PBW Staining on stainless

[Humulus16]

In the past I've used PBW and there was always a slight white staining on all stainless vessels. I've read that excess CO2 that has not been purged might be the issue...? I would like to keep the fermenters(side manway)looking good because they are front and center. Has anyone removed the PRV from top and attached an air hose for proper air intake to keep the manway closed? Solution would be at 120F(FV preheated with burst HL)and a 2hp pump for CIP. Any help or techniques would be very helpful.

Also, PBW is what is on hand right now.

Many thanks!

[Ted Briggs]

PBW is infamous for leaving calcium deposits, you should be doing an acid wash every time. Switching to a built-caustic is my advise. Cheaper and better.

[beerguy1]

Like Ted said PBW is well known for this in fact we had the same issues with caustic. Yes, it is a reaction with the CO2 here is what we started doing. As soon as the ferm or brite is empty we would open the manway and rinse the bottom out with water then leave the manway and bottom valve open this will allow the CO2 to escape. Then we just do our normal caustic wash but even before the caustic is all out of the tank we burst rinse it a few times. Caustics have a sufactant (sp?) that keeps the proteins ect from adhering to the sides but given the heat of the tank it can quickly dry the dirty water and then you get minerals ect stuck to the sides of the tank. We only acid our tanks once a month as our caustic has a beer stone remover in it. So, this method has helped alot and our tanks are once again nice and shiny.

[Humulus16]

Thank you!

[wailingguitar]

I had some issues of this sort with PBW, but never with BruREze. I don't actively purge CO2 from my tanks before clean, just what comes out on it's own as part of the break down and pre-rinse process.

[Humulus16]

I've heard CellarMaster from Birko is very similar to PBW but without the staining...

[Junkyard]

I get some white staining on the outside of our tanks with bruREZ but nothing on the inside and bar keepers friend will polish the outsides right back to normal

[jebzter]

Gluconated caustic or other chelated caustic with a surfactant package. I use the 50144 from Chemstation, at 160 degrees, our CIP is 10 minutes, the tank is brite and it rinses away clean, no mineral deposits.

[Humulus16]

Looking back at my post...the staining is on the outside. Thank you everyone for the advice!

[soia1138]

PBW needs to be rinsed immediately. If you get some dripping down the outside of the tank then it needs to be rinsed completely and immediately or it will leave a deposit. A product like barkeepers friend might help clean the pbw scale on the outside. Oops just noticed that Junkyard already suggested the bar keepers friend, so I will change my statement to nothing more than a second on his!

[GoodBeerNut]

I've used cellar master and it stained both the inside and outside with a white film. It never caused a problem with a batch but was a concern on the inside. We always did a cold rinse right after cop and I wondered if a hot rinse before a cold rinse would have helped prevent the white film.

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[soia1138]

Not sure about cellar master but PBW specifically instructs you to rinse with water at the same temp as your solution

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