# Cleaning Brew Kettle - How Often?



## MattC (13/1/11)

I am in the process of scrubbing my aluminium brew kettle as it has become quite stained of late. 

How often do people clean (Scrub until shiny) their brew kettle and what are the issues if any of not scrubbing regularly??

Cheers


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## Fourstar (13/1/11)

MattC said:


> I am in the process of scrubbing my aluminium brew kettle as it has become quite stained of late.
> 
> How often do people clean (Scrub until shiny) their brew kettle and what are the issues if any of not scrubbing regularly??
> 
> Cheers




never, especially with aluminium as the haze is actually is oxidation that protects the metal. i would only remove hop debris etc with a soft scourer. As for my new stainless kettle, i'll probabaly only remove beerstone when it effects kettle performance and flavour. or it just looks utterly gunky. the soft scourer after brewing seems to do the job.


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## mxd (13/1/11)

I generally take my keggle down to the car wash and use the high pressure hose to "clean" it but don't actually scrub it. Once I filled it with water and let it soak with pbw for a couple of days.


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## felten (13/1/11)

I use a soft cloth to wipe my ali kettle out after every brew, I guess that's not exactly cleaning it but you never want your aluminum shiny bright anyway.


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## Thirsty Boy (13/1/11)

Have yet to ever scrub mine till "shiny" i clean it back to "no visible soil" every brew, and every now and again go at it a bit harder with some PBW and a plastic bristled brush to knock down any staining a bit.

No real effect of letting a bit of stain build up over time - if it starts to get excessive it can affect the efficiency of heat transfer from your burner and perhaps cause film boiling in your kettle.... But thats not really a biggie.

Maybe if you let it get actually crusty or the stains get 3 dimensional, they could conceivably be a place for bugs to hide and infect your wort if you cool in the kettle... But that would be a pretty severely dirty kettle.


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## donburke (13/1/11)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Maybe if you let it get actually crusty or the stains get 3 dimensional, they could conceviably be aplace for bugs to hide and infect your worwt if you cool in the kettle... But that would be a pretty severely dirty kettle.



and survive a 60 minute boil ?


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## MeLoveBeer (13/1/11)

I clean the visible "chunks" everytime I brew, use pbw every 3 brews and then get rid of the beer stone using starsan every 6 or so brews.


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## raven19 (13/1/11)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Have yet to ever scrub mine till "shiny" i clean it back to "no visible soil" every brew, and every now and again go at it a bit harder with some PBW and a plastic bristled brush to knock down any staining a bit.



+1, its part of my cleaning regime at the end of each brew, recirc PBW through the plate chiller, RIMS, pump and kettle.

A quick squirt with the hose usually gets the hop/break scum from around the sides of my SS kettle though.


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## Thirsty Boy (13/1/11)

donburke said:


> and survive a 60 minute boil ?



Probably not, but better safe than sorry.


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## donburke (13/1/11)

Thirsty Boy said:


> Probably not, but better safe than sorry.




phew, and point taken


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## WarmBeer (13/1/11)

MeLoveBeer said:


> ...get rid of the beer stone using starsan every 6 or so brews.


Is Starsan suitable for getting beerstone out of kegs, too?

About to move to kegs, so good to know.

Edit: Oh yeah, on topic - I just give my kettle a wipe out with some warm soapy water and a cloth. Then a good rinse.


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## MeLoveBeer (13/1/11)

WarmBeer said:


> Is Starsan suitable for getting beerstone out of kegs, too?
> 
> About to move to kegs, so good to know.



Haven't tried it in kegs specifically, but it seems to do the trick in everything else... beerstone can be removed using any acid cleaner (so starsan is perfect). I just let it sit overnight and then it wipe out using a cloth (starsan just loosens it, so it can be easily removed).


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## bear09 (13/1/11)

Hi All.

Slightly :icon_offtopic: but that PBW used on a Keg is awesome.

I used it to clean all 4 of my kegs recently and they came up shiny new - very happy.


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## JestersDarts (13/1/11)

bear09 said:


> Hi All.
> 
> Slightly :icon_offtopic: but that PBW used on a Keg is awesome.
> 
> I used it to clean all 4 of my kegs recently and they came up shiny new - very happy.



what sort of concentration of PBW do you use for it to just sit in kegs?


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## Fourstar (13/1/11)

WarmBeer said:


> Is Starsan suitable for getting beerstone out of kegs, too?
> 
> About to move to kegs, so good to know.
> 
> Edit: Oh yeah, on topic - I just give my kettle a wipe out with some warm soapy water and a cloth. Then a good rinse.



tsp of pbw or nappisan + 1 kettle full of hot water, shake, pressurise and run through the mosts typically does the trick with no gunk left afterwards. then its a simple rinse twice, fill with around 4 L, pressurise again and run clean water through all of the posts (also dont forget the PRV.) Ive never seen beerstone in my kegs, only yeast and hop debris in the bottom. Thats even after leaving them empty (but sealed) for a couple of months.

Then i simply air dry until im ready to fill+sanitise*

*i used to sanitise and seal it with iodophor but due to the short contact time required for starsan i will add 1L of it, shake and run through posts then drip most of it out upside down whilst i prep my filter, lines etc.


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## MeLoveBeer (13/1/11)

JestersDarts said:


> what sort of concentration of PBW do you use for it to just sit in kegs?



I tend to use a heaped quarter cup of PBW and hot water from the tap (left for 1 hour plus).


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## JestersDarts (13/1/11)

MeLoveBeer said:


> I tend to use a heaped quarter cup of PBW and hot water from the tap (left for 1 hour plus).



Is that reccommended amounts? That seems like a lot - I bought a 500g tub of it.. not cheap.
Using it like that would get me about 5 or 6 goes until its empty!
I'll have a bit of a read hey for the best way to use it.
Cheers - JD


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## Tim (13/1/11)

A soak in Pink stain remover and hot water cleans aluminium up when it starts to look a little grungy. Give it a good rinse afterwards and leave it a week to passivate before using it again. i do this once a year with my kettle.


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## MeLoveBeer (13/1/11)

JestersDarts said:


> Is that reccommended amounts? That seems like a lot - I bought a 500g tub of it.. not cheap.
> Using it like that would get me about 5 or 6 goes until its empty!
> I'll have a bit of a read hey for the best way to use it.
> Cheers - JD



From memory, I think that the recommended dosage is higher than that, but I could be wrong (I know that the recommended dosage is a lot). Always consult the pack because there is a very good reason with this stuff that the recommended amount is the recommended amount.


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## warra48 (13/1/11)

All I ever do with my aluminum kettle is to remove visible gunk.
I don't bother about the staining I have. It seems to have reached its own level, and is not increasing any further.

I figure I just leave well enough alone.

Now, my fermenter is a different issue. Recently, it got to the stage where i just had to do something about the build up of beerstone. A spray with bleach, leaving it overnight, repeat one more night, a quick scrub with a plastic scrubby, and she's as good as new.


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## DJR (13/1/11)

Tim said:


> A soak in Pink stain remover and hot water cleans aluminium up when it starts to look a little grungy. Give it a good rinse afterwards and leave it a week to passivate before using it again. i do this once a year with my kettle.



Pink stain is made from TSP - which is caustic. It may pit aluminium.

I just let the brown stuff add up, and remove the loose residue after a boil. Occassionally i just scrub it with some mild detergent, elbow grease and a plastic/sponge scourer and reboil a full pot of water to re-oxidise it.


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## ekul (13/1/11)

I fill my kettle up with water and napisan and leave overnight. I usually fill it with bottles to to be more water efficient, although at the moment i spose theres no need... I have noticed that the bolts on the inside of the kettle holding the handles on get rusty though, i scrub this off when i'm rinsing the napisan off. Seems to do the trick.


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## Hatchy (13/1/11)

Damn, it's less than a fortnight since I soaked my kettle with sod perc then elbow greased what the soak didn't. I try to conserve my elbow grease but there was a fair bit of crap that I'm sure is better out of my kettle than in it. I took the ball valves off my HLT & tun to soak as well then but the soaked ones on the kettle & tun & the unsoaked one on the HLT. I couldn't figure out how to get the taps apart & be confident that they'd go back together. Is a soak with the tap open good enough or should I pull it apart? If I have to pull it apart then how do I?


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## WarmBeer (13/1/11)

A lot of this talk is about aluminium kettles.

What about stainless steel keggles?

Any issues with getting the stainless scrubby, and a good dose of elbow grease? Should I try to avoid scratching the inside surface?


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## yardy (13/1/11)

that reminds me, i left the keggle soaking in PBW last sunday when i pissed off for work....


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## felten (13/1/11)

WarmBeer said:


> A lot of this talk is about aluminium kettles.
> 
> What about stainless steel keggles?
> 
> Any issues with getting the stainless scrubby, and a good dose of elbow grease? Should I try to avoid scratching the inside surface?


A plastic scrubby is fine, not sure about the stainless kind though.


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## razz (13/1/11)

I use a s/s scrubby on my kettle, mind you I don't scrub the shit out of it. Give it a good high pressure jet from the garden hose to get rid of most of the gunk first.


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## wil.j (22/5/17)

Just a quick question about cleaning stainless steel kettles. Will post here instead of starting a new thread...

I keep reading people saying not to clean with scourers (green or stainless steel). Of course, I've only just read this since cleaning my new kettle with a green scourer (shakes fist). 

Is there a reason for this? What effect will it have on my kettle and/or brews?

Cheers


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## mtb (22/5/17)

I'd never paid it much thought myself, but Dr Google led me here where the following is stated;

*NEVER EVER use steel wool (wire wool) to clean stainless steel.*
It is usually made of carbon steel and any fragments left behind will rust onto the stainless steel surface. Using any kind of scourer which has previously been used on ordinary (carbon) steel is also a no-no for the same reason.

Your green scourer may or may not fit that description. Looks like a good resource in general though.


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## Rocker1986 (22/5/17)

I don't scrub the shit out of it with these things but I use a stainless steel wool to clean my stainless urn, with a bit of citric acid in water. It brings it up like new every time. I also use a stainless steel wire brush to give the element cover a clean off before the boil with no problems at all. I've had this urn for nearly 5 years and there is no sign of any rust anywhere on it, if the wool and the brush were gonna cause rust problems, they would have long before now. If you're having problems with a stainless scourer on stainless steel then the quality of the SS is shit. A few scratches won't cause decent quality stainless steel to rust. Things like urns and kegs made for commercial use wouldn't be using shit quality stainless either.

From what I've seen of green scourers they seem to be more like hard plastic than metal of any sort so maybe they're alright. I wouldn't use normal steel wool though, it would wear out and rust after a while anyway I'd imagine.. like my old normal steel wire brush did.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (22/5/17)

Yep green scourers in use here and no issues from my end. I've smelt what trub/hops left in a kettle turn into after a few weeks from NOT scrubbing them off and I never want to again.


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## mofox1 (23/5/17)

Yup, green scourer and dishwashing detergent for most cleans. Every once in a while fill to the brim with hot perc and met.

Mash tun + HX recirc loop gets the hot perc/met every time though, as I can't mechanically clean the inside of the hx.


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## Stouter (23/5/17)

For my urn I've been using sodium perc overnight, then a sponge which has one side covered in a blue 'non-scratch' scrubber, similar in texture to the green scourers. Shmicko clean every time with limited elbow grease. The one time I've had the element caking problem I just scrubbed a little with a nylon brush then soaked.
I clean all my gear same day, but usually soak the urn with any other bits like mash paddle, etc overnight. Same for my cubes.


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## Leyther (23/5/17)

I'm brewing tonight, checked my machine (single system) which I thought I'd cleaned thoroughly when last used a few weeks back and found black mould on the bottom!!! I guess must have been some residue in it, anyway another thorough clean (scrub with sponge/green thingy) and overnight in Sodium Perc and hopefully good to go tonight. Based on this I think a run through with SP is going to have to become a regular thing after cleaning.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (23/5/17)

mofox1 said:


> Yup, green scourer and dishwashing detergent for most cleans. Every once in a while fill to the brim with hot perc and met.
> 
> Mash tun + HX recirc loop gets the hot perc/met every time though, as I can't mechanically clean the inside of the hx.


Never thought to use detergent in the kettle. Would likely be a cost effective and more water efficient method than with PBW. You've obviously not seen any issues with head retention on beers if somehow the surfactants carry through to the keg/bottle?


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## mofox1 (23/5/17)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Never thought to use detergent in the kettle. Would likely be a cost effective and more water efficient method than with PBW. You've obviously not seen any issues with head retention on beers if somehow the surfactants carry through to the keg/bottle?


Not at all. I only use a little, & obviously rinsed a couple of times with hot water. I find it doesn't make too much difference to the crud on the element, but it magics away the green "high tide" ring.

Feel like I should go pour a beer now... y'know, for science.


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## manticle (23/5/17)

People love overcomplicating. Green scourer on stainless is fine. No idea why anyone would need to use steel wool unless they burn the **** out of the kettle and leave it for 6 months.


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## Rocker1986 (23/5/17)

I've never used sodium perc or any other detergents to clean my urn* because unless you get shit left behind for weeks like that, it's simply not necessary. I have had that happen once in which case I did soak it in perc, but like DJ I don't plan on experiencing it again. ******* yuck.
Citric acid dissolved in water then boiled gets rid of any shit on the element and when it cools enough to touch it, a scrub with the stainless wool removes the "tide rings" as good as any detergent, as well as beer/mineral scale. Oftentimes I leave the urn until the next day to do this and it still comes off with ease. After that's done it's rinsed out with water then I boil a few litres in it and drain this through the ball valve to melt off any dried wort or whatever.

*Urn only, not the ball valve and gauge. I can understand using detergents etc. in equipment that can't be reached by hand, and every few batches I do remove the ball valve and the sight gauge and soak them and all the nuts and other bits in perc to clean them out properly.


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## Lionman (24/5/17)

I use one of those detergent filled scourer brush thingos.

I find it helps to get rid of any residual sugars that are all sticky all over the place.

Then a thorough hose down and leave the lid off until it's dry.


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## Danscraftbeer (24/5/17)

Agree with over complicating. Far out I couldn't imagine all the different negative scenarios mentioned and have not experienced them either.
I have used all, green scourers, stainless scrub buds, and steel wool on stainless steel. Steel wool can achieve a bright almost polished finish. Its Stainless Steel! Polish it to your hearts content to whatever finish possible. Only negative scenario I can think of is literally gouge scratched surface that is rather abnormal.
As for detergent being cheaper? than Sodium Percarbonate? I figure pure Sodium perc is the cheapest and the best option. Especially bought in a bulk buy. 
As for better unstaining I use Citric acid too. Make it strong, let it sit for hours or overnight submerged in the acid water and the stain will easily wipe off with a soft cloth. No scrubbing or hard work needed.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (25/5/17)

Cheaper per gram perhaps but I find perc (PBW) requires soaking, so a larger volume, e.g. 25-30L to clean my kettle to ensure valves/fittings are covered for soaking where as detergent could probably do 10L and scrub away rinsing the scourer in the lesser volume to clean kettle. If that makes sense?


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## DJ_L3ThAL (29/5/17)

Cleaned my kettle after a brew yesterday, how would detergent clean inside whirlpool return, pickup tubes and the valve/fittings?

Think I'll stick to PBW, cheap enough [emoji3][emoji106]


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## Coodgee (29/5/17)

I have a grainfather and I always wipe/scrub the inside until it is clean to the standard that you would clean your dinner plates. Then every 5 brews or so I give it an overnight hot soak in napisan to get rid of the beer stone and any other discoloration. The staining can potentially make it harder to see stuck on crud. You want your shit clean is the way I see it.


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## rude (29/5/17)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Cleaned my kettle after a brew yesterday, how would detergent clean inside whirlpool return, pickup tubes and the valve/fittings?
> 
> Think I'll stick to PBW, cheap enough [emoji3][emoji106]
> 
> ...


Nice one DJ 

Is that the whirpool a third of the way up above the pick up for outlet ?

Also where is your mash tun does it fit inside or is it seperate ?

Sorry for off topic but Im doing the 1V build at the moment

For cleaning sodium perc here but might try the citric in future


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## DJ_L3ThAL (29/5/17)

Yeah thats the whirlpool. Made it adjustable so I could do single, double or triple batches with my rig. I have a 3V system so my mash tun is a separate insulated vessel [emoji106]


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