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

[mongoose33]

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.

Not quite, I'm afraid. It's Schrodinger's valve; it either is full of gunk, or it is not, and only by disassembling the valve can we know which it is.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Not quite, I'm afraid. It's Schrodinger's valve; it either is full of gunk, or it is not, and only by disassembling the valve can we know which it is.

Wouldn't Schrodinger's valve be both full of gunk and clean at the same time?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Either way, my point was that I don't care - it all gets boiled.

 

[shoengine]

Not quite, I'm afraid. It's Schrodinger's valve; it either is full of gunk, or it is not, and only by disassembling the valve can we know which it is.

That and some cesium.

I pulled apart my valve. I've brewed with mine maybe three times, and the inside looks likes this:

My cleaning process as I am just BIAB is washing out the kettle, pulling a brush through it and rinsing. I don't have much experience with ball valves, however it's clear that mine has a sealing issue. Fortunately I had a fix in the works:

No more ball!

 

[mongoose33]

Wouldn't Schrodinger's valve be both full of gunk and clean at the same time?

It could be considered to be that, but not when you disassemble it.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It could be considered to be that, but not when you disassemble it.

I can't - I use cheap single piece valves. They'll have to stay clean and dirty.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

No more ball!

What sort of valve is it?

 

[shoengine]

Butterfly.

 

[jcav]

I have tri clamp butterfly valves on the exit ports of my vessels which are very easy to clean in place. The other ball valves I have are quick clean tri clamp valves and come apart just by taking off the one clamp. So these get broken down after every brew day and soaked in a bucket of PBW and then rinsed and put back together. I clean the kettles by hand after brewing with a sponge and hose them out. Twice a year I do a hot recirc of PBW through everything and this makes everything nice and shiny.


John

 

[gnef]

I think we have the same take-apart valves. Mine are 1/2" NPT female on both ends, and are held together with a tri-clamp. I bought mine from brewers hardware.

I made the expensive upgrade because I took apart my boil kettle single piece ball valve after over 10 years of brewing with it, and it was absolutely disgusting. The crud was all dried and built up. It was all hot-side, so I never really worried about it for infections, but there was definitely 'stuff' there.

So I decided that each pump would get the take-apart valve, along with the BK and the chiller. I did not add one to the mash tun or the HLT, as I didn't think it was that big of a deal, though I may add one to the mash tun in the near future - I bought two spares to keep on hand.

With these, taking apart the valve is less than a minute, and there is always some hop gunk or wort that comes out. I spray it out with star san, let it dry at least over night, and then the next time I remember I put it back together for the next brew. It is exceptionally easy to do that with these valves.

 

[gnef]

here are some pictures of the old crusty valve:

Here are the new valves that I use:

 

[brewbama]

I installed quick disassembly valves on my BK and MLT to make it easy to clean after each use.

 

[augiedoggy]

I can't - I use cheap single piece valves. They'll have to stay clean and dirty.

they come apart easier than the 3 piece valves to clean.. a lot of people seem to not know this. the whole end unscrews and the ball pops right out. the 3 piece ones are a pain in the ass in my opinion but a lot of folks like them because they look cool.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

they come apart easier than the 3 piece valves to clean.. a lot of people seem to not know this. the whole end unscrews and the ball pops right out. the 3 piece ones are a pain in the ass in my opinion but a lot of folks like them because they look cool.

Ok, good to know, thankyou.

I'm still too lazy to clean them though.

 

[Vale71]

the 3 piece ones are a pain in the ass in my opinion but a lot of folks like them because they look cool.

I totally hate the 3 piece ones. If they're not tightened properly they'll leak like there's no tomorrow, you then tighten them properly and the threads on the screws will strip as soon as you look at them the wrong way... Butterfly valves are the way to go, definitely.

 

[kh54s10]

I totally hate the 3 piece ones. If they're not tightened properly they'll leak like there's no tomorrow, you then tighten them properly and the threads on the screws will strip as soon as you look at them the wrong way... Butterfly valves are the way to go, definitely.

I've only taken my 3 piece valve apart a couple of times since replacing my single piece one. I find it tedious but quite simple. If you are tightening with anywhere near enough to strip the threads you are doing something very wrong.

I got the 3 piece valve without knowing about these butterfly valves, if I make a change again I will be getting them.

 

[jcav]

Nice valves gnef! Mine are quick clean but they are one inch tri clamp valves on both ends as well and not npt, as I have all tri clamp fittings on my rig. I also got them from Brewershardware.
https://www.brewershardware.com/1-Tri-Clover-Tri-Clamp-Ball-Valve-Quick-Clean.html?category_id=314

John

 

[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.

So I pulled apart my 3-piece valve to see how things are. I haven't cleaned it....well, in retrospect, ever. I've disassembled other elements of my brew equipment but never that one. So here it is.

It looks like there's crud all over the ball, but that's all reflections. Clean. That's the hot PBW solution through it at the end of every brew day, work the valve a bit, and it's clean.

 

[shoengine]

I'm pretty sure the seals failed on mine which lead to the gunk on the inside.

 

[augiedoggy]

I'm pretty sure the seals failed on mine which lead to the gunk on the inside.

actually the gunk is from the liquid that sitting in the hole of the ball being allowed to go into the deadspace in the valve once the ball is turned 90degrees to close it. This is also why the valve needs to be opened and closed slowly a number of times to get the pbw soultion in that same deadspace after brewing to flush it out or it becomes nasty.

 

[shoengine]

My bad, I guess my seals are fine then. Operator error.

 

[logdrum]

here are some pictures of the old crusty valve:

Here are the new valves that I use:

OK, so where did you get those valves?

 

[jcav]

He got them here: https://www.brewershardware.com/1-2-NPT-Quick-Clean-Take-Apart-Ball-Valve.html

John

 

[dlettow]

I disassembled all five 2-piece ball valves in my brewery for the first time in three years of service (60ish batches). Only the valve on the mash tun had some, but not a lot, of gunk. The rest were basically spotless.

I always cycle hot PBW for about 10 minutes after every batch, including opening/closing the valves several times. However, I don't do this with the mash tun. It only gets a water rinse. However, I do use my air blower to blow all valves out after use (opening/closing several times). It really gets all water out and I wonder if that is why even the mash tun's valve was so clean.

By the way, the blower I use is the Makita DUB182. The nozzle on it fits male camlocks so well, I swear it was made specifically for them. I use it for blowing all remaining water out the CFC as well.

 

[logdrum]

He got them here: https://www.brewershardware.com/1-2-NPT-Quick-Clean-Take-Apart-Ball-Valve.html

John

Thanks!

 

[gnef]

Thanks!

They are great valves, and I'm very happy with mine. I take them apart after every brew, and rinse any material that was remaining. they come apart in less than 20 seconds, and are put back together in the same amount of time.