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All Grain sanitation question

NDeselle

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My first post after much reading.  I have just about finished building my all grain equipment and I have a couple of things I can't get worked out in my head.  I have SS ball valves and I have machined my own fittings for my brew kettle.  Do you all dissassemble completely when you clean? Like each nipple and bulkhead comes apart or do you just purge, run sanitizer through and clean the ball valve.  The reason I am asking is that I worry about the stainless threads getting wierd with regular dissassembly and reassembly.  Also, I am assuming teflon tape as the sealer or is there something that is specifically for brewing?  Thanks for any help!  I can't wait to try it all out.

Nathan
 
I can't believe this hasn't been answered yet, so I will just chime in with what I personally do. And I have never had a problem (yet).

Since the ball valve and all fittings gets to boiling temp, I have never felt the need to do anything more than make sure that the kettle is boiled and sanitized prior to any actual contact with wort. I have (a time or two) run a brush up through the ball valve, probably not necesssary tho, but I suspect you are talking about the threads on a drilled bulkhead fitting.

It seems the same would seem to hold true..... so I personally wouldn't worry too much about it.  And teflon (while technically not a sealer as much as a friction reducer allowing a tighter seal with less force) is the product of choice.

Brew happy!
 
I clean after every boil. I take the ball valve apart, and soak in OxyClean and wipe the inside of the valve. As 88Q stated if you boil (20min) and sanitize prior to wort being there it wont be an issue. For me I don't want to boil twice. I soak with OxyClean use a scotch-brite pad on the inside of my SS ketle and then rinse well.

As for the Teflon tape, I would agree again with 88Q, you should use it.

Cheers
Preston
 
I wondered about the cleanliness of the boil valve and so took it apart after 5-6 brews.  Hops crap and diluted wort juice inside it.  So I soaked and star-san'd it and let it fully dry.  Then checked it again after one batch. 

I always soak the valves in hot Oxyclean during clean up, and the attached pic is after that one-time use.  All that junk was behind the valve.  So now I fully take both the boiler and MLT valves after each brew.  Usually within a couple days; it doesn't have to be done on brew day. 

Now that I'm using a s/s scrubby inside the boiler, much less gunk goes thru the valve, but even some residual diluted wort juice could cause problems, so I clean them out.  And +1 on teflon tape.
 

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Sounds like I at least need a pre-boil if not a teardown.  I was mostly curious about the actual pipe joints more than the valve.  We do a lot of stainless fabrication and we consider most SS hardware to be one time use.  Thanks for the feedback!  I guess I will just monitor visually and replace hardware if I have a problem.  I am hoping to do a test boil in my kettle set up this weekend to check for function and leaks.  Thanks,

Nathan
 
NDeselle said:
we consider most SS hardware to be one time use.

What do you do to it that is so harsh?
Maybe you should switch to  an inco alloy (except it's several times the material cost)

Cleaning is one of those topics about which  a lot of people take very strong positions.
There's the:  "Tear everything down  and boil it and cleanse it and boil it again and maybe dust it with Strontium 90 for storage."
Then there's the: "Aww what the hell, The monks hardly ever washer their hands they picked their noses and butts and brewed in open tanks and had chickens pigs and goats shitting and pissing all over the place."

And then there's everything in between.

One should wonder what sort of  swell or swill the abbey's actually produced coz they sure as hell don't do it the old fashioned way any more. 

I say a lot depends on your tolerance and your preferences.
There's nothing wrong with disassembling valves and pipe threads cleansing 'em sanitizing or boiling 'em and re assembling them each brew cycle.  On the Fermenter I do exactly that.  It all comes apart. But then it's made to come apart.  Then I cleanse it and Star San it and leave the Star San foam in place when I reassemble and put it away.

On the mash tun I cleanse it and Star San it  and put it away with residual Star San on it.

On the kettle?  Well my current kettle hasn't got a valve. My new one which is full of holes and under construction  will have a valve interalia and that may end up on a Tri clamp so I can have a rotating racking arm (drain tube)  in the BK.  Since it'll be  tri clamped I'll prolly get a sanitary valve and  take the little sucker apart for cleaning because it Will Not get to 212 F.

Reason I don't think  the BK valve will get hot enough is compound: (1) it'll be standing out proud of the pot a tad due to the triclamp rotating dip tube rig which will allow heat dissapation and (2) my brewery will be electric and most of the energy  making the boil will stay in the boil.  This unlike a propane rig where you have oodles of hight heat blasting all the hell  over the place making things like valves quite hot. 







 
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