cannot take apart ball valve

[soymateofeo]

cleaning my stainless conical and took one of the valves apart easy. The other one won't open to save my life.  I'm probably going to replace it with a 3 part valve but I still want to open this pos.  I hit it with 2 crescent wrenches and all my might.  no joy.  any ideas?

[KellerBrauer]

Greetings soymateofeo - Some, if not all, two piece ball valves are not meant to be taken apart, nor do they need to be, providing its a quality valve.  I have 3, 2-piece stainless steel ball valves that have been on the cooled wort side of my system for over three years and I've made over 30 batches and I've never removed them or taken them apart.  Not necessary.

[soymateofeo]

i was getting some funky batches and my lbs and blichmann suggested dismantling everything and giving a good soak in pbw and starsan.  It was the valve that came with my conical and the other opened easily.Anyway, when I did open the one, there was a ton of crap in there what looked like trub and such.  I am pretty sure this is where my problem was so I wanted to tear it down. haven't done it before so who knows.

[soymateofeo]

Greetings soymateofeo - Some, if not all, two piece ball valves are not meant to be taken apart, nor do they need to be, providing its a quality valve.  I have 3, 2-piece stainless steel ball valves that have been on the cooled wort side of my system for over three years and I've made over 30 batches and I've never removed them or taken them apart.  Not necessary.

and now I read this!  http://brulosophy.com/2015/05/28/brewers-hardware-quick-clean-take-apart-ball-valve-product-review/

[KellerBrauer]

Greetings soymateofeo - that was an interesting article.  Thanks for sharing.  It seems that 2-piece valves have given some other folks some problems.  I believe my situation, however, is quite different.  You see, after a brew, I circulate a solution of PBW and 130 degree water throughout my entire brewing system from the boil kettle, pump, valves and tubing and back to the boil kettle.  I allow it to circulate for a minimum of an hour.  After my system was in use for two years, I disassembled my pump to see how my cleaning practice was working.  To my surprise, my pump was immaculate.

Then, on brew day, I fill my mash tun with 130 degree water to pre heat it.  Afterword, I drain it into my boil kettle.  I then add an iodine and star san solution to the boil kettle and circulate for a minimum of an hour - while I'm mashing.  This procedure is probably why I never experienced any issues.

The long and short of this is that 2-piece valves are not intended to me disassembled.  This is why you're having trouble doing so. A 3-piece valve will most certainly solve any cleanliness issues you have.

Good luck!

[soymateofeo]

I hope it is just overkill.  But those valves have been in use for well over 10 years. Probably 15.  I ripped the entire rig apart to clean it all. My beers just didn't have the crispness they used to and there was just a little something off. The conical was only part of this clean. One think I did, also on the advice of Blichmann, was to bake my chiller.  I have been running hot pbw through my herms system (not my conical, but I will on your suggestion) and through my plate chiller.  After I baked it and did it again, I could not believe how much crap came out. And I did this in a white bucket just so I could see if anything would come out. Hopefully after cleaning the conical, changing the hoses, baking the plate chiller, smoking some ribs, doing some yoga and sacrificing a goat, I solve this problem.