Beer Forum

How often should I tear apart my mash tun and thoroughly clean the parts and replace the gaskets? Is it even needed? I haven't checked, but I can just imagine all kinds of bacteria and mold just festering in there.

It's probably a good idea to disassemble things and give them a soak in PBW/Oxyclean/whatever you like, from time to time to remove any possible buildup. Another benefit to this is to check that the seals are still soft and not damaged.

It's not too important in the mash tun since the wort will be boiled and will kill anything it could possibly pick up in the MT.

Thanks. That will be a pain, but at least I know I should do that now.

In my opinion, the only cleaning a mash tun needs is to remove debris. My tun is nice and brown and full of scratches from well over a decade of brewing. As long as you are rinsing the tun out well and removing sugars and other materials that might putrify, there is no need to disassemble or radically clean anything.

Enjoy!

mabrungard wrote:In my opinion, the only cleaning a mash tun needs is to remove debris. My tun is nice and brown and full of scratches from well over a decade of brewing. As long as you are rinsing the tun out well and removing sugars and other materials that might putrify, there is no need to disassemble or radically clean anything.

Enjoy!

I always run a ton of hot water through the spigot and clean the tun thoroughly. My question came about because I had a chemist friend over and she made me leery about what might start to grow in the crevices of the copper fittings. Being a semi-lazy brewer, I would much rather not have to disassemble anything. Thanks for the response!
By the way, I am from Carmel, too. I'll have to look up Foam Blowers soon.

yup, an hour long boil is the great equalizer...

mabrungard wrote:In my opinion, the only cleaning a mash tun needs is to remove debris. My tun is nice and brown and full of scratches from well over a decade of brewing. As long as you are rinsing the tun out well and removing sugars and other materials that might putrify, there is no need to disassemble or radically clean anything.

Enjoy!

I agree with mabrungard, as long as you rinse it out well after each brew there is no point to disassemble. I run the hot water from my immersion chiller into my mash tun to clean mine. I haven't disassembled mine since i got it three years ago, but the only thing would be the ball valve that i cant see or scrub.

+1.

I just use a soft sponge and warm water to make sure that most of the gunk is off. It does not need to be sanitized. I rarely use any cleaner (like oxiclean). Maybe once a year when I want it to sparkle again.

Your could have all sorts of interesting stuff growing in the crevices but it won't matter as you'll be boiling for at least an hour like others have mentioned.

People that feel antsy about this need to remember that there's any number of mouse feces/hair, and bugs in your malt as well that you're probably not aware of. Just like your breakfast cereal.

Kal