TheWiggman
Haters' gonna hate
Refer to my other thread about my 3V build on the dramas I've had. Basically I've made 5 brews and tipped 3 out due to mainly melted sealant hiding in the sight glass of the boiler.
In the process of making 100% sure I've cleared anything that might ruin a brew I've found that my HLT water - used as a RIMS then later for the sparge - tastes... well, terrible.
I've boiled water in the kettle and mash tun for 15 min and both taste as they came out of the tap.
Water out of the HLT tastes metallic, which I'm blaming on the copper 1/2" tube at this stage.
See below for an inside shot of my HLT with RIMS coil. EVERYTHING is stainless except for the silicone seals and the copper tube -
This is the cleaning process before coming to this conclusion:
I don't get it. I've seen a lot of other setups like mine and if it was such an issue people wouldn't do it. My first two brews were sparged with this water and some hot tap water, and no remarks about smells or off flavours yet. When I rigourously cleaned the systems to get rid of the plastic taste I ran the pump through the copper tube. I sampled the water later, and there were zero off flavours. This was at both boiling and >80°C.
Can anyone suggest anything? For now I'm going to retire the HLT as a HERMS and boil water on the stove in a few pots and pans to batch sparge. I'm not risking throwing another brew out.
In the process of making 100% sure I've cleared anything that might ruin a brew I've found that my HLT water - used as a RIMS then later for the sparge - tastes... well, terrible.
I've boiled water in the kettle and mash tun for 15 min and both taste as they came out of the tap.
Water out of the HLT tastes metallic, which I'm blaming on the copper 1/2" tube at this stage.
See below for an inside shot of my HLT with RIMS coil. EVERYTHING is stainless except for the silicone seals and the copper tube -
This is the cleaning process before coming to this conclusion:
- I've left it sitting with a bleach solution overnight
- Washed by hand with dish washing liquid
- Rinsed
- Boiled
- Rinsed again
- Boiled
- Rinsed
- Boiled with 30ml vinegar to 15l water
- Rinsed
- Boiled again
I don't get it. I've seen a lot of other setups like mine and if it was such an issue people wouldn't do it. My first two brews were sparged with this water and some hot tap water, and no remarks about smells or off flavours yet. When I rigourously cleaned the systems to get rid of the plastic taste I ran the pump through the copper tube. I sampled the water later, and there were zero off flavours. This was at both boiling and >80°C.
Can anyone suggest anything? For now I'm going to retire the HLT as a HERMS and boil water on the stove in a few pots and pans to batch sparge. I'm not risking throwing another brew out.