18 replies to this topic

[BrewerGeorge]

How strong is the caustic used for cleaning breweries? Anybody know how much crystal lye to add per gallon to get that strength?Same question about acid cleaner... How much 31% HCL to get the acid solution to alternate with the caustic?

[MolBasser]

5% for caustic.I'll have to check for acid.MolBasser

[MolBasser]

5 grams of caustic per 100ml of water to get the concentration that you are looking for.You can get away with 3.MolBasser

[BrewerGeorge]

5% for caustic.I'll have to check for acid.MolBasser

Check my math, because this sounds like an unbelievable amount of lye...11 gallons of water = 41 liters = 41000 grams. 5% solution by mass would need almost 2 kg of lye. Can that be right?

[MolBasser]

2kg in 11 gallons sounds about right.Like I said, you can get away with 3%, but 5% is the industry standard.This is not a solution to play with, the object is to obliterate any soil.MolBasser

[MolBasser]

Get the water hot too.MolBasser

[BrewerGeorge]

It's running now. I dropped it down to 5 gallons and added all the lye I had. About 480g, which puts me just under 3%. 160F. Seems to be cleaning up pretty well - the solution is getting brownish. How long should I run this?

[MolBasser]

What are you cleaning?CIP cycles in the brewery run about 30 minutes with caustic.MolBasser

[BrewerGeorge]

I'm cleaning the kettle, pump, tubing, etc.I ran it 30 minutes, then 30 minutes of plain water. Getting ready to switch to acid. Does 2% sound right?

[cj in j]

We generally use 3% with standard caustic, like Mol said, and 1-1.5% with acid. But we use an acid-basic cleaner, not straight up HCL so I'm not sure what you should do.I should also add that we don't use standard caustic except for fairly light cleaning -- we have stronger stuff that we use for most serious cleaning. That we usually use in a 1-2% solution.

[BrewerGeorge]

Everything got nice and clean with <3% caustic and ~1% HCL, with a hot water rinse in between and after. Everything I can fit in is now in the pressure cooker getting hopefully sterilized.Thanks for the help, Folks.

[djinkc]

Everything got nice and clean with <3% caustic and ~1% HCL, with a hot water rinse in between and after. Everything I can fit in is now in the pressure cooker getting hopefully sterilized.Thanks for the help, Folks.

Was there a problem or just general housecleaning?

[BrewerGeorge]

Was there a problem or just general housecleaning?

Linky

[Stout_fan]

I still say, do a stout. :devil:Hope you are wearing eye protection when working with this stuff, George.

[MyaCullen]

I still say, do a stout. :devil:Hope you are wearing eye protection when working with this stuff, George.

George is a former snipe, he knows his PPE.say George have you set up a PMS schedule for your brewing equipment yet?

[HarvInSTL]

Everything got nice and clean with <3% caustic and ~1% HCL, with a hot water rinse in between and after. Everything I can fit in is now in the pressure cooker getting hopefully sterilized.Thanks for the help, Folks.

Where did you get your lye and hcl from?Online prices seem either crazy expensive for small amounts or very reasonable for large amounts. Ie 4lbs of lye for $17 shipped or 50lbs for $90 shipped. HCL 32% is the same. 5 gallons for $63 shipped or 1 gallon for $40 shipped.Just not sure if I need 50lbs of lye and 5 gallons of 32% hcl.

[MyaCullen]

Where did you get your lye and hcl from?Online prices seem either crazy expensive for small amounts or very reasonable for large amounts. Ie 4lbs of lye for $17 shipped or 50lbs for $90 shipped. HCL 32% is the same. 5 gallons for $63 shipped or 1 gallon for $40 shipped.Just not sure if I need 50lbs of lye and 5 gallons of 32% hcl.

Local Hardware store for me, they have 1lbs containers of lye for $3, and 1 gallon of Muriatic acid for $4 something.

[BrewerGeorge]

Local Hardware store for me, they have 1lbs containers of lye for $3, and 1 gallon of Muriatic acid for $4 something.

Lye came from hardware store drain cleaner. HCl I got from a guy at work who has a large supply of 20 Baume acid for some reason.

[Humperdink]

Lye came from hardware store drain cleaner. HCl I got from a guy at work who has a large supply of 20 Baume acid for some reason.