How often do you clean your boiler / kettle elements?

[Kev75]

Just a quick question:
how many brews do you do in your boiler before you take the element out to clean it?
I had a bad experience recently with my plastc bin style Electrim boiler and now have to make a new one and wondered if the dead element was a result of not taking proper care of it. Always washed in warm, soapy water and and then sterilised with VWP and then rinsed but after 6 AG brews it blew when boiling my sparge water.
Still fecked of with the damn thing as the mash was just 15 mins off complete when it tripped the house out.
If anyone would be good enough to recomend a kettle type with the the long pins that I could cannablise I'd be grateful.
I know I've seen links to building your own boiler on here before but I cannot remember how to find them.
Could this be a call to the shiny stuff???
Until then, if anyone has tips on boiler manufacturing please could you point me in the right direction.

Many Thanks

Kevin

[nobby]

I clean mine every time I use the boilder. Not difficult straight after use. I just use a plastic pan srub.

[coatesg]

Every time - I get a load of protein and hop material dried onto them otherwise...

[mentaldental]

Every 1-2 times for me (depends if I am being a lazy arse) but everytime if its a dark beer--they form so much more cludge.

A pot sourer works well with the element in situ but it is much easier if you can remove it.

[garwatts]

I leave mine in, just cover with water, add a couple of teaspoons of citric acid - quick stir leave for a day or so and job sorted. Don't forget to rinse

[dcq1974]

I clean mine every time with about 50g of Citric Acid and boil for a few mins in minimal amount of water. Clean in a few mins after that with an old toothbrush!

[Kev75]

Thanks for your replies. Ill bare this all in mind although its not so different from what I was origionally doing>
Cheers!

[yashicamat]

The boiler elements are cleaned every time, partly because they seem to accumulate quite a bit of crud, but mainly because they are the larger "homebrew" elements and aren't cheap, so I don't want to risk cooking them because they've got a layer of crud on the outside. The HLT elements see far less frequent cleaning and when they do need cleaning, just a 10 minute soak in citric acid brings them up sparkling as it's just calcium carbonate on those.

[wetdog]

A wipe over with one of those sponges with a scourer on the back every time for me.
I've always used Tesco kettles for the elements and never had a problem.
just for the record, I have 3 elements in my boiler just in case one fails mid boil;

[garwatts]

A wipe over with one of those sponges with a scourer on the back every time for me.
I've always used Tesco kettles for the elements and never had a problem.
just for the record, I have 3 elements in my boiler just in case one fails mid boil;

That's a neat looking job there I do like the three elements (one of mine failed on the last brew ) How easy is it to get the filter out for cleaning after you finished brewing?

[wren10]

As all good housewives know, a quick clean every time will prevent a bigger job later on - so I clean mine in situ as part of the cleaning up process. We're in a hard water area so apart from the sludge from teh brew if I didn't do this I would quickly get a limescale build up and I don't know what the taste consequence of that would be.

[Mitchamitri]

I have two elements in my boiler so if one fails itll still boil - but I do have a 12 gallon boiler so need the two elements to get up to temp quickly.

[wetdog]

How easy is it to get the filter out for cleaning after you finished brewing?

its a b!t¢h. The problem is where the two pipes meet the gutter and join to the mesh. I had to fit a 90° elbow to try and get the angle but it really needs an angle more acute than 90 so almost no room to manouver. A project for the future when I have the facility to bend pipe to my requirements I think...

[Kev75]

Well here goes - I built a new boiler yesterday and after testing it appears to be working.
The proof of the boiler I guess is in the working.

[Kev75]

Well the home made boiler works a treat!
First time I've made one so was a bit apprehensive. Suprised at how well it went really. No leaks and it boils faster than the old Electrim boiler!
Not sure how long it will last but hopefully will get some brews out of it!!!