Hi guys!
I have a few questions about caustic cleaning with different water profiles (softened water vs brewing water).
Our municipal water is not the best. I don’t have the water report at hand but from what I remember it is >500ppm hardness, 250ppm chloride, 90 ppm sulfate, 150 ppm sodium and >1,100 conductivity among other parameters. So we clean with softened water and brew with well water which is of better quality in comparison to the municipal water. In short, beer wasn’t meant to be brewed where we are located, hahaha!
Up to now I had a small-sized HLT where I heated softened water for caustic cleaning the day before brewing.
On brewing day I heated the well water and added salts and acids to bring the residual alkalinity down for a good mash PH. The mash PH was within range but I still got cloudiness in the warm water from minerals in suspension, calcium build-up of the wall and calcium precipitate on the bottom of the HLT.
Now we are getting a new system and I want to change my cleaning procedure and clean on brewday. I see two options.
1) Heat softened water in a separate tank and brew as usual. I have to buy another tank but I can skip the acid cycle.
2) Use the brewing water for cleaning and bring down parameters with acids as usual or mix with RO water, which means getting an RO system. But I am not sure if I would still get calcium build-up and precipitate that would lead to inadequate cleaning.
My chemical supplier suggested getting a caustic with higher sequestering power followed by a PAA sanitizer with nitric acid to skip the acid cycle.
Any thoughts?
Cheers!
I have a few questions about caustic cleaning with different water profiles (softened water vs brewing water).
Our municipal water is not the best. I don’t have the water report at hand but from what I remember it is >500ppm hardness, 250ppm chloride, 90 ppm sulfate, 150 ppm sodium and >1,100 conductivity among other parameters. So we clean with softened water and brew with well water which is of better quality in comparison to the municipal water. In short, beer wasn’t meant to be brewed where we are located, hahaha!
Up to now I had a small-sized HLT where I heated softened water for caustic cleaning the day before brewing.
On brewing day I heated the well water and added salts and acids to bring the residual alkalinity down for a good mash PH. The mash PH was within range but I still got cloudiness in the warm water from minerals in suspension, calcium build-up of the wall and calcium precipitate on the bottom of the HLT.
Now we are getting a new system and I want to change my cleaning procedure and clean on brewday. I see two options.
1) Heat softened water in a separate tank and brew as usual. I have to buy another tank but I can skip the acid cycle.
2) Use the brewing water for cleaning and bring down parameters with acids as usual or mix with RO water, which means getting an RO system. But I am not sure if I would still get calcium build-up and precipitate that would lead to inadequate cleaning.
My chemical supplier suggested getting a caustic with higher sequestering power followed by a PAA sanitizer with nitric acid to skip the acid cycle.
Any thoughts?
Cheers!
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