Metal bits in Robo Brew? Help!

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 22, 2024

Just starting a brew in my Brewzilla Robo Brew and noticed these tiny metal hoops in the bottom of the kettle. This is the second time I've found these. Last time I noticed some after filling the kettle to heat the mash water. I removed those with a sieve and thought they might have come from the garden hose gun that I use to clean out the Robo Brew. This time I spotted them in the bottom of the kettle before adding any water and wiped them out using damp kitchen towel (see pics). Now I'm not so sure they're from the hose gun and worried something is coming apart in the Robo Brew itself. Could it be from the pump?? It's the only bit that I can't see!

Has anyone else had anything like this happen. I was keen to get a beer going today, but don't really want a batch with metal pieces in the beer!

Rwilts · Aug 22, 2024

Wow, they are definitely a specific thing. What that thing is I don't know, any way of narrowing down how they appearing? If they are just there before even turning on or adding water any chance 'someone' is adding them into the pot?

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 22, 2024

I've only found them at the start of a brew but also not ever checked that hard after the final clear up. the only things stored in the RB between brews are the different brew parts: pump arm, chiller coil, false bottom, hop spider etc. The RB is stored in its original box in my garage. Nothing looks like it could be dropping those little metal hoops.

I've run the pump, passing the pumped water through a sieve. Nothing! It's a mystery.

Not sure whether to plough on and brew a beer. The last one didn't kill me (not yet anyway). There are multiple stages where any metal hoops should get caught and so not make it to the bottled beer - left in the hops on the filter bed of the RB at the boil end, or settle into the trub in the FV etc. But the metal won't be doing anything good for the taste.

Rwilts · Aug 22, 2024

Well they will be boiled and don't look like copper so I think your ok

MashBag · Aug 22, 2024

Do you boil on a Friday or a Sunday?

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 22, 2024

MashBag said:
Do you boil on a Friday or a Sunday?

Usually at the weekend, probably mostly on a Saturday. I'm on hols this week so thought I'd make the most of a rainy day. Why?

MashBag · Aug 22, 2024

I would run a couple of tests to see where these are coming from.

#1Run the hose gun into and bucket and set off you get any.

#2 are they magnetic? Generally ss isn't (test the BZ to be sure).. But if they are magnetic and the kettle isn't, then they haven't come from there.

Do you use the BZ for anything other than brewing beers?

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 22, 2024

I think the hose gun might be a red herring as I just remembered that i changed the gun to an older hose nozzle before the last brew.

Just checked the hoops with a magnet and they're not magnetic. I don't use the BZ for anything else.

foxy · Aug 22, 2024

Invert the unit four screws are holding the base to the unit body. Remove the screws take the base off and remove the pump, remove the four screws and check the inside of the pump, check the line from the pump to kettle. If it's all clear reassemble and put the base back on, make sure you start the 4 base screws with a hand-held screwdriver, the threads cross very easily.
Those hoops have probably come from a batch of grain and had lodged in the pump and pipework, I just can't see where else they would have come from. I have opened many and only ever found cockroaches, solidified sugar, and moldy grain in them. Never any metal hoops.

jof · Aug 22, 2024

At least if they are metal they should sink to the bottom & get discarded with the trub.
But agree that it's more than a little disconcerting.

MashBag · Aug 23, 2024

They are the wrong shape for swarf really.

As they are not magnetic, chances are they, they're stainless so not a health concern.

Do you mill your grain or buy it crushed?

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 23, 2024

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps. I'll open ul the bottom and see if I can see anything obviously wrong. My worry is that if it's the pump, there will be no way of telling without completely dismantling it - and that's beyond my skills.

I do crush my own grain. I have an old Bulldog Malt Mill. I'll check that over too. It's strange that these have appeared at the start of each brew. I don't know how I haven't noticed them in the boiler when packing it away, and yet can't fathom where they could be coming from between brews.

JockyBrewer · Aug 23, 2024

Would be weird for it to be the pump - I’ve never seen anything like that inside the head of a pump.

MashBag · Aug 23, 2024

My guess is the grain, I would do that first?

Rodcx500z · Aug 23, 2024

I would go through the whole bag of grain, when
i worked in the bakery we had a system were by when things went t-ts up no was was blamed until the cause of said feck up was found, a good example is a cheese flan mix i did 130L this was my last job of the day i mixed it and put it in the fridge to deposit in trays later, 5pm i got a call off my boss, what happened with the flan mix nothing i said, this mix was liquid egg dried onion grated cheese and a 25kg bag of white powder which came from Japan, apparently it had set like concrete, turns out this powder comes in 2 forms food grade and industrial the industrial is used for for floor tiles they had sent the wrong bag, the moral here is there are DH'S working every were, so your metal bits might have come with the bag

Rodcx500z · Aug 23, 2024

Looking the pic they are almost uniform in shape which makes suspect a machine of some sorts at the factory or your bulldog grinder

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 27, 2024

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I brewed a beer on Saturday - all new grain from a recent order (but from my regular supplier). I found one more hoop or ring when filling the robobrew with the mash water, but nothing during the clean-up or left in the RB after the clean (which is where l found them last time).

I've stored everything away as usual and will be checking very thoroughly next time i brew to see if they appear again.

One thing I thought of after brewing this weekend: All my cleaning water is the hot water I've collected from my chiller coil (I fill an old fermenter bucket). The chiller is a stainless steel coil with hose end attachments which gets connected to the kitchen tap via a length of hose. I can't see why the piping would have those tiny rings in it, but it's another possibility. Especially as I've only noticed them in the RB after cleaning it.

foxy · Aug 27, 2024

H0PM0NSTER said:
Thanks for all the good suggestions. I brewed a beer on Saturday - all new grain from a recent order (but from my regular supplier). I found one more hoop or ring when filling the robobrew with the mash water, but nothing during the clean-up or left in the RB after the clean (which is where l found them last time).

I've stored everything away as usual and will be checking very thoroughly next time i brew to see if they appear again.

One thing I thought of after brewing this weekend: All my cleaning water is the hot water I've collected from my chiller coil (I fill an old fermenter bucket). The chiller is a stainless steel coil with hose end attachments which gets connected to the kitchen tap via a length of hose. I can't see why the piping would have those tiny rings in it, but it's another possibility. Especially as I've only noticed them in the RB after cleaning it.

I would have thought it would be a spiral, not individual hoops. :?:

H0PM0NSTER · Aug 27, 2024

foxy said:
I would have thought it would be a spiral, not individual hoops.

Yes, I agree and its strange that any bits from the original machining would still be coming put of the coil after it's been used in so many brews since I bought the RB. The mystery remains unsolved...!

Metal bits in Robo Brew? Help!

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