156 replies to this topic

[Genesee Ted]

Clean it first tho. Protein will cook on at those temps and create little hiding spots.

[Big Nake]

Clean it first tho. Protein will cook on at those temps and create little hiding spots.

Right.  I got a bunch of little pipe-cleaners of different sizes and then one LONG one that works nicely inside of the silicone tubing.  I was already tuned into a lot of this stuff but some of these steps were new and I may have just whiffed on the cleaning and sanitizing inside of tubing, spigots and QDs.  Beer is being brewed and consumed at alarming rates here and that will continue until early January when the kids go back.  I might try to sneak in a brewday on Friday afternoon for another 1056 batch.  There are two empty kegs now that Sudsy McBeerington has been at the taps. 

[positiveContact]

Clean it first tho. Protein will cook on at those temps and create little hiding spots.

 

if you boil immediately before using are those hiding spots of great concern?  my SOP is to transfer cold wort, immediately run hot tap water through the tubing, let it dry.  then on brew day I boil the tubing with water in it and when it's time to transfer cold wort I pull the tubing out of the recently boiling water and get it set up.  I usually transfer within about 20 minutes of pulling it out of the hot water.

[Genesee Ted]

I’m sure you’re fine, personally, I’d rather just use sanitizer. No need to boil anything then

[positiveContact]

I’m sure you’re fine, personally, I’d rather just use sanitizer. No need to boil anything then

 

if there is crud built up in there I wouldn't think sanitizer would do the job.

[Bklmt2000]

If there's enough crap around to see a buildup, IMO boiling is good insurance that the crap is removed. 

[LeftyMPfrmDE]

What about regular cycles of BLC? i clean my lines every 30 days- CIP the QD, line and tap. 

Edited by LeftyMPfrmDE, 27 December 2019 - 06:20 PM.

[Big Nake]

As far as the silicone tubing is concerned (which is how we got on this topic, right?)... I will use the hot water + Oxi thing and then the long pipe cleaner tool.  I want to physically remove that crud if possible, especially yeast that has started to stick to the inside... it starts to harden and get stubborn to remove.  

[Bklmt2000]

If you can get the crud loose w/ hot water and Oxy, then physically removing it with the pipe cleaner tool is a good idea.  Any remaining crud should be easily rinsed away once the main stuff is removed.

[Big Nake]

If you can get the crud loose w/ hot water and Oxy, then physically removing it with the pipe cleaner tool is a good idea.  Any remaining crud should be easily rinsed away once the main stuff is removed.

Right.  Then clean it again on the next brewday and sanitize it.  I'm not sure if this applies to everyone but I'm connecting the tubing to the fermenter and then to the keg to naturally purge the keg of O2 and sometimes (maybe one in 10 or 15 batches, I get some blowoff from the fermenter up into the tubing.  We can all assume that the schputz is sanitary and won't harm that one batch but the tubing would need to be cleaned thoroughly afterwards.  

[denny]

Ken, I can't help but think you're barking up the wrong tree.  It's certainly not gonna hurt to deep clean everything, but I can't for the life of me think how it would have an effect on clarity.  Can anybody tell me if I'm wrong?

[MyaCullen]

Ken, I can't help but think you're barking up the wrong tree.  It's certainly not gonna hurt to deep clean everything, but I can't for the life of me think how it would have an effect on clarity.  Can anybody tell me if I'm wrong?

seems odd to me too

[HVB]

Ken, I can't help but think you're barking up the wrong tree. It's certainly not gonna hurt to deep clean everything, but I can't for the life of me think how it would have an effect on clarity. Can anybody tell me if I'm wrong?

I am sure it was not the culprit but it does rule it out. Nothing wrong with a good deep cleaning.

[Bklmt2000]

Some bacteria strains could be culprits for hazy beer.  A good deep cleaning would be a good way to help rule them out.

 

I recall hearing years back that pediococcus, lacto, or coliform could cause such issues. 

 

They're also flavor-active, and I recall Ken saying that the offending beers didn't taste off.  I wonder if such an infection was at work, at levels enough to cause haze, but not high enough to be tasted.

 

Just a thought or two; the main thing is, Ken seems to have solved his beer-clarity problem.

[Genesee Ted]

if there is crud built up in there I wouldn't think sanitizer would do the job.

If there’s that much crud that PBW doesn’t work, might be time for new tubing. Idk how easy it is to get sodium hydroxide, I use that at work, it dissolves all the organic stuff.

[denny]

Some bacteria strains could be culprits for hazy beer.  A good deep cleaning would be a good way to help rule them out.

 

I recall hearing years back that pediococcus, lacto, or coliform could cause such issues. 

 

They're also flavor-active, and I recall Ken saying that the offending beers didn't taste off.  I wonder if such an infection was at work, at levels enough to cause haze, but not high enough to be tasted.

 

Just a thought or two; the main thing is, Ken seems to have solved his beer-clarity problem.

but you could taste all that stuff if you have it

[Big Nake]

I don't pretend to know nor do I think I found *the* issue.  But when I had some cloudy batches (which would be odd for me) I started looking at the overall process and realized that some of the new processes might require some better cleaning and sanitizing practices.  Do I think that a lack of cleaning and sanitizing were the culprit for the cloudy beer?  Not necessarily.