Complete tear down

[h22lude]

Do any of you completely take apart your kettle to clean it? How often? My typical cleaning process is rinsing out the trub with water and wipe down the inside to remove anything stuck on the side. Put in hot water with PBW and recirculate it for 10 minutes. Empty all that into the sink and rinse the kettle with hot water and let hot water run through the system emptying into the sink. I then take apart the pump and 3 piece valve to clean.

I figured that was a really good cleaning process until I took apart my bulkheads and fittings. Each fitting had small amounts of gunk on it, especially the threads. I can only assume this "gunk" stays there after each brew and at some point could turn to mold. I'm wondering if I need to look into getting different fittings. I would have thought that the o-rings would prevent stuff like this from happening.

 

[petemoss]

I brew BIAB with a single boil kettle. It has tri-clamp fittings. I do not as yet recirculate, whirlpool, or any of that jazz. I do break down all of the fittings each time and give them a quick wash in some of the PBW solution. I don't know that it is totally needed though. I figure that even if something grew in the fittings between brews, that if you run near boiling wort through it for a while it is going to kill everything anyway.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

I have a kettle with a welded fitting, and I take everything apart every few brew days (3-4) for the same reason you cited: no matter what I run through those fittings and threads, there's always some nooks and crannies.

 

[TexasWine]

Hmm.... I don't go near to the extent that you do to clean. Maybe I'll have some free time in the next few weeks to disassemble some things and see if I have any junk building up somewhere.

 

[h22lude]

I brew BIAB with a single boil kettle. It has tri-clamp fittings. I do not as yet recirculate, whirlpool, or any of that jazz. I do break down all of the fittings each time and give them a quick wash in some of the PBW solution. I don't know that it is totally needed though. I figure that even if something grew in the fittings between brews, that if you run near boiling wort through it for a while it is going to kill everything anyway.

This is a good read. Long but good. If you don't have time to read it, the gist of the story is his buddy was having an off flavor in all his beers and he couldn't figure out why. He changed everything you could for brewing. Still got the off flavor. Come to find out he had gunk in his valve. After tearing it down and cleaning it, the off flavor went away.

http://brulosophy.com/2014/11/13/problem-identification-or-helping-a-buddy-stay-in-the-hobby/

I have a kettle with a welded fitting, and I take everything apart every few brew days (3-4) for the same reason you cited: no matter what I run through those fittings and threads, there's always some nooks and crannies.

I think my next big purchase will be to upgrade my kettle to tri-clover welded fittings. Those will make tearing down so much easier.

I thought my cleaning process was pretty good but when I took my valve bulkhead completely apart, I found some gunk in there. I think a big part of my problem is the threads.

Hmm.... I don't go near to the extent that you do to clean. Maybe I'll have some free time in the next few weeks to disassemble some things and see if I have any junk building up somewhere.

If you have the time, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. In theory, you would think recirculating PBW and clean water would clean everything but even after a good 20 minute recirculate, I still had stuff in there.

 

[Dolomieu]

I do this 2-3 times a year. I clean may ball valves more frequently though, almost ever brew.

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

The brulosophy article is also what keeps me on my toes in regards to the cleaning of my valve