Have I Cleaned My Immersion Element To Well?

[Steve]

Trying to nail a certain taste in my last 10-15 or so brews. Its not a bad taste but its making a simple EKG bitter taste the same as a simple CASCADE ale. Installed a new kettle tap etc etcthe other night. Mate of mine (Peteoz77) suspecting the immersion element I use in the kettle along side my 3 ring burner. Decided to give the immersion element a thorough clean today before tomorrows brew. Its being boiling away for about an hour in water/vinegar solution. I took it out to see if I could budge the white scale off it. I used a wire scrunchy scrubber. Ive got down to a copper coloured metal. The chrome on the outside has worn off to show a copper coloured coil at the bottom of the element. Is this good? Are they made of copper? Would you carry on using it?

Oh and whilst replacing my old brass garden tap on my kettle for a nice shiny ss ball valve I discovered a stuffed cotton eyeball off some stuffed toy that one of my boys had stuffed up the tap. It could have been there for months and I no chill by pouring my boiling wort from the kettle into the fermenters.........nicely filtered through this bloody stuffed eyeball. I dont know if I dare use the element.

Any thoughts on the element?

Cheers
Steve

Edit.....just noticed that the element in my HLT bucket of death is copper too? I use my immersion element in my bucket of death.

 

[praxis178]

Any thoughts on the element?

Cheers
Steve

Edit.....just noticed that the element in my HLT bucket of death is copper too? I use my immersion element in my bucket of death.

The element will be fine, they are made from a copper tube packed with some mineral to protect the nichrome wire resistance element inside. So as long as the copper jacket is with out holes/cracks it's all good!

Recently replaced the element in the house hotwater unit as it had failed, by splitting for almost it's full length, the nichrome wire was exposed in many places and broken in some even. Yet the unit still produced ample hot water, just a bit gassy was all! <_<

 

[Steve]

Thanks Thomas
Steve

 

[Peteoz77]

Let us know what happens... That taste is quite odd... and hard to figure out.