Automating my cleaning process

[EccentricDyslexic]

Hi all,

Autobrew is now up and running perfectly, so noes that's all automated I want to automate the other tiresome task-cleaning!

At the moment I remove the grain and hops and manually clean and rinse out the vessels then Hoover out the water. Then I fill the vessels with PBW and run that through all the pipes, then I rinse.... It's a bit of a nightmare and very time consuming, especially when you then have to sanitise before the next brew too!

So my thoughts are to find a no rinse detergent that can be left sat in the pipes and vessels until the next brew...is there anything suitable out there?

Then I'd just drain the detergent and rinse with stars an before my next brew.

Any ideas?

Steve

[Aleman]

What are your pipe, Copper Stainless, silicone or plastic? Different materials react differently to different cleansers.

Personally if I had fixed plumbing I'd fill it all with hot / boiling water following cleansing and leave it all sealed

[EccentricDyslexic]

Copper and silicon pipes and a stainless chiller with brass tank conectors.

I am thinking about moving to all stainless pipework and having the tank conectors made up in stainless so i can leave starsan in it all the time between brews.

steve

[Kev888]

I looked at using stayclean a while ago - looks good but it seems quite expensive for the quantities I'd need. So now I do a similar thing to what Aleman suggested except i use starsan (like you suggest) instead of boiling water before sealing (as my pump system can't take boiling water). This has so far kept all piping mould-free.

To be frank my hose connectors are brass with copper tails so i'm not sure how long the copper bits in particular will last but they're cheap to replace and there's been no immediate degredation that I can see, even left in starsan for weeks, but they have definately lost any protective patina.. Guess I'll move to those hygenic quick release things in stainless or plastic if/when they do deteriorate.

Prior to that I recirculate a cleaner, and have gone for ease over cost so use a lot of it in order to fill and soak the tanks etc. I have just moved to a sort of home-made version of powdered brewery wash and am very pleased so far. I mixed (at 2:1) sodium percarbonate and sodium metasilicate and diluted this at 1oz to 1L of warm water and left it in my boiler over night, and by morning it had removed stains and burnt on debris that other cleaners have been failing to shift for months. I'd imagine that a combination of that (or idealy true PBW) and a high pressure hose to rinse would shift most things without manual scrubbing.

Cheers
kev

[Andy]

especially when you then have to sanitise before the next brew too!

Well you only need to sanitise anything which comes into contact with the wort after the boiler so the mash tun and boiler only need cleaning.

tank conectors made up in stainless so i can leave starsan in it all the time between

Do some research on long term exposure of stainless to an acid based compound such as Starsan. I suspect it's not advised.

[EccentricDyslexic]

Cant find much info about starsan left in contact with stainless and its effects, but cornies are fine with ph's around starsans ph level (like coke, lemonaide and stuff that cornies were originaly used for) so it should be ok?

The problem with that stayclean is that its not a detergent, only a sanitiser. I need a detergent to lift or disolve protiens left on insides of pipes that bug breed on...sanitiser wont do that. Unless maybe i bring starsan up to higher temperatures?

Steve

[Kev888]

Yes, the stayclean (or starsan in my case) isn't a substitute for cleaning the pipes in my method, its just bunged in there after they've been cleaned to inhibit mould etc. I haven't found starsan to be an effective cleaner (compared to PBW for instace) just a very good sanitiser, though it does seem to have some cleaning ability i wouldn't personally trust my 'hidden bits' to it without prior cleaning.

Think you're talking about a combined cleaner/sanitiser of some sort really then, though you'd need one that doesn't attack the metalwork, inhibits scale and stays effective longer term if you're going to leave it in there for days/weeks. Sadly i don't know of anything that would do all this in one go, though maybe someone else does.

Cheers
Kev

[EccentricDyslexic]

Ok how about a cleaner that doesnt need heat too? PBW needs high temps, folowed by a high temp rinse.

...how about Antiformin S run through cold, left in the pipes until the next brew,, then a thorough rinse through with Starsan at brew time?

Steve

[EccentricDyslexic]

Bugger, cant do that it has chlorine in it...maybe KISS- caustic and starsan!!

Steve