I know it’s not a necessity but I wanted to take apart the ball valve on my Rubbermaid mash tun and re-Teflon tape it before my next batch.
Soap and water work? PBW?
I know it’s not a necessity but I wanted to take apart the ball valve on my Rubbermaid mash tun and re-Teflon tape it before my next batch.
Soap and water work? PBW?
I don’t ever completely remove my valve from the cooler. I’ll take it apart now and then just to wash it out and run a brush through it to knock down the big uglies. I have never gone as far as soaking it in anything.
Not saying I do it correctly but light cleaning seems to work for me.
Paul
+1
IMO this is the one piece of equipment that doesn’t require typical homebrewer obsessiveness. A thorough rinsing to free the cooler of grain debri and stickiness is all that is needed. A brush up the valve if it suits you.
Dry open, preferably in the sun and it won’t get smelly.
What about ball valves on boil kettles?
I recently installed a weldless valve, and it’s given me a bit of sanitation anxiety.
After brewing I run hot water through it and hit it with a brush as best I can.
When I get close to the and of the boil I run a few cups of wort through it figuring it will help sanitize it. I put a piece of foil over it until after I chill, then spray some starsan in there, and start draining.
Pretty much the same procedure. If it happens to get nasty I’ll spend a bit more time on it but it noramally doesn’t require much work.
Paul
The 3 piece ones allow one to take it apart and clean and sanitize. The hot side gets that routine on occasion. The ones on the conical more often.
I pulled my apart today (not the entire valve, but separated it from the mash tun) and noticed some dry crud. I then gave it the sniff test and I have to say it was an evil, foul smell. This is someone who doesn’t brew that often, maybe my hot garage has something to do with it.
Either way, probably doesn’t matter but just an FYI.
I recently took mine apart for the first time in 3 or 4 years. It actually didn’t have much crud inside. I probably won’t do it again for another couple of years.