did my element die?

[techrunner]

my last batch this weekend, i noticed about halfway through the mash a burning smell in my kettle. i do a eBIAB. i figured at that point the element seemed to be heating fine, and everything else was normal, so carry on and see what happens. after i transferred and started cleaning up i noticed the smell was coming from black char on the element itself. i have run 7 or 8 batches with this same setup, and never had anything char on the element before. i am trying to clean it up and i will probably run a water test boil to see if the element is still working normally tonight or something.

anyone ever run into that before? it was an all grains dunkel batch, and i have probably 1/2 to 3/4" between the element and the bottom of the grain basket, so i dont suspect grains contacting the element. but never seen it char wort like that either. any ideas?

 

[iijakii]

Did you taste any of your wort? Hopefully it doesn't taste like burnt cigarettes. I'd probably scrub it off and do a water test and make sure it tastes fine.

Do you have a HWD element?

 

[dtfeld]

Use PBW to clean it up...several threads on here about that. My elements look almost new after a couple of years of use being cleaned like this.

However, I have dry fired one (turned cherry red) and cooked it. Magic smoke came out and it was done. Easy fix if you have a spare handy (recommended).

 

[techrunner]

i haven't tasted any wort yet. i will taste the hydro sample and see. i guess at this point i will probably let it sit even if i can taste the burnt taste and hope that it will all come out in fermentation.

i might go to the pbw soak tonight and see what that does for it. i got some of it off the element by scraping and scrubbing, but that might be a lot easier.

i am sure i didnt dry fire it (this time) because i had it all full of mash water ready to go before i ever plugged anything in to power for just that reason.

i didnt get a test boil in last night, but hopefully tonight or maybe at lunch time today. i'll update if i get anything figured out. thanks, nick

 

[Psych]

Get that black char stuff off by any means you can. I found a cleaner soak did nothing for me so I had to use steel wool, gently, and the backside of a butter knife to get it off. Yuck!

Wash it and let it dry, see if more black stuff appears, rinse and repeat (and rinse!).

It's probably just buildup from the batches you've done, I hit around 8 or 9 with my first element before I got that, only doing moderate cleaning each batch, nothing too abrasive. It still works but I wound up using it as an excuse to upgrade, so I don't know how WELL it works anymore