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  • Cleaning filler

    90 Degree hot water rinse do not seem to be enough to clean and desinfect filler and long filler tubes. A couple of questions:

    How do you clean the snift valve without a posibility to use bottles?

    Do you use clorine based foaming agents on the external parts of the filler (this filler is an old one which frames are not made of SS.)?

    How to circulate a cleaning agent through the filler?

    My idea to rework my cleaning operations is to

    After filling:
    1. Cold rinse
    2. hot caustic cleaning internal parts (filler bowl, filling valves) by circulating the caustic from inlet valve through a top valve of the bowl
    3. cold rinse through filling tubes.
    4. Remove filling tubes and "center clocks", clean them manual, desinfect the tubes with a cold acid solution
    5. rinse snift valves backwards, remove snift valve and desinfect them with cold acid solution.
    6. Clorine based foam on external parts of filler, when the filler got under 40 degrees celsius.
    7. Rinsing external parts of filler,

    Before filling:
    1. Hot (90 deg celsius) rinse of filler through the filling tubes
    2. Cold rinse to cold down to 10 deg celsius.

    Any comments?

  • #2
    Greetings!

    Sounds like you have a pretty thorough routine. You are probably doing a little more work than you need to though. You didn’t mention what filler you have. If you could reply back more specifically, I could possibly give you more information. Sounds like you have found that there are definitely some limitations with older machines when it comes to user friendly cleaning operations.

    New fillers have CIP cups that mount to the valves and do not rely on the bottle platforms (lift cylinders) to support them. This allows the filler to rotate during cleaning cycles and to take advantage of valve actuators to thoroughly clean and rinse the machine (even snifts, etc.). With an older machine you really need to use bottles or make up something to act as a bottle (which is much safer; use stainless steel or a good high molecular weight plastic like Delron). You will need to use the bottle lifts to seal your bottle to the valve and most likely you will have to go around and manually cycle the valves and buttons a few times during each cycle. Additionally, you can’t seal all of the valves at once because lifts will drop at the infeed / discharge side of the machine. You will have to partially rotate the machine at some point during each cycle. Unless your machine has a rotary joint for returning cleaning solution, you will run into some complications with your return plumbing as you rotate the machine.

    All of this will get a bit dangerous because you will be rotating the machine and dealing with cleaning compounds, all while you are in close proximity. Please use caution. Using this technique will keep you from having to remove parts from the machine for additional cleaning.

    Otherwise, your sanitizing routine sounds pretty good. Remember your hot sanitize won’t reach the snifts or the vent tubes very well unless you do something similar to the CIP. Flooding lots of hot water out of the valves over the tubes will help, but it won’t be all that effective and it certainly won’t get into the snifts. This highlights the absolute need for a good CIP. I would also recommend flooding the bowl with a sanitizer and leaving it there between bottling days. If you can go to the bother of doing this in a manner similar to the CIP and working the sanitizer into the snifts, it will be the most effective.

    You should be cautious of the following: Some older filler bowls are made of brass or white metal and caustic will deteriorate them. Brass bowls are epoxy coated to protect them and your product, but that coating can fail. Check the condition regularly. Bring the temperature up and down gradually so you don’t stress the bowl. Be sure that you are using sterile water to cool off the bowl prior to filling. If you don’t have access to sterile water, use beer but make sure and discard the beer that has been warmed.

    Finally, using chemicals to clean or sanitize the external surfaces of the machine is a necessary evil. Even the newest machines have parts that would do well to never see some of these harsh compounds, but you simply have to use your best judgment and don’t use concentrations that are stronger than they need to be.

    Hope this helps answer your questions.

    Bob August
    Majestic Packaging Solutions

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    • #3
      The filler is a 1970 Holdefleiss long tube filler which vent the bottle air up in the bowl. Since I wrote this thread I have talked with Diversey Lever and they do not recommend a clorine based foaming agent, they have a product named Suredis. They also recommend using this acid sanitizer to be used to sanitize the filling tubes when removed because this agent has a long term effect.

      I have an idea to sanitize the the snift valves with out using dummy bottles. I think about to do a nozzle which you manually press in the snift valve with (open it) and then let the cold sanitizer bleed through the valve, when went thorugh all 24 valves, rinsing. I can not CIP and rotate the bowl at the same time. My thought was to use a caustic/clorine solution at about 45-50 deg celsius for about 15 minutes to kill all bacteria in the bowl, filling valve, and inlet tubes.

      An other thought, how to sanitize the co2 lines. I have started to use alcohol to "desinfect" co2 hoses, no rinse. I have made a small CIP alcohol solution for small hoses. Before use I blow out residual alcohol with co2. There is brass connections on most co2 hoses. Or is it not common to desinfect co2 hoses from co2 tank to filler bowl as an example?

      Comment


      • #4
        It sounds like you have worked on this issue quite a bit. Talking with your Diversey representative is a great resource. They used to make a product (and perhaps still do) that is a spray on gel for cleaning the exterior surfaces of the machine. I preferred the caustic version (they make an acid based one too) because caustic won’t attack mild steel surfaces where acid will. You will always have to be careful around aluminum, brass, copper, etc. as almost anything will attack these surfaces. When shopping for a filler, it is always a good idea to assess the overall use of these materials in order to avoid cleaning conflicts.

        The idea of channeling sanitizer through the snift ports is a good one, but I would like to caution you. Cold sanitizing is an effective surface treatment on clean surfaces. It should never be in place of CIP or manual cleaning treatment. It should come after. Additionally, and I am just throwing this out there (and not saying that you are even doing this), some brewers use sanitizing agents instead of hot water sanitizing their fillers to save time and money. This is a very bad practice; especially on older machines with lots of gaskets, rubber seals, and worst of all rope packings. Sanitizers simply will not penetrate these surfaces and ensure sanitization. Heat is the only proven method for destroying microbes in these hard to reach areas. Additionally, you will need to make sure that your sanitizer is approved for use without a rinse or you will need to rinse out the bowl or snift ports before running product.

        You also made mention of the machine venting the bottle atmosphere back into the bowl. These passage ways must be cleaned as well. Long tube machines like yours usually have a separate port where short tube machines vent through the vent tube and valve body.

        Lastly, sanitizing the CO2 lines is a very good idea and very important! I think using alcohol is a bad idea. Consider doing something like this: Install a sterile filter with a check valve somewhere in your CO2 delivery system. Install a disconnect directly after the check valve heading toward the filler. During CIP, disconnect the line from the filter and allow CIP solution to run through the line as well as rinse water and sanitizer. When you hot sanitize, you can follow the same procedure. Some brewers like to flow steam through these lines and sometimes through the sterile filter. Just make sure and purge the lines with gas prior to running product.

        Feel free to contact me directly at bob@majesticpackaging.com.

        Cheers
        Bob August
        Majestic Packaging Solutions

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