How does everyone go about cleaning these out thoroughly? I usually let them soak in warm water with PBW and have a small brush for the inside. But I feel like I’m not getting 100% of it. I’ve heard some people put them in a pot of boiling water. Any thoughts on this?
For me, cleaning ball valves was a PITA. So… I got Quick Clean Take-Apart ball valves. Now it takes no time to disassemble, clean, and reassemble. They aren’t cheap but it was worth it to me.
The only ball valve I have that is of any concern is the one on the boil kettle. I rinse it when cleaning the kettle and let the heat of the next boil kill off the bugs.
I could never clean my old ball valve that was incapable of being disassembled well enough. I tried boiling, but that didn’t work. It still smelled like something was living inside, so I bought one of these:
Ball slides out as well for easy cleaning.
Yeah, the 3-piece valves are best for easy disassembling/cleaning. I use a nylon test tube brush to get out the baked-on gunk, then soak the components in PBW overnight. Spray with Starsan and reassemble.
i disagree, 2 piece are easier to disassemble, all you need is 2 wrenches and some elbow grease, no nuts and bolts, and less parts, i had a 3 piece come with my ss mash tun and i immediately replaced with a 2 piece
I use 2 piece valves and have no problem disassembling them for cleaning. I recirculate during the last 15 minutes of the boil and while chilling, so they’re sanitized. I do periodically do a deep clean as well.
Cleaning my 2-piece valve on the boils kettle is pretty easy.
The parts that is hard to clean are the pieces of pipe and threaded coupler inside the kettle. I hate taking the weldless bulkhead apart. As was said earlier, I rely on the heat of the boil to sanitize it.
Paul
You might want to take that ball valve apart once in a while and inspect it. I had one on my boil kettle for years and cleaned it by curculating PBW through it while cleaning the pump, chiller, and kettle. I always thought it got really clean this way until I took it apart and found some gunk around the outside of the ball that had been there for who knows how long. It didn’t add any off flavors to the beer since, as you said the boil will kill of everything, but it was disgusting looking. I eventually replaced it with a butterfly valve which is way easier to keep clean.
Regarding the ball valves on the racking ports of my conicals, I sinply put them (in the partially opened position) in the fermenter and clean them while cleaning the concials. I use a spray ball to clean my fermenters and it works well to clean them. The valves are immersed in 3 gallons of PBW and the spraying and pumping action circulates the liquid in the cone and through the valves. I take them apart after every 5 brews or so to inspect them and they are always clean.