How do you clean your all grain systems?

[Tapout]

I've finally put together my single-tier, three keggle system. I have two pumps and a counter flow chiller. I'm hoping to brew my first all grain this weekend.

As the title asks, how do those of you who have similar setups clean your systems after brewing? I was thinking along the lines of hot water in the HLT with PBW. Run it from one keggle to the next and then follow it all with a hot water rinse.

I'm most concerned with the pumps, hoses, and counter flow chiller...I can always use elbow grease inside the keggles.

Thanks.

 

[kombat]

I don't have keggles, but I use 15 gallon stainless kettles for my HLT and BK (48-quart Coleman cooler for MLT).

For cleaning, I mix hot water from chilling, plus whatever hot water is leftover in the HLT, with some Oxyclean Free in the boil kettle. I then hook it up to my chiller and pump, and run hot Oxyclean solution out the port on the kettle, backwards through the chiller and all the tubes, and back into the boil kettle while I give it a scrub with a sponge. Then repeat with clean water, twice. Then hang the hoses to drip-dry, and blast the chiller with one final rinse of cold water directly from the faucet (instead of the pump).

Be careful scrubbing the inside of those keggles - I understand the rim around the top where the lid was cut open can be extremely sharp!

 

[Tapout]

Thanks for your concern, kombat, along with your insight. I made very certain the rims of the keggles were nice and rounded when I was finishing them up.

 

[Natdavis777]

I have a keggle system. After I get my wort to the BK, I clean out the MLT. HLT just air drys as it's only held water. After the grain is cleaned out and ringed with water, I just fill it up with 5 gal of star San solution and put it back on the stand. I'll rub the sides with a scotch brite cloth. I'll then use this to sanitize my pumps and chiller before whirlpooling. After I've cooled and transferred to the carboys, I'll spray out the trub and other residue with a hose and then transfer over the MLT contents to the BK and scrub again with the scotch brite pad. I only use my PBW when I need something to soak.

 

[kombat]

After I get my wort to the BK, I clean out the MLT. After the grain is cleaned out and ringed [rinsed?] with water, I just fill it up with 5 gal of star San solution and put it back on the stand. I'll then use this to sanitize my pumps and chiller before whirlpooling.

You use StarSan stored in the mash tun to sanitize cold-side equipment? You must be very confident in your cleaning abilities! Do you actually use any kind of soap on the mash tun, or just scoop out the grain and rinse with water?

After I've cooled and transferred to the carboys, I'll spray out the trub and other residue with a hose and then transfer over the MLT contents to the BK and scrub again with the scotch brite pad.

Are you saying you're cleaning your equipment with StarSan, instead of soap? StarSan is not a soap - it's a sanitizer. It cannot make things clean. Likewise, you cannot sanitize something that is dirty. Proper sanitation protocol is to clean first with a soap (ideally an oxygen-based cleaner, like Oxyclean or PBW), rinse, thoroughly, then sanitize with a sanitizer like StarSan or Iodophor.

I only use my PBW when I need something to soak.

What do you use otherwise? Are you using any soap at all, or are you relying on the StarSan to clean things? I'm seriously concerned that you're contaminating your equipment.

 

[HumulusHead]

I have a keggle system. After I get my wort to the BK, I clean out the MLT. HLT just air drys as it's only held water. After the grain is cleaned out and ringed with water, I just fill it up with 5 gal of star San solution and put it back on the stand. I'll rub the sides with a scotch brite cloth. I'll then use this to sanitize my pumps and chiller before whirlpooling. After I've cooled and transferred to the carboys, I'll spray out the trub and other residue with a hose and then transfer over the MLT contents to the BK and scrub again with the scotch brite pad. I only use my PBW when I need something to soak.

I do this exact method. I rinse everything real good right after using it then drain and store. Then I soak in starsan before using it.

 

[kombat]

I do this exact method. I rinse everything real good right after using it then drain and store. Then I soak in starsan before using it.

Why are you guys *cleaning* your HLT and BK with StarSan?

#1, StarSan is not a cleaner - it's a sanitizer.
#2, The HLT and BK don't need to be sanitized - they're hot side equipment that will be sanitized by the boil.

I'm very confused.

 

[HumulusHead]

Why are you guys *cleaning* your HLT and BK with StarSan?



#1, StarSan is not a cleaner - it's a sanitizer.

#2, The HLT and BK don't need to be sanitized - they're hot side equipment that will be sanitized by the boil.



I'm very confused.

Well to be honest, I just rinse out my hlt and bk, nothin more. But the cold side stuff I just make sure is cleaned out super well but I don't use a cleaner. I just use a scotch brute and water. Unless it's visibility dirty then I bust out the pbw. After that, a soak in starsan is all I do.

 

[kombat]

After that, a soak in starsan is all I do.

OK, I guess I just don't see the reason for the StarSan soak. It's not sanitizing anything (because the equipment isn't "clean," just rinsed), and besides, the MLT and BK don't need to be sanitized anyway. They touch wort before/during the boil, so there's no point in sanitizing it.

Surely I'm missing something here.

 

[HumulusHead]

OK, I guess I just don't see the reason for the StarSan soak. It's not sanitizing anything (because the equipment isn't "clean," just rinsed), and besides, the MLT and BK don't need to be sanitized anyway. They touch wort before/during the boil, so there's no point in sanitizing it.



Surely I'm missing something here.

Maybe I don't do it "correctly"... But it works just fine for me...

And to be clear, anything that touched the beer before boiling, I just make sure is rinsed down good. I rinse everything down real good right away after the previous brew day so there isn't anything clinging to it.

Things post boil such as hydrometer, ferm vessel, etc, I just use star San usually. Unless it looks dirty then I do use pbw. But mostly the items are what I consider clean to start with.

Maybe I slack, but I've never had any infection or noticeable difference in taste in doing this method vs using a cleaner if it doesn't look clean to start with.

 

[Natdavis777]

After I mash, I spray out the MLT after I scoop everything out. I don't use one or anything bc I'm ok with how clean it is as long as it is visibly clean, since it doesn't need to be sterile. I make one time star San solution in it so I can sanitize my pumps and chiller at the end of the boil.

My carboys are stored with star San way before brew day, as I clean them and sanitize them (stored with star San).

So one the boil is over, all lines and chiller are sanitized and go to the fermenters. Spray out all the trub material with the hose, fill it with the star San solution from the MLT, and actively scrub with scotch brite. Again, as long as it's visibly clean, I'm satisfied. I don't see the need to use pbw when some elbow grease accomplishes the same thing. Again, it gets stored in the garage upside down. It's next use is to heat up strike water for the mash, which isn't sanitary.

I'm not actively using star San to clean, it just happens to be in the MLT for latter sanitation. If I were not sanitizing my lines/pumps/chiller, I would just clean the kettles with plain water and the scotch brite and be done

 

[Tapout]

Thanks, all for your replies. Tomorrow is the big day for my first all grain. Looking forward to it.

Cheers!

 

[kombat]

So? How'd it go?

 

[Tapout]

Oh my! Where to start...

I figured that after around 30 batches of extract things would go fairly smoothly.

First thing I realized was that the LHBS gave caramel/crystal malt 20L rather than the 120L it called for. But I figured no big deal, I'd run with it. Makes the chinook IPA darker is all.

Got the mash going fine, but then was constantly having to futz with the flame. Found out my gas run needs to be rejiggered, as my HLT burner isn't a nice jet...you should see the carbon on the bottom of that keggle LOL. The run is too far from the tank to the last burner in line. I just need to bring the gas in mid-run rather than at the end of the run (cheaper than a 30 psi reg).

I forgot to vorlauf...didn't remember that until halfway into the boil.

During the fly sparging, I managed to almost get a stuck sparge by draining faster than I was introducing water to the MLT; caught that just in time. But, in the middle of screwing around with the drain rate, my 170 degree mash out temp went up to around 180 degrees. Don't know WHAT that will do to me. And my sparge/drain was too fast. I think it ended up being about 30 minutes or so...too fast.

I was introducing more water into the HLT while messing with the drain and was suddenly overfilling it LOL.

Had fittings that decided to leak on my counter flow, but managed to tighten them up.

I boiled 7.5 gallons to get 5.5, which ended up being 4.75...including a LOT of hot break. At least I know how mush loss I have from my boil keggle now. Had to add water to bring it up to 5.5 gallons...so that will affect my ABV.

Neighbor and his father came over and wanted to chat. Son called from Montana to chat (while I was trying to do math on my head).

Approximately 5 hours start to finish. Hectic, hot and humid since this is Florida. Tiring.

Happy to finally be doing all grain. I'm sure things will get easier as I learn my system. I have some tweaks to make to it.

I've got beer fermenting!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

First I spray rinse my pots and through my hoses after the brew then dump, then I boil 3 gallons of water then send it through the system right before I brew the next time then discard the water and drain the hoses, add my fresh water to the mash and start brewing

no detergents at all just star sans, takes an extra hour but its worth it

 

[November]

I capture my cooling waste water in my hlt and add citric acid powder. After I heat it to 170, I pump it from tank to tank. Citric is cheap, cleans and removes beerstone, prevents hard water stains, and passivates ss. Works great for me.

 

[Singletrack]

Why are you guys *cleaning* your HLT and BK with StarSan?

#1, StarSan is not a cleaner - it's a sanitizer.

StarSan is not a cleaner, but worse, it is yeast food -- or so "they" claim when a little gets in your beer. Why not just rinse with sugar water, or maybe some old infected wort?

That final rinse with StarSan prior to storing equipment seems ill-advised.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

the star sans is not used for cleaning just last minute sanitizing of all things wort touches. but the point was its the only chemical I use, no cleaner at all just boiling water for cleaning

 

[OleBrewing]

With water. Maybe some scotch pad (the plastic kind) for the stubborn scorch or hot break foam that sticks to the sides of the pot. I try to scoup the hot wort up the side of the kettle to remove most hot break foam at the sides of the kettle during the boil. I have never used any chemicals for cleaning mash tun or boil kettle. I have done a recirc of hot oxy clean through the therminator every so often.

 

[robert843]

On brew day, I clean as I go. Generally with some Oxiclean and a scotch pad. I use the excess water from my BK. The fermenters are a different story. Overnight with Oxiclean. The plate chiller is pumped and put into the back of the oven till the next brew day. The pumps are disassembled and cleaned within a couple days.

 

[kh54s10]

My system is 10 gallon pot for hlt, 10 gallon water cooler mt, 10 gallon pot for bk. No pumps. IC. I just use a scrub pad and water. Get out all the debris...

For those using Starsan, if you don't close it up so things stay wet, you are just wasting $$$. Starsan won't clean, and if it dries nothing is still sanitary.