Weldless fittings routine cleaning

[MrSmug]

Is it recommended to remove all fittings from a kettle each time you brew and clean/sanitize? Perhaps just remove ball value and any internal parts .. ie, diptube or bazooka but leave the fitting in place?

Thanks

 

[CPFITNESS]

honestly, I would think not but when I sanitize I start with my largest vessel (10gallon cooler mash tun) and fill it all the way up with sanitizer and let it sit for well beyond the recommended time. then i open the valve and let it drain out to the next largest (Boil kettle 8 gallons) and let that sit for a bit. From there I drain it down to my bottling bucket and then the fermenter.

 

[day_trippr]

Is it recommended to remove all fittings from a kettle each time you brew and clean/sanitize? Perhaps just remove ball value and any internal parts .. ie, diptube or bazooka but leave the fitting in place?

Thanks

I haven't removed the ball valve from my BK in at least a year, but I do remove the dip tube, clean that separately, and give the ball valve a thorough cleaning in place. My lifelong streak of zero infected batches is still intact...

Cheers!

 

[l3asturd]

After my first 4 batches of beer I removed my fittings to reconfigure and was surprised at all the gunk I found, despite my efforts to run PBW and sanitize after brewing. I bought several sizes of bottle cleaners and now clean more thoroghly, but I'll only break down my valves and fittings every 6 batches or so.

 

[duboman]

In reality, every time and everything you boil is thus sanitized so IMO I think it's a mute point. No different than submerging your IC in the boil during the last several minutes to sterilize it.

Once the wort leaves the kettle in a cooled state is when sanitation really comes in to play, just my .02.

 

[MrSmug]

Ok sounds like running pbw and some star san through would do the trick. I'm guessing there isn't much worry about sanitizing the thermometer either since the only part that the wort ever touches is boiled. Thanks

 

[stratslinger]

Ok sounds like running pbw and some star san through would do the trick. I'm guessing there isn't much worry about sanitizing the thermometer either since the only part that the wort ever touches is boiled. Thanks

Why waste the Starsan, or the PBW for that matter? Hit it with some cheap unscented detergent to get all the muck and grime and trub off it and get it nice and shiny looking again. Make sure there's no visible soil left on the kettle, and you're done. No need to sanitize anything that touches your wort prior to boiling, since boiling will take care of that for you.

The fermenter, and everything that touches your wort after chilling is the stuff you need to worry about sanitizing!

 

[Patirck]

I recirculate boiling wort through a whirlpool thingy made from copper tube. I consider doing this for a few minutes enough to sanitize valve and plumbing before I am about to put cooled wort through it. I've never had an infection. I think taking apart the valves too often would just wear out o-rings sooner than necessarily. Other than that, I guess it wouldn't hurt but IMO is not really helping.

I have welded fittings in my kettles and two part valves (the cheap kind). I have only taken a valve apart once and it was pretty clean.

I recently changed my pickup tube from a copper 1/2" OD tube to a brass 90* compression fitting without any compression stuff (just the elbow). I put a short piece of silicone tubing (about 1") and point it strait down so it is about 2 - 4MM off the bottom of the kettle. I think I have less cleaning issues with this than a copper tube (at least so far).