De Gunking brand new shiny stuff like a BZ.

[Frisp]

Combining my two posts. 1) my aquisition of a barand new BZ gen4 and 2) my newfound urge to clean everything twice and then again thrice lest I get a nasty infection...

While it looks clean I cant help thinking that there may well be some undesirable secretions attached to my lovelly shiny BZ ! Im thinking oils, lubricants, amongst other unmentionables...

When I had my last AG setup it was all "pre loved" and someone else had done that first "Degrease" clean

I was planning on filling it, adding some chemclean. bringing it up to 40C and running the pump , recirculating . wiping all surfaces with a clean sponge and rinsing the life out of it..

As Chemclean is an alkaline cleaner will that be sufficiently robust to deal with any manufacturing oils etc? or do I need to add another step ?

 

[JockyBrewer]

Chemclean, PBW etc that are primarily sodium Percarbonate are great all round cleaners…. except for oils.

The cheap and easy thing to use is washing up liquid. Squirt some on, give it a scrub with a damp sponge so it’s nice and foamy, then rinse really well.

That’s worked well for me on everything except my grainfather fermenter, which needed some trisodium phosphate to shift the grease for some reason.

 

[Frisp]

Chemclean, PBW etc that are primarily sodium Percarbonate are great all round cleaners…. except for oils.

The cheap and easy thing to use is washing up liquid. Squirt some on, give it a scrub with a damp sponge so it’s nice and foamy, then rinse really well.

That’s worked well for me on everything except my grainfather fermenter, which needed some trisodium phosphate to shift the grease for some reason.

Do you need to do any other treatment after using the trisodium phosphate? or is it wash and go?
Do you know if its pump friendly?

 

[MashBag]

Caustic Truck wash. Cleans off stuff then you think it is clean.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Do you need to do any other treatment after using the trisodium phosphate? or is it wash and go?
Do you know if its pump friendly?

It just needs a really good rinsing after use and it's fine on all materials - Brewtools sell it to use before first use on their ultra expensive equipment.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Bit of castrol R never hurt nobody, sorry as above good old fairy liquid and a very good rinse

 

[peterpiper]

You want to recirculate (and a also run through drain tap), while cleaning, to clear inside of pipework & pump as well. Circulating at boil temp would likely shift most of any surface oil, without needing much detergent. Maybe a couple of drops, if any oil film appears.

Following each brew session, I clean with Astonish Oxy Active, reciculating at around 60°C, as that seems great at releasing brew deposits.
Though for any stubborn deposits burnt on base, I first use Bar Keepers Friend, powder cleanser.

Following a wipe down of inside surfaces, using scourer & detergent, and flush out till all looks & is running clean. If I then do a minimum fill (8L), heat to 60°C and recirculate.
It might look clear, but when 2 tsp oyx active is added, a load of thin brown floaters can suddenly appear.

I wipe down whole of inside with oxy, then rinse twice with water, then sterilise with sodium metabisulphite rinse.
Leave upside down, with tap & recirc valve open, for a day or until no more dribbles.

Best price I found for Astonish oxy active, was BnQ £4 / 1.65kg. Some brands of oxy laundry cleaners, are scented - maybe avoid those!

Bar Keepers Friend, is a cleaner suitable for reactivating (against rusting), and polishing stainless steel. I get the 12oz. powder cleanser, which looks better value than the liquid type.
There are other makes of suitable cream cleaners, looks for ones with 'reactivating stainless steel'.

 

[fluketamer]

heres video for the first cleaning .

theres another video i saw on kegland or more beer that i cant find now which basically says to run it through with pbw the first time.

and rinse real well i used oxyclean . before my first run.

this is another good video on cleaning after brewing but i imagine it would work jeu as well for factory oils also.



my aio instructions gave some advice i thought that was good that i use.
Brewing Prep:
"it is acceptible to heat a quantity of water in the boiler to sterilize the equipment etc, before use "

i boil 10 liters of water in there throw in any ss items i have like Doughball Slayer the Magnificent. (the name i gave to my 24 inch whisk - malt trembles at the mere sight of this thing) :-) and anything else heat resistant that i want to steam a little like my spoon and throw the lid on for a good steaming. then i run it out the tap to clean the tap good with boiling water. careful obviously,

Brewing Process:
"always clean before and after use."

i dont use oxy every time i use it. i just make sure to clean it well after use and then do the steaming thing on the next run.

Maintenance:

i rinse it real well after use then tip it out dry .

any residue that wont come off i find will easily be removed with straight vinegar solution just rinse well after.

i plan to do oxy rinse every 2-3 brews but its prolly not needed. tbh as long as you clean it after each brew with several hot water rinses.

 

[The Baron]

Majority of suggestions will do it, I use Oxi then rinse well and wipe

 

[JockyBrewer]

Bit of castrol R never hurt nobody, sorry as above good old fairy liquid and a very good rinse

Yep. I've seen the grey muck come off of an otherwise shiny fermenter when using washing up liquid AFTER cleaning with PBW. The sodium percarbonate (which is also the main ingredient in Chemclean, Oxi etc) just doesn't lift grease/oil.

Once it's gone through a grease removal step then a sodium percarbonate based cleaner should be all you need for the starch/sugar organic soil you get from brewing. I use some Barkeepers friend on anything that's not shiny.

 

[Frisp]

Thanks folks, thats got me all sorted,
Due to my suspected infections on Kit brews 1 and 2,Im now almost paranoid about cleansing
She will be getting a flood,and pump with TSP just to make sure all the oil has gone then rinsed till it demands I stop
Then its having a liberal wipe with citric acid solution and left to air dry...

 

[fluketamer]

rinse it like its meryl streep in silkwood

 

[marshbrewer]

I degrease new shiny stuff with stardrops, then rinse all that off and clean with my normal cleaner (unbranded oxi), then Videne sanitise and use.

 

[Jordang]

Fairy liquid and barkeepers friend. I don’t like the residue oxy cleaners leave so only use it rarely

 

[u407255]

Brewtools recommendation is to trisodium phosphate clean to get rid of manufacturing residues and then passivate to restore the corrosion resistant film on the stainless steel. It’s a lot more thorough than the sodium percarbonate clean that you might do as a regular clean

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Rinse the PBW off with water as hot as it was being used in the kettle. This stops the cloudy raindrops.
PBW is a mix of sodium percarbonate, sodium metasilicate and EDTA as best we know.
I don't worry too much about infection initiated on the hot side.