immersion element gone black

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chris2012
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immersion element gone black

Post by chris2012 » Sat May 20, 2017 6:56 pm

I'm just wondering if I should try to scrub the carbon or whatever it is away somehow? With a normal
kitchen cleaning brush with bristles it's not getting any cleaner.

It's remaining black after boiling in water for a while.

I'm worried if it could add off flavours. (This always seems to happen with my immersion elements, am i cursed?)

RobP

Re: immersion element gone black

Post by RobP » Sun May 21, 2017 2:05 pm

Has your element been on without liquid in the boiler?
Stuff burnt on to the element will reduce functionality, if that's what it is you should try getting it off. Never tried it but PBW is supposed to work on carbon deposits, otherwise, I find elbow grease, a plastic scourer and sodium percarbonate eventually works.
An expensive solution is to get an LWD element, they are supposed to prevent this kind of thing happening.
https://www.brewbuilder.co.uk/elements.html

chris2012
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Re: immersion element gone black

Post by chris2012 » Sun May 21, 2017 2:34 pm

Cheers for the reply, I'll look into the lwd elements.

Ive never used the element without being immersed though.

I wonder if I could use a metal scouring thing to scrape off the carbon though. I had tried an oxygen cleaner like PBW.

jaroporter
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Re: immersion element gone black

Post by jaroporter » Sun May 21, 2017 2:40 pm

Oxygen cleaners like pbw are not pbw though.. it's way more effective on most stuff. Its still possible to get stuff scorched on these lwd elements but again pbw gets rid of it easy with a soak and a scrub
dazzled, doused in gin..

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Jocky
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Re: immersion element gone black

Post by Jocky » Sun May 21, 2017 3:49 pm

I've had scorching on my elements when I've not recirculate enough and ended up with a lot of fine material in the boiler.

When I once managed to blacken the element entirely I soaked it in a citric acid solution, and it loosened the carbon enough to be able to scrape it off in chunks with a knife.

It started like this, and was like new afterwards.
IMG_2148.JPG
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

chris2012
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Re: immersion element gone black

Post by chris2012 » Sun May 21, 2017 4:34 pm

Cheers Jocky that's interesting wrt citric, I've got some powdered version, which i use as a holding solution for a barrel, I'll have to
give that a shot.

gazjcollins

Re: immersion element gone black

Post by gazjcollins » Sun May 21, 2017 11:01 pm

I'm with Jocky on this one - citric acid did the trick for mine after a load of Belgian kandi-sugar turned my element black. It softened it enough for me to be able to scrape it all off.

Works wonders on making my wort chiller all shiny and new looking too!

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simon12
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Re: immersion element gone black

Post by simon12 » Tue May 23, 2017 11:35 am

Citric acid is amazing if there is limescale in whats burn on, if that doesn't work try oven cleaner and rinse well.

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