Brew kettle cleanliness?

[trapae]

How many of you all take great lengths keeping your brew kettle super clean. I usually do but after brew day yesterday, I didn’t do a great job. Just thinking it’s hot side so what does it really matter?

 

[day_trippr]

If you chill wort in the boil kettle the one risky bit is the kettle drain valve being crudded up and bugged. Probably most critical in non-recirculating systems, as systems that routinely recirculate the boil kettle tend to be self-sanitizing. I run a 3v2p herms and recirculate and basically just flush the kettle valves with hot water and call them done....

Cheers!

 

[tracer bullet]

If it looks clean, it is clean.

(Hot side)

 

[MaxStout]

If it has a drain valve, it's a good idea to disassemble and clean the parts after a brew. Those nooks and crannies are good places for microbes to hide.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I run a recirculating whirlpool with an IC, so I always have a heat sanitation step for the pump, IC, and ball valves after flame out. That said, I still break down my ball valves every other month...or, well, uh...at least quarterly! It really is horrifying what you find in there. Nevertheless, the heat sanitation step seems to serving its purpose.

I'll tackle the beerstone annually, although I'll sometimes have to do it again at the 6-month mark if I've been on an IPA/PA kick.

 

[BeerAndTele]

I might be weird (actually I'm pretty comfortable admitting that I am weird), but I clean my kettle really well after use, even though I don't have a drain valve. I give it a hot water PBW soak and a light "scrub" with a non-abrasive cloth. I know it shouldn't matter but I like cleaning it anyway. I like a shiny kettle.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I only bother with alkaline brewery wash and a short boil/recirc about every 5 batches. A bit of residue here and there doesn't seem to be a problem so long as none of it has been treated with cleaning solutions. Once I start using pbw, etc, I don't stop till it's sparkling clean, and rinse, rinse, rinse before towel drying everything. Never have seen beer stone in my kettle, guess I clean too often for it to form.

 

[sibelman]

Dunno whether I'm as weird as @BeerAndTele but I also clean my BK better than necessary. Now, my mashtun... not so much, at least not every brew day. Cheers!

 

[Sam_92]

I want to speak up for the other side of the camp. My kettle is aluminum and kinda ugly and I don't bother cleaning it very well at all. Usually after I'm done brewing my family is demanding my attention and they're pissed that I've spent a couple hours by myself so it's all I can do to run some water in it to knock all the crud off. Most of the time I end up cleaning it right before I brew again.

 

[RM-MN]

If you boil in the kettle and any valve you have is so far away from the kettle that it never gets over 150 degrees F. you take it apart and clean it every time you use it. I'd be surprised if your valve would be that far away. If it gets over 150 any living organism in it would be killed.

If your valve has crud in it, why are you being so reckless to not clean it regularly. Do you also eat off a dirty floor?

 

[MikeCo]

I always clean my kettles after brewing using PBW or alkaline brewery wash. It doesn't take that long to do, especially if you blast it with hot water right after emptying it. After a hot water rinse, I fill it partly with hot water and PBW and scrub any debris off the sides and run some solution through the valve. I let it soak a while and then scrub it clean and rinse. Both of my kettles have valves that can be quickly disassembled with no tools, so I take them apart and clean them as well.

This is probably more hot-side cleaning than is necessary, but I don't find it to be overly burdensome.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Just thought I'd chime in... 5 year old kettle, had never removed the fittings to clean them, but I was doing a modification and noticed that all the threads were nasty and gunky. Not a source of bacteria per-se since it all gets sanitized (never had an infection) but... I ended up doing a 2-day soak in Oxiclean + TSP-90. Worked great.

Before:

After: