Cleaning

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Chemical cleaning is the most effective and least problematic method used to clean stainless steel. Alkaline detergents can be used to remove organic soils without any risk of equipment corrosion. Acetic acid and phosphoric acid are good choices to remove mineral scale from equipment. It is important to know the ingredients used in chemicals for your own safety safety as well as preventing corrosion. Mild detergents and soft cleaning cloths or brushes can be used on many of the soils encountered in the brewery.

Alkaline Brewery Wash (ABW) and Powdered Brewery Wash (PBW) are designed to break down organic material, so it is great for soaking stainless accessories/parts or soaking in your stainless vessel. Run an alkaline brewery chemical through your system at the end of a brew day to clean the inside of valves, hoses, pumps, etc.

In general, bleach should be avoided because of the risk to equipment and to beer flavor.

Frank and Chimielewski investigated the effectiveness of Quaternary Ammonium Compound or Chlorine on stainless steel and other domestic food preparation surfaces. The results indicate that different materials have an inherent different ability to be sanitised. Although the results indicated that abrasion (and therefore increasing surface roughness) does not always reduce the effectiveness of sanitising on clean surfaces, if adherent soil is not removed, microbial survival could be enhanced. Sanitation effectiveness is not simply a result of surface roughness or porosity.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/dairyland-sterosol-milkstone-remover-acid-rinse anecdotally this product is more effective on beer stone than Beer Stone Remover by Five Star.

For organic soil, the best thing is warm/hot sodium hydroxide, 3-5% solution. Sure PBW is caustic (kinda) but is nothing compared to the power of lye, best of all it's way cheap. After that, rinse with a weak acid solution and you're sparkling shiny clean. NaOH does have a dark side though and if any gets on you, it will make soap out of the affected parts. Especially bad in the eyes.

• https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/homemade-pbw-recipe.467655/
• Bleach soaking... Not so great.
• https://www.ecologiccleansers.com/the-geek-stuff/the-essentials-of-cleaning/
• https://www.ecologiccleansers.com/the-geek-stuff/role-of-chemistry-in-cleaning/
• https://www.ecologiccleansers.com/the-geek-stuff/the-answers/
• https://www.mbaa.com/publications/tq/tqPastIssues/1992/Abstracts/tq92ab28.htm
• https://www.birkocorp.com/resources/blog/white_papers/a-look-at-biofilms-in-the-brewery/
• https://diversey.com/en/blog/brewing-biofilms-and-value-expertise
• https://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/publications/2000/P410.pdf
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40223152_Biofilms_and_brewing
• https://books.google.com/books?id=9LmkAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA449&lpg=PA449&dq=Control+of+Biofilms+in+Breweries+through+Cleaning+and+Sanitising&source=bl&ots=4H9kpgYh3g&sig=ACfU3U3cSIOe-S1x2H2GcJPsj8MkwoKy7w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4na-cmIfqAhWZQjABHbn-BoMQ6AEwB3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=Control%20of%20Biofilms%20in%20Breweries%20through%20Cleaning%20and%20Sanitising&f=false
• https://books.google.com/books?id=t-1hSVvcHvEC&pg=PA307&lpg=PA307&dq=Control+of+Biofilms+in+Breweries+through+Cleaning+and+Sanitising&source=bl&ots=yHziFkQ4it&sig=ACfU3U07Lh5TvkfFrKv6XCoqqLHmXq6VUQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4na-cmIfqAhWZQjABHbn-BoMQ6AEwCHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Control%20of%20Biofilms%20in%20Breweries%20through%20Cleaning%20and%20Sanitising&f=false

Degreasing new metallic gear

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH, lye, strong caustic) is the industry best practice for degreasing new stainless steel gear. For this purpose you only need a 3-5% solution (hot). You need to wear safety glasses, and quickly wash your skin if you get any on you.

Upon receiving any piece of stainless equipment, use a good dish soap, hot water and some elbow grease. The dish soap will break down any oils or dirt that are present from the manufacturing process.