PBW and teflon tape

flbrewer1 · Jan 13, 2015

Noticed a mention of not using PBW around teflon tonight. My Rubbermaid mash tun from Moreover has an exposed teflon taped thread inside. I ran PBW through the MT for an initial cleaning. Is this an issue? I emailed the company and am more confused at this point...transcript below.

Welp...while their customer service rep. responded in five minutes, the reply left me wondering. I don't plan on using PBW anymore in my MT, but the initial soak has me (OCD) wondering whether or not Teflon tape will be dissolving into my beer going forward. Transcript below...

Me- Im curious if PBW is safe to use in brewing kettles/ mash tuns that have threaded fittings with teflon tape. I noticed the warning on a bottle of PBW and Im curious if the chemical will break down the teflon tape. Thank you!

Them- In order to really clean and sanitize you need to take all of the parts off and then you will have to put new tape on them. Bacteria will hide in those crevices that threaded fittings have. If you don't want to do that you can use PBW but it will not properly clean everything.

Me- Thanks for the quick response! I understand your email, but just to clarifythe PBW wont break down the teflon tape?

Them- It probably would eventually but if you leave the parts connected there's really no way for it to get to the tape.

Me- In my case, there are threads that are exposed with the teflon tape.

Them- Exposed threads are just asking for an infection so be very careful!

Me- Thanks again. Can you give me an indication on whether or not I can use the PBW with the exposed teflon tape?

Them- I'm going to say no.

EuBrew · Jan 13, 2015

Not to go down this rabbit hole again, but.... I think it's completely asinine that anyone worries about getting an infections from PRE-BOIL processes. POST-BOIL is completely different.

If you're worried about the Teflon breaking down take a razor and cut away the exposed tape, it's doing nothing for sealing anyway.

BigEd · Jan 13, 2015

flbrewer1 said:
Me- Im curious if PBW is safe to use in brewing kettles/ mash tuns that have threaded fittings with teflon tape. I noticed the warning on a bottle of PBW and Im curious if the chemical will break down the teflon tape. Thank you!

Them- In order to really clean and sanitize you need to take all of the parts off and then you will have to put new tape on them. Bacteria will hide in those crevices that threaded fittings have. If you don't want to do that you can use PBW but it will not properly clean everything.

Me- Thanks for the quick response! I understand your email, but just to clarifythe PBW wont break down the teflon tape?

There is no issue using "Teflon" (PTFE) pipe thread tape on your brewing equipment. The substance is essentially inert within the temperatures used in brewing beer and is impervious to almost any chemicals, certainly any common products.

http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance

Zepth · Jan 14, 2015

EuBrew said:
Not to go down this rabbit hole again, but.... I think it's completely asinine that anyone worries about getting an infections from PRE-BOIL processes. POST-BOIL is completely different.

My thoughts exactly. With that said I soaked my mash tun in oxyclean free once when it was brand new just in case it had some manufacturing residue. Since there it's seen nothing but water and grain.

And the few threads inside my BK? No worries there, I'm sure the 60-90 minute boil will make it "clean enough" for me.

flbrewer1 · Jan 14, 2015

Thanks for the messages. I went ahead and removed the teflon that was exposed inside of the mash tun on the valve (didn't need it there anyways).

What strikes me as odd is that anyone using a 2 way ball valve has teflon tape on the valve somewhere. Whether it's on the boil kettle, MT, etc. there is going to be a time where they are using PBW for a period of time.

Why the heck would 5 Star not realize this, or perhaps they only meant teflon coated cookware. If that's the case, they should remove that warning from a homebrew product which people wouldn't be using for cookware anyways. My .02.