Acid-only CIP vs carb stones

[paintz55]

Cheers all,

I want to try acid-only CIP on our brite tanks under pressure. Saves chemicals and saves dumping a tank full of CO2. Planning on doing a caustic cycle with complete gasket and parts removal about once per month.

Will this jam up our carb stones?

I remember doing an acid cleaning at another brewery a few years back, because I was in a hurry, and the carb stone go pretty clogged and had to be soaked in caustic.

Thanks

[gitchegumee]

I do it acid cleaning of brite tanks all the time. Saves chemicals, CO2, time, and energy by cleaning cold. Carb stones are your issue. They do need to be treated well and pulled out and cleaned every four or five batches. Treat them right and you should have no problems. Good luck!

[paintz55]

Thank you!

Would you recommend doing the cleaning cycles through the carb stone, or simply clean through the spray ball and "hit" the stone that way? That may have been my problem before, just want to make sure we are doing the cleaning we need to be doing.

Cheers

[gitchegumee]

The topic of cleaning carbonation stones is discussed somewhere else on this site. Several good options posted there with pros and cons. I don't put liquid through the stones, but others do.