How Far to go cleaning the brew kettle

[Corby]

How far do y'all go when you are cleaning your kettle after brewing? I have a three piece 1/2" ball valve and thermometer on my brew kettle. Would y'all take the valve apart and unscrew the thermometer for cleaning after brewing?

 

[BigFloyd]

I usually just give it an overnight PBW soak and run that through the valves. If you want, take the valves apart every 3-4 batches. It's all going to get heat sanitized each boil anyway.

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Personally I take the ball valves apart every time. It's part of the reason I got them. I don't brew every week so I don't like the idea of crud staying in my ball valves for prolonged periods. I don't so a soak unless there is some heavy stuff stuck on. Doing a soak can harm your kettle because of creating an oxygen depleted environment.

I like cleaning my stuff with oxiclean and BKF.

 

[Math0]

I actually wash my kettle and mash tun once every 3-4 brews or so. In between, i just soak everything as fast as I can with hot water and give it a nice scrub. Nothing more. Because these items will be in contact with boiling water, it is not necessary to sanitize. But as you can see, some do. It is just more secure. I personnally find it's a waste.

 

[Clonefan94]

I don't have a ball valve in mine, so I don't worry about that. Since it's just a basic brew kettle, I really don't worry about the "Cleaning" aspect of it all that much. Basically, when I'm done brewing, I immediately hit it with some hot water and scrub it to make sure I get all the crud off, to me that's all I really think I need to do. Every once in a while I'll notice a little build up on the bottom, if that doesn't come off with hot water and my scrubbing pad, then I go ahead and soak it in PBW make sure it's nice and shiny again.

Usually, after the hot water and scrub though, it looks pretty shiny, so I just don't see a need to attack it and clean it like crazy.