Cleaning

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A "water-break test" is easy to apply and is effective in detecting residual organic matter that may not have been removed in the degreasing operation. Simply wet the surface, and the water will break (bead up) around oil, grease and other organic contaminants not completely removed from the surface. A surface that exhibits good "sheeting" is said to be oil free.

Alkaline-Based Detergents

• Effective in removing organic soils (i.e., oils, fats, proteins, starches, and carbohydrates) encountered in brewing.
• Will not remove calcium oxalate and other inorganic compounds that lead to a build-up of beerstone.

Acid-Based Detergents

• Commonly used in a two-step sequential cleaning regiment with alkaline detergents.
• Primarily used for the prevention or removal of beerstone, water scale (calcium and magnesium carbonates), and aluminum oxide.
• Will not work for heavy soils, tannins, hop oils, resins, and glucans.

Acids, such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid are effective in removing membrane scaling (Gan et al., 1999) while alkaline solutions such as sodium hydroxide are more effective in removing organic fouling and biofouling (Al-Amoudi and Lovitt, 2007; Filloux et al., 2015).

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. Contact with bleach solutions for any length of time can cause significant pitting.

Before you do any sanitizing, you need to thoroughly clean your equipment. Sanitizers do not work on equipment with soils on the surface, and bacteria and wild yeasts will remain. It is always best to immediately wash your equipment after use while the soils are soft and easier to remove. There are a number of good cleaning agents on the market. One Step™, Straight-A™, and Powdered Brewery Wash™ (PBW) are three of the most popular. These products may be used on bottles, fermenters, and other equipment. Cleansers should be rinsed after use. Don’t soak your equipment in a cleansing solutions for longer than the time recommended on the packaging or you can damage your equipment. As with ALL chemicals. ALWAYS thoroughly read the instructions, material compatibility, and safety warnings. Never use more than the recommended concentrations or soaking times or you may damage your equipment. Cleaning Stainless Steel and Aluminum: For general cleaning of stainless steel and aluminum, mild unscented detergents, PBW, or percarbonate-based cleaners are excellent choices. Bleach should not be used to clean or sanitize stainless steel or aluminum as it will corrode and pit them.^{[citation needed]}

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.

A biofilm is difficult to remove because it protects its microorganisms against the action of shear forces and biocidal chemicals. In addition, if not completely removed, remaining parts of a biofilm will lead to a rapid regrowth.

Chlorine and other oxidizing agents are helpful for removing a biofilm by weakening the EPS and proteins. Alkaline treatment is also effective.

Although biofilms can be wiped off easily, they withstand the shear force of running water.

A two-step cleaning program is needed to remove both organic and mineral scale: alkaline cleaning followed by an acid cleaning. The acid cleaning is effective only after the alkaline cleaning has effectively removed the organic fouling.

Citric Acid is a reasonable option for removing metal oxides and calcium carbonate and other inorganic scale.

Chelation agents and surfactants dramatically increase the effectiveness of an alkaline cleaning solution.

• 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
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376738805005806
• https://discussions.probrewer.com/forum/probrewer-message-board/brewery-operations/cleaning-sanitizing-q-a-available-for-sponsorship/49183-caustic-sodium-hydroxide-vs-alkaline-noncaustic-percarbonate-metasilicate

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.

See also

• RO systems describes proper methods of cleaning and sanitizing reverse osmosis water purification systems