what’s got me worked up is my plate chiller. You should see the nasty stuff that comes out of it if I don’t brew for a wile!