Cleaning in the Brewery

This table outlines the standard required for various parts of the brewing process:

Process	Plant	Soil Type	Cleaning Procedure	Cleaning Criteria	Chemicals
Milling	Mills and Rollers	Dust	Manual	Physically clean	None
Mashing	Mash Tun	Particulate sugar, scale, tannin	Manual or CIP	Chemically clean	Detergent
Boiling	Copper	Starch, sugar, hop residues, scale, tannins	Manual or CIP	Chemically clean	Detergent
Cooling	Para-flow	Particulate protein scale	Manual, CIP or both	Micro-biologically clean	Detergent & Sanitiser
Fermentation	F.V.’s	Yeast, Tannin, Sugar, Scale, Protein, Oxidation products	Manual or CIP	Micro-biologically clean	Detergent & Sanitiser
Conditioning	Closed Vessels	Yeast, Protein, Scale	CIP	Micro-biologically clean	Detergent & Sanitiser
Packaging	Casks	Yeast, Protein, Scale	CIP	Micro-biologically clean	Detergent & Sanitiser
Cellar	Beer lines	Yeast, Protein, Scale	CIP	Micro-biologically clean	Detergent & Sanitiser

The choice of cleaner employed will be dependent upon the nature of the deposits found in a particular environment and on the cleaning criteria. Generally speaking organic deposits such as proteins, gums, yeast, sugars and hop residues are most efficiently removed by caustic based cleaners, whilst inorganic scale is removed by acidic cleaners. The materials of construction of the plant are also critical, caustic soda based cleaners for example being aggressive to Aluminium.

Formulation of Cleaning Materials

Organic Dissolving Power:

Caustic soda is very efficient at dissolving the typical organic soil created by wort, beer and yeast residues within brewing plant. Caustic Soda also possesses a degree of bactericidal properties, particularly when used in a hot CIP system. However because there are a number of other requirements of a well formulated detergent, the efficiency of caustic soda is greatly increased by the use of selected additives.

Sequestering Power:

Using Caustic Soda alone as a detergent can cause problems in areas of high water hardness. Under strongly alkaline conditions carbonate salts are precipitated from solution, which may result in a whitish film being left on the surface of plant after the cleaning cycle. The addition of Ethylene Diamine Tetra-acetic Acid (E.D.T.A.), Sodium Gluconate, or Sodium Hexametaphosphate (Calgon) to the formulation acts as an efficient sequesterant, helping to keep the carbonate in solution.

E.D.T.A. and Sodium Gluconate also dissolve Calcium in alkaline conditions, helping reduce the formation of beerstone in vessels. However where beerstone has already taken a strong hold, acidic cleaners based on sulphuric, nitric, phosphoric or sulphamic acids will be needed.

Wetting and Penetration:

In order to be effective, a detergent needs to wet the surface of the soil and to then penetrate the crevices by capiliary action. It is by this means that the detergent overcomes the adhesion of the soil to the surface of the plant. The incorporation of surfactants into detergent formulations best achieves this requirement.

Dispersion:

Having utilised the wetting and penetration properties of surfactants to loosen soil and the chemical dissolving power of the Caustic Soda, it is then necessary to break up the large particles so created. Surfactants again are very efficient in this respect, along with metasilicates and phosphates.

Suspension:

By breaking up the dispersed matter into smaller particles the soil is easier to maintain in suspension, reducing the risk of soil re-settling onto plant surfaces during the cleaning cycle. Once again surfactants, metasilicates and phosphates best achieve this objective.

Rinsability:

The purpose of cleaning is to remove deposits from the brewing vessels that may cause beer spoilage, either microbiologically, organoleptically or physically. However, by their very nature, the cleaning materials themselves are a potential hazard. Residues of cleaning materials left in the plant pose a serious problem to Brewers, and for that reason an essential property of a formulated detergent is that it is itself easily removed by rinsing after the C.I.P. cycle. Caustic again is poor in this respect, Wetting Agents giving the best rinsability. Metasilicates and phosphates are an improvement on Caustic alone, but do not match the performance of Wetting Agents.

The most effective cycle of cleaning is:

1. Pre-rinse – to remove loose material
2. Detergent wash – to chemically clean
3. Intermediate Rinse – to remove detergent
4. Disinfection – to microbiologically clean
5. Final Rinse.

Many brewers however use a combined sanitiser/detergent, usually a chlorinated caustic formulation, to clean and sanitise in one operation. A little of the sanitising effect of the chlorine is lost, but results are quite satisfactory.

Sterilisation:

Sterilisation of brewing plant and equipment is usually achieved by the use of chlorine in the form of Sodium hypochlorite or Sodium dichloroisocyanurate, or QAC’s, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds.These very effective means of sterilisation suffer from one drawback – the need to rinse after use to avoid tainting the wort and beer. This is not ideal since water, whilst potable, is certainly not sterile. It is unlikely that rinse water would contain beer spoilage organisms, however it is becoming common practise to use a Terminal Sterilant such as Peracetic Acid, for the final rinse. Used to spray FV’s, CT’s, RB’s, casks and bottles immediately prior to use, peracetic acid sterilises without the need for rinsing.

Properties of Detergent Constituents

Detergent Constituents	Organic Dissolving Power	Wetting / Penetration	Dispersion	Suspension	Rinsability	Sequestering Power	Calcium Dissolving Power	Bactericidal Properties
Caustic Soda	V. Good	Poor	Poor	Poor	Poor	None	None	Fair
Sodium Metasilicate	Fair	Fair	Good	Fair	Fair	None	None	Poor
Sodium Tripolyphosphate	None	Poor	Fair	Fair	Poor	Fair	None	None
Sodium Hexametaphosphate	None	None	Fair	Fair	Fair	Good	Poor	None
Surfactants	None	V. Good	Good	Good	V. Good	None	None	Poor
E.D.T.A.	None	None	None	None	Fair	V. Good	Good	Poor
Sodium Gluconate	None	None	None	None	None	V. Good	Good	None

 

References:
Malting and Brewing Science, Hough Briggs and Stevens
Detergents and Sterilants in the Brewery, Michael Barrett LRIC
Detergents and Sterilants, Michael Barrett LRIC
Detergents for CIP, C G Stillman
How Clean is Clean, Dr Christine Fleming