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Sanitation tip - clean ball valves

MaltLicker

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Finally brewed again today, a dark stout.  Soaked the valves in Oxy-clean during the clean-up, and they looked clean. 

Took the boil valve apart and this 1.084 wort juice poured out.  I've posted similar pix before, but this dark wort really demonstrates what gets left behind the valve during normal cleaning. 
 

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I also run a cleaner or sanitizer through the valve, but open and close it as I do. After that step is complete, I tilt the vessel with the outlet down and open and close the valve a few times. I get at least as much fluid from behind the ball as MaltLicker shows in the photo. When you put the thing away, close the valve half way to allow air flow behind the valve. Anything that doesn't dry out on the backside of the ball will get really nasty.
 
Eeek!

I use a recirculation chiller, so I'm pretty confident that's sanitizing everything, but still... eeek!
 
Wouldn't the heat of the pot sterilize everything in the valve?
 
You would think but it's easy enough to run cleaner/sanitizer through for peace of mind.  I do the same with my mash tun.

Mark
 
When I clean valves as well as sanitize, I open and close them in small increments so the face of the  whole, "Ball" is touched.
 
Someone (I believe More Beer) has done testing on this.  They say the heat of the pot is not enough to sanitize the ball valve.

I've heard recommendations to boil the entire ball valve or disasemble it (if you have one that you can take apart).

I recirculate boiling wort through mine prior to chilling, so I think that sanitizes it.

 
I have these valves on a conical, mash tun and HLT as well. I can't count on direct fire heat or boiling to sanitize, so I make sure I pump sanitizer through using the open and close method and drain as mush as possible. The conical valves get disassembled and put into my pressure cooker to go that extra step past sanitizing. Don't forget to leave the valve half open to expose the cavity on the back side of the ball to air dry.
 
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