Any ever use Amonium Persulfate?

[BrewHilo87]

Aloha forum,
I am curious if anyone is familiar with amonium persulfate and what concentrations it's used in. Our owner has used this in past for kegs and some bottling line sanitizing but he doesn't know how much was used. He knows the water solution ph had to get to 2-1.5 before using. We have had a lacto and pedio infest and deamed it to come from our oxygen stone for aerating wort. I am trying to find if I can use amonium persulfate to nuke our ferms to get these guys dead. Every thing i have read so far indicates it is a bad toxic and im concerned about using it in ferms. We now soak our stone in caustic after use and rinse with hot liquor before reasembly. Currently we are heat sanitizing with 180+ water for 25mins then letting cool down and running an ambient peroxycetic acid for sanitizer before filling with wort and yeast. Any suggestions or help in nuking ferms to feel safe to use again would be helpful.

[jk_brewer]

It seems like you are doing a good job with sanitizing. I would trash all soft parts on your tanks including valve seats and replace with new ones. Also a pressure cooker makes a great autoclave for oxygen stones.

[Natrat]

I second what jkbrewer says. Nothing like real heat to kill the bugs.

When you do your ferms, make sure you remove and disassemble things like sight glasses, PRVs, door gaskets...EVERYTHING and give them a super wash. Small parts can go into a dishwasher after you've soaked them, which does a good job of removing residue and heat killing the parts. If you find any residues that can be scraped off, do that, and go through the whole process again. Replace every gasket or soft surface you can find.

I'm also the kind of guy that does an interior inspection once all the parts are off the fermenter. I get right in and look at every weld and surface with a good light and I carry a brown (won't scratch) scrubbie with me. Then CIP again to get rid of my fingerprints (I wear tyvek coveralls and a hairnet inside)

If you can get your hands on ozone, it's the bomb.

And remember, an infection like pediococcus can move upstream, so clean stuff upstream of your o2 stone as well.

I don't think it's toxic. I seem to remember that it inhibits Listeria and is used in wine production. But it's a nasty lacto producer in a brewery.

Best of luck!

Nat