Reply With QuoteFor my FV's I get about a 20 psi spray with a 140F caustic with stone remover in it for 30 min at a concentration of 2oz per gallon of water- the extra pressure really helps. For my serving vessels (I work on a 7 bbl system at a pub) I do the same except I also add an extra ounce per gallon of striaght up stone remover to my caustic solution. I give each tank (SV or FV) 30 min of a nitric/phos at 2 oz per gallon every four brews and allow to dry overnight to passivate. In the brewhouse, I use 2 oz per gallon of my caustic/stone remover mix in my kettle and set kettle to heat up to 170F. The pressure for the CIP is much less than for the fermenters but by the time my temp is reached my kettle is perfectly clean, it takes about an hour (I have slow heat ups). After finishing up the kettle, I then send my hot caustic over to my lauter tun and let soak until the next time I brew. For sanitizing I use iodaphor at 20 ppm for my FV's, SV's, for packing product hoses and gas lines and as the last step in my parts soaking bin (three bins: 1. caustic 2 oz per gallon 2. food grade phos acid at 1 oz per gallon 3. 20ppm solution of ioda...30 min each bin). I learned these procedures at a big brewery (Redhook in NH) but have had great success with it on any level, brewpub or production. Hope this helps
Originally Posted by monkeybrewer
. The chemical is from Enerco. I'm not at the brewery right now but I'll post the exact product names a little later. I do know that it is alkaline and suitable for the same uses as plain caustic(CIP spray, soaking, circ. etc..). I too was in the school of thought that acid was the answer to avoid beer stone. While it definitely works in maintaining already clean, stone free equipment it is not very effective when major build up has occurred. When I recently took over the reins at Legends I inherited tanks that had a complete lining of beer stone (ie if you took the tank away there was a complete tank made of beer stone left behind
). When I tried a very strong nitric CIP I made no progress. That's when Murph from NC Malt(thanks Murph!) explained to me something I didn't know...beer stone is mineral but binds to our equipment in an organic way. Whatever this chem additive is (you can also buy just the additive), it did the job at room temp, 3 oz per gallon and only took 30 minutes to get me back to functional tanks. Acids definitely maintain but this new (to me) stuff maintains and recovers. I'll post the exact names and numbers shortly. Let me know if I left anything out
