How often do you remove fittings and clean them in a Kettle?

[fendersrule]

Just like title says.

Do you do it after every brew?

Every other brew?

 

[RPh_Guy]

I just buy a new kettle after every brew; it's a lot easier than cleaning.

 

[estricklin]

I Just don't, I mean I'm lazy, hot water boiling water every brew, I dunno no excuse. I do make sure soapy water goes through them but I don't remove them.

 

[augiedoggy]

I could have sworn theres another recent thread on this but your not really supposed to have to remove the weldless fittings. They are designed to seal and keep the liquid from getting passed the seal in the first place which is why the seal should be on the inside of the kettle. Contamination should not be getting past the seal unless somethings not right. I clean my kettles and valves but have not generally removed my weldless fittings in years. Ive had to move and even enlarge a couple for when I switched to TC elements and there was nothing nasty behind the silicone seal.
If you remove them to clean all the time the seals will fail and you will likely get frustrated with weldless fittings. They are sanitized every time they are heated over 170 degrees during the brew process when the nasties in the wort are also sanitized. ball valves need to be opened and inspected more often I CIP by recirculating pbw through my manifoilds and pumps and clean valves while opening and closing them which works well to clean behind the ball.

Another homebrewing misconception is that the hot side equipment even needs to be sanitized with starsan or some other sanitizer..

Only things that come in contact with the wort once its cooled below 170 benefit from this but in the case of the weldless fittings the heat will sanitize any nasties if there somehow is some crevice for them to hide. Of course you can do whatever you like, I'm just pointing out its not needed and for that reason many dont do it.

I clean my kettles manually in the sink but run pbw through everything else to cip every couple brews or if its been more than a week since I brewed. I also run hot water through immediately after brewing.

 

[cwise]

I pbw the kettle lines and pump after every brew,and do a full break down and clean as needed (about every six brews)

 

[eric19312]

I'm lazy too. After every I circulate hot (130-150F) PBW through my pumps and valves while scrubbing the kettle. Run that for for about 20-30 min and if I remember to I will open and close each valve while the hot solution is circulating half a dozen times. Then I pump it all out and run rinse water through and call it a day. I've broken down 2 and 3 part ball valves before and just don't see the crud others claim to have found in there.

I have welded NPT fittings on my kettle and understand there is likely some microbe contamination that survives this process on those threads but am guessing the amount of contamination that lives through the cleaning process and then survives the subsequent boil is very small relative to the unavoidable contamination from chilling with an immersion chiller in an open kettle in my not too clean garage where I store and mill grain.

 

[shoengine]

Once, apparently. I like to call it terror, err terrior.

 

[eric19312]

Once, apparently. I like to call it terror , err terrior.

View attachment 621650

Wow thats crazy. I'm gonna take a look at mine but I'd be curious about your cleaning process and also wondering how close this valve is to the heat source when you brew.

 

[augiedoggy]

Once, apparently. I like to call it terror , err terrior.

View attachment 621650

yeah thats gross... but to be fair, without explaining what was or wasnt done prior to that pic as far as setup and cleaning process it doesnt paint much of a picture. thats also a valve design that seems to have a lot of dead space trapped in it.

 

[grampamark]

I posted this pic awhile back in another thread. This is a 3 piece ball valve, a type which is pretty commonly used, after approximately 10 batches since it was last cleaned.

Sure, it's "sanitized" gunk, but it's still gunk. Spending 10 minutes, or so, a couple times a year to keep the gunk to a minimum doesn't seem like a bad thing.

 

[shoengine]

yeah thats gross... but to be fair, without explaining what was or wasnt done prior to that pic as far as setup and cleaning process it doesnt paint much of a picture. thats also a valve design that seems to have a lot of dead space trapped in it.

To be fair about what? I wasn't indicating anything with this, just noting that my three piece ball valve got disgustingly filthy. I just thought it was funny.

 

[mongoose33]

Once in a while. I'm doing a recirculation with hot PBW solution so the insides are quite clean.

I use a counterflow chiller; during the process of brewing I pre-boil the water (LODO technique), and send that boiling water through the CF chiller. That way I'm sanitizing everything even before wort comes into contact with it. Same thing with running the boiling wort through it all--sanitized.

@grampamark 's pic above might motivate me to take things apart, just to see, but as he notes, it's all sanitized by running boiling liquid through it, and I don't have any reason to presume there's accumulated junk in there that wouldn't have been cleaned out by either the PBW or boiling liquids.

 

[augiedoggy]

To be fair about what? I wasn't indicating anything with this, just noting that my three piece ball valve got disgustingly filthy. I just thought it was funny.

Well a lot of people seeing that would immediately see it as evidence for needing to disassemble and manually clean between each brew session is all I was getting at.. I'm not trying to be disrespectful just trying to put a broader perspective on it for consideration that we dont know how it got that way.. It might actually help to know how it did for the point of the conversation of how much is needed and why right?

 

[augiedoggy]

Once in a while. I'm doing a recirculation with hot PBW solution so the insides are quite clean.

I use a counterflow chiller; during the process of brewing I pre-boil the water (LODO technique), and send that boiling water through the CF chiller. That way I'm sanitizing everything even before wort comes into contact with it. Same thing with running the boiling wort through it all--sanitized.

@grampamark 's pic above might motivate me to take things apart, just to see, but as he notes, it's all sanitized by running boiling liquid through it, and I don't have any reason to presume there's accumulated junk in there that wouldn't have been cleaned out by either the PBW or boiling liquids.

but moving boiling pbw and liquids while actuating the valve open and closed would clean it out as well as many can clean out the inside of thier CFC or plate chilllers right? It sort of silly to me to disassemble and scrub everything on the hot side each time only to be flushing out the chiller that actually sees post cooled wort with pbw and hot water and calling it a day dont you think?

So far I have not found any nasties in my pumps or valves when doing periodic inspections so its working well for me at home.

That said my homebrewery has been sitting in disuse for almost a year so you can bet a through cleaning and inspection would be on the table before I use it again but I still have no intention of disassembling all my weldless bulkheads.

 

[kh54s10]

I hadn't taken my Bronze ball valve apart for years. I thought rinsing will would get the crud out. Boy! was I wrong. Mine looked much worse than the pictures above. Right after that I got a 3 piece ball valve. I don't clean it every time but maybe after about three batches. For the weldless fitting, I am not so concerned about it. The crud part of that is on the inside of the pot and boiling should take care of any nasties there. I will take it apart at some point, but much less often than the valve.

 

[LittleRiver]

At every cleanup I let hot cleaner then rinse water go through the drain valve while I operate it several times.

Every 2-3 brews I take apart the valve for a thorough cleaning. There's always some gunk in there. I have not had any infections (that I could detect).

 

[augiedoggy]

I hadn't taken my Bronze ball valve apart for years. I thought rinsing will would get the crud out. Boy! was I wrong. Mine looked much worse than the pictures above. Right after that I got a 3 piece ball valve. I don't clean it every time but maybe after about three batches. For the weldless fitting, I am not so concerned about it. The crud part of that is on the inside of the pot and boiling should take care of any nasties there. I will take it apart at some point, but much less often than the valve.

well bronze in exposure to beer often turns black and gets rather nasty from the ph.

 

[kh54s10]

well bronze in exposure to beer often turns black and gets rather nasty from the ph.

It was black. It was also thick, and most of it brushed out. I am positive that it was buildup over time that had little to do with the pH. It was also in the stainless part of the bulkhead inside. It was in both the boil kettle valve and the mash tun valve.

 

[Jako]

Just like title says.

Do you do it after every brew?

Every other brew?

every brew. takes 10 min 15 if its the first time. it will be 10x harder to clean if you let things sit.

 

[shoengine]

Well a lot of people seeing that would immediately see it as evidence for needing to disassemble and manually clean between each brew session is all I was getting at.. I'm not trying to be disrespectful just trying to put a broader perspective on it for consideration that we dont know how it got that way.. It might actually help to know how it did for the point of the conversation of how much is needed and why right?

Because me saying I only ever cleaned mine once is advocating a cleaning every brew? That seems like a stretch.

 

[parjay]

I am in the every brew camp. I actually kind of enjoy it too.

 

[DayLghtBreaks]

I dismantle my kettle before every brew day and soak the fittings in hot PBW. In the early days I never took it apart, it was gross the first time I did.

 

[augiedoggy]

Because me saying I only ever cleaned mine once is advocating a cleaning every brew? That seems like a stretch.

I do not follow what your saying at all, or why your being so argumentative. I commented on the picture that was shared. I dont see where you said you only cleaned it once but yes that can make sense as to why it could be so nasty looking. If you had shared that useful info I wouldnt have even made the "to be fair" statement.
Theres one extreme to another with many folks cleaning them once in a while or pushing pbw through while actuating the valve open and closed to flush out the dead space in the ballvalve. Thats the point behind why the OP asked the question I believe.. to get an idea of what others are doing and what kind of success they are having with what they do.. Thats why other folks like grandpamark shared useful info about the pic they shared.. So people dont just guess or assume what they want and we get some useful info here that may help one way of the other.

 

[shoengine]

I do not follow what your saying at all, or why your being so argumentative. I commented on the picture that was shared. I dont see where you said you only cleaned it once but yes that can make sense as to why it could be so nasty looking. If you had shared that useful info I wouldnt have even made the "to be fair" statement.
Theres one extreme to another with many folks cleaning them once in a while or pushing pbw through while actuating the valve open and closed to flush out the dead space in the ballvalve. Thats the point behind why the OP asked the question I believe.. to get an idea of what others are doing and what kind of success they are having with what they do.. Thats why other folks like grandpamark shared useful info about the pic they shared.. So people dont just guess or assume what they want and we get some useful info here that may help one way of the other.

I don't think it is fair that you misreading my initial post is me being argumentative. I very specifically answered the OPs question. Re-read my post that you quoted, that should clear things up.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Every dozen or so batches now that I have my regimen down. The occasional inspection teardown confirms it is effective. Recirculate hot PBW solution (at recommended concentration!) @160f for ~30 minutes, slowly cycle each ball valve full open to full close ~10 times. Then I briefly recirc cold water, cycle the valves 2-3 times each and drain. The inside of my camlock fittings are always spotless as are the inner components and cavities of the ball valves.

 

[shoengine]

Wow thats crazy. I'm gonna take a look at mine but I'd be curious about your cleaning process and also wondering how close this valve is to the heat source when you brew.

I didn't really have a cleaning process, aside from running a brush through the orifice. All this stuff was between the housing and the ball, as @augiedoggy mentioned about the deadspace. My assumption is a seal or two is busted, so when fluid is running through it, solids began to build up. I think I'll take it apart this weekend and see if there is any build up from when I took it apart last.

 

[day_trippr]

I've been brewing on my current triple 20g boilermaker herms rig for four years now and do a recirculating very hot PBW treatment every 2 or 3 brews that encompasses both pumps, the hex, the PC, the FB, all of the valves on all three kettles including the autosparge, and the full set of hoses.

I once removed one valve (BK output as the most likely to have any cooked-on build-up) for inspection after a cleaning cycle and found nothing, nada, zippo, wrt crud. So put me in the "never disassembles for cleaning" bin...

Cheers!

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It's the same as the philosophical tree falling in the woods....if you don't pull your valves apart there's no crud in them.

I've never done it. I also never clean anything on the hot side with more than a hot water rinse.

 

[Jako]

It's the same as the philosophical tree falling in the woods....if you don't pull your valves apart there's no crud in them.

I've never done it. I also never clean anything on the hot side with more than a hot water rinse.

Ew haha still funny.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Never, as I don’t have any valves on any of my kettles.

Call me old school, I don’t find racking out of the kettle all that difficult.

I also typically kettle ferment, so I’m assured the fermenter is sanitary after the boil

I have extensive experience racking and have gotten very good at it and find it easy...it’s kind of a lost art in homebrewing lol.

I’m without any of the crappy dirty valves pictured above.

One less thing to clean / worry about makes me happy.