Grease in the process

[hops cynic]

A colleague and myself have been having a discussion about the use of grease (food grade, of course, i.e. Sani-Lube) that will contact beer in the process. Places he uses it are: valve seats, valve stems, tank lid/manway gaskets, etc. I will agree that it can be useful to prevent galling, helping seal a tricky tank lid, etc., but the idea of beer in contact with grease seems troubling.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Larry Doyle]

"Don't worry! Its food grade" is from a page ripped out of the Alfred E. Newman book of quotations which is often found in the Mechanic In A Can 101 syllabus. "Food grade" means it won't make you sick but it could make your product sick and make customers sick of your product.
Ask your colleague if he'd like a heaping bowl for breakfast. After all,its food grade and it will speed up the digestion process.

[wiredgourmet]

I haven't used this product, so thoughts are all I can offer. Certainly, there is a tolerable limit to just about everything undesirable. Aluminum in water, insect parts in packaged foods, etc. I think if you were very careful to wipe away any excess lubricant, and leave only a very light film behind, it might not have a measurable effect. Of course, there is only one way to find out.

You first

[NYSBrewer]

Just because somthing is food grade, doesnt mean you want it in your beer. The glycol in my fermenter jackets are food grade, but it still dont want to drink it.

[mr.jay]

I have some food grade NaOH I use as a precoat for pretzels. Never thought of drinking the stuff (seein's how it burns my hands n' cleans my tanks n' all).

I remember working at this restaurant. We had a new guy start, and as part of his hazing, we offered him a petrol gel filled donut. (Hey, why not, it's food grade! He must have gargled at least a gallon of warm water before he coudn't feel a coating in his mouth.

[hops cynic]

Well in all fairness we're not talking about copious amounts of the stuff, rather more like incidental contact. For instance, when replacing a valve seat, it can be a bear to get everything back together tight and square with the new rubber. Also in some valves the stem rubs metal-to-metal with the recess in the flanges. So a little dab of grease can make the job much easier and the valve easier to operate.

Also you'd think a good caustic CIP would remove most/all of the grease from the contact surfaces.

Anyone else do this or is this strictly verboten?

[gitchegumee]

Food grade grease like Petro-gel is absolutely necessary in a modern, well-run brewery. Why would it be verboten? Food plants are where food grade grease is used. This includes breweries. Whole discussion on this a year ago:

http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=10804

Just use it responsibly.

[gasketman]

Just a word of caution when it comes to "food grade" products. What you should really be looking for is an FDA product - which means that all ingredients are on the FDA white list - or NSF 61 which requires verified testing. Food grade tends to be used for products that are made for incidental contact and not long term exposure.

Dwight

[wiredgourmet]

Easier still, look for USP grade. Who can argue with that?