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  • Velo filter CIP

    Hello all,
    I'm trying to get my Velo filter back into service, but am having an issue getting the plates completely clean. After a 20 minute caustic CIP, followed by a hot water rinse, there was a 15 degree arc on the plates that was still stained with something that appeared to look like semi-dried beer or iodophor. I followed up with a phos-nitric acid CIP for 30 minutes, then another rinse. Stains still there. Left filter bell packed with hot acid overnight, rinsed in the morning, and still stained.
    Here's photos of the clean sides of the plate assembly and the stains in question:
    clean side
    stained side
    Nothing seems to be working to get this staining off, you can actually sort of scrape some of the material off on your fingernail, no smell to it, dark and sort of..well....I can't quite describe it. I know the filter is well CIP'd now, but I have hesitation about running beer through the plates with this staining material on it. Any other suggestions?

    --Rob
    "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

  • #2
    Is it a "thick" deposit - like cooked on protien?

    or, could that be a caustic burn on your plates?

    I've seen burns happen in tanks before where the caustic lumps up because it wasn't dissolved properly. Under the lump, you get discolourization. The only way we got rid of it was to scrub with the dreaded green scrubbie - which from previous threads is highly unreccomended.

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    • #3
      Well, it doesn't look like thick anything, it's a very thin layer -- - if it was protein based, I would have guessed the caustic would have cooked it out and I would rule out caustic burn just by the fact that the rest of the surface of all the plates is sparkly clean. Frankly, I'm stumped. All 'green scrubbing' would accomplish is leaving little green thread fragments stuck to the filer plates. I'm just being paranoid and resisting running beer through it not knowing the nature of this junk.

      --Rob
      "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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      • #4
        Could you shed some light on the history of the staining? Did this filter sit on its side with something in it for an extended period? It looks a bit like protien, but very extreme which makes me wonder about it without more information. If it is protien, add some chlorine to your caustic or use a chlorinated TSP product. Caustic alone (and acid as well) are very poor removers of protien. Make sure when you use chlorine on stainless steel that you are careful about temperature and make sure it does not come into contact with anything acidic. Rinse well. Let me know how it turns out.

        Bob

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        • #5
          Could you shed some light on the history of the staining? Did this filter sit on its side with something in it for an extended period? It looks a bit like protien, but very extreme which makes me wonder about it without more information. If it is protien, add some chlorine to your caustic or use a chlorinated TSP product. Caustic alone (and acid as well) are very poor removers of protien. Make sure when you use chlorine on stainless steel that you are careful about temperature and make sure it does not come into contact with anything acidic. Rinse well. Let me know how it turns out.

          Bob

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          • #6
            I am the new brewer at a brewery that was inactive for several months, I know very little to nothing about the history of the filter, it's use or maintenance. I'll try the chlorinated caustic I have and see what transpires. Thanks for the input!

            --Rob
            "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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            • #7
              Looks like rust. I doubt the screen is 304/316SS and unless it was passivated correctly it can rust. What concentration of acid are you using? Have any straight Phos acid?

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              • #8
                Not rust, it was sort of gummy, blackish material - as I said, it looked like the grunge you get off the bottom of a used up bottle of iodophor....I was using a 3% acid wash. Just got through doing a foaming chlorinated caustic cycle, after the rinse, I'll inspect and let you guys know if it looks any different.

                --Rob
                "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                • #9
                  No change. Still areas where I can scrape it up on a fingernail. I'm at wit's end with this one. I located some chlorinated TSP, I'll give that a crack.

                  --Rob
                  Last edited by RobZamites; 10-05-2004, 12:15 PM.
                  "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                  • #10
                    If caustic didn't touch it ,TSP will be a waste of time.

                    It's starting to sound like dried pectin. Was the filter bought new?

                    I suggest you disassemble the plate stack. There are many nooks and blind spots for funk to hind in.

                    I would take the plates and place them into your kettle and run a 180F 5% P3PO4 soak for 2-3 hours.
                    Last edited by Naoh Bob; 10-05-2004, 04:10 PM.

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                    • #11
                      AFAIK, it was purchased new by the original brewery owners. Their brewhouse cleaning procedure was, well, not quite up to the standards I'd use...I'm spending lots of time just getting the brewery into shape to start production again.
                      I'll give the P3Po4 a try, as I think I have a small drum of that floating around the brewery somewhere. Thanks for the help, Naoh Bob.

                      --Rob
                      "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                      • #12
                        Alrighty - figured it out once I took the filter apart. Turns out that the filter was never really cleaned well after use, oodles of DE, DE sludge and DE caked with iodophor. Cleaned the plates one by one with a soft sponge and TSP, followed by hard flushing with the hot water hose. Looks tons better! Thanks for all the help, guys!

                        --Rob
                        "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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                        • #13
                          Try using CS240 mixed with demin water and leave preferably over a weekend.

                          Phil.

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                          • #14
                            Filter cip

                            If you can disassemble the filter screens, basically take them out of the filter bell. Once every three months, I take the screens out of the filter we use and power wash them. Gets anything out that might have been left in the screens. Also it's a good thing to check the condition of the screens tears in the screens mainly, which will cause alot of break through. So maybe a good power washing will get that "stain" off. Hope this helps...Cheers

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