Holy dirty threads

[bolts]

Let me preface this -- I brew great beers with this setup as do many other people. ...but, yikes, I'm blown away how dirty the threads, orings are on weldless fittings.

I have a Rubbermaid 10g and a Blichmann 10g with gravity for transfers. After a normal brew day I clean the sight glass end-to-end and give everything a soak in PBW. Today I finally completely tore down the Blichmann down to the last O-ring (mostly because I was trying to figure out if I can make a sight glass like theirs).

How often do your tear down your weldless connections and 3 piece valves? Mine were nasty. Brewmometer, sight glass connections, valve -- you name it, it had wort trapped in it, and some mold in the valve. This is probably 10 brews.

Im working on a shift to single tier herms, and this is making me reconsider my cleaning regimen and eliminating threads on the BK (except the pump which would have to get disassembled). I have a newfound respect for cleanliness.

 

[Reelale]

Let me preface this -- I brew great beers with this setup as do many other people. ...but, yikes, I'm blown away how dirty the threads, orings are on weldless fittings.

I have a Rubbermaid 10g and a Blichmann 10g with gravity for transfers. After a normal brew day I clean the sight glass end-to-end and give everything a soak in PBW. Today I finally completely tore down the Blichmann down to the last O-ring (mostly because I was trying to figure out if I can make a sight glass like theirs).

How often do your tear down your weldless connections and 3 piece valves? Mine were nasty. Brewmometer, sight glass connections, valve -- you name it, it had wort trapped in it, and some mold in the valve. This is probably 10 brews.

Im working on a shift to single tier herms, and this is making me reconsider my cleaning regimen and eliminating threads on the BK (except the pump which would have to get disassembled). I have a newfound respect for cleanliness.

I disassemble everything about every third brew. The only issue I've had is the stainless T that houses the thermometer and sight glass in the BK. Wort sometimes stays in there. Never seen anything in the valves though. Recirculating PBW though everything works pretty good, but I understand your concerns.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

Before and after every brew everything gets a thorough run through with boiling water and PBW followed by a Star San rinse. The only place where sanitation is really key is wort leaving the boil kettle (not saying I don't disassemble and clean).
I used weldless fittings once upon a time... hated them.

 

[Shockerengr]

I flush everything and and pull all the hoses off and hang them to drain. I try to set things such that they fully drain.

As for deep cleaning, I'll take everything apart around once a year (except the plate chiller - that's much more often) and give it a good soaking. As long as I don't forget to rinse and drain, I don't find that much collects.

That said, I did find that mold can eat through silicone tubing if you leave it with wort for a few weeks.

 

[EarthBound]

I do it every few brews. It's not usually that bad if I've done a thorough job of cleaning out the wort path.

While rinsing out the ball valves, I suggest opening/closing them a few times to thoroughly clean the balls. Also leave them halfway open for at least a few seconds to rinse out the little pocket around the ball. I suggest leaving the ball valves halfway open to air out the little pocket around the ball.

After cleansing, I don't run StarSan through it because I believe there is no real benefit. I don't store anything that has copper in it with StarSan because I believe it can lead to corrosion. I don't use StarSan until I'm preparing for brew day.

 

[Bobby_M]

For the sight tee type setup, a good squirt down the tube with a hose before it gets sticky is key.