[MattyAHA]

Does anyone know how commercial breweries sanitize? what chemical do they use?

[denny]

Does anyone know how commercial breweries sanitize? what chemical do they use?

All kinds of stuff.  A lot of it stuff you wpouldn't want in your home brewery.

[narcout]

I toured the Brooklyn Brewery (maybe in 2006), and they had a bunch of tubing and stuff soaking in a kiddie pool sized tank of what appeared to be iodine solution.

[Robert]

Does anyone know how commercial breweries sanitize? what chemical do they use?

All kinds of stuff.  A lot of it stuff you wpouldn't want in your home brewery.

Indeed.  Chlorine dioxide (Oxine) and peroxyacetic acid have no place in home breweies.  I feel like I could get gassed or burned just reading instructions for their use.  Not only that, they're expensive and short lived.   Luckily, nobody will sell or ship the stuff to you! 

Besides iodophor and Star San,  one thing homebrewers could use like pros but rarely do is ethanol.  Breweries sometimes use it in spray bottles for quick, small jobs like fittings and such.

[hopfenundmalz]

I toured the Brooklyn Brewery (maybe in 2006), and they had a bunch of tubing and stuff soaking in a kiddie pool sized tank of what appeared to be iodine solution.

Saw that too, Iodaphor no doubt.

OP - a friend who is now a pro said the big difference for him was the strength of the chemicals and the personal safety equipment required to work with those.

Caustics, strong acids, and so on.

[BrewBama]

I saw a video of a pro brewer actually light ethanol he sprayed into a valve before connecting a line to harvest yeast.


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[kramerog]

In addition to everything mentioned above, steam is also used.

[ynotbrusum]

In addition to everything mentioned above, steam is also used.

For the tanks and many SS I runs they certainly use the steam - and we don’t have that option....

[Robert]

In addition to everything mentioned above, steam is also used.

And sounds like it fits right in with all the other powerful, dangerous, professional agents when referred to as gaseous oxidane.   

[goose]

In addition to peracetic acid (PAA), the brewery I worked at used Saniclean as a sanitizer for clamps and gaskets since it does not foam like StarSan.  You have to use a bit more of it but it works well.   I use Saniclean at home to sanitize my stuff and also keep a bottle of ethyl rubbing alcohol handy to sanitize the outside of valves when I am transferring beers.

As Rob said, you do not want PAA anywhere near your home brewery.  It can cause nasty chemical burns to both the skin and the the lining of your nose when it gasses off.

[Visor]

I saw a video of a pro brewer actually light ethanol he sprayed into a valve before connecting a line to harvest yeast.


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   There was a thread recently on the BA forum about sample port cleaning which had a link to a video produced by the ASBC and the BA. Among the suggested items were a spray bottle containing 70% alcohol - either ethanol or isopropanol - and a propane torch. The reason for using 70% instead of 90% alcohol is that 90% evaporates too fast, the torch is used to burn off/evaporate any residual alcohol before taking your sample. TIFWIW.

[jeffy]

I saw a video of a pro brewer actually light ethanol he sprayed into a valve before connecting a line to harvest yeast.


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   There was a thread recently on the BA forum about sample port cleaning which had a link to a video produced by the ASBC and the BA. Among the suggested items were a spray bottle containing 70% alcohol - either ethanol or isopropanol - and a propane torch. The reason for using 70% instead of 90% alcohol is that 90% evaporates too fast, the torch is used to burn off/evaporate any residual alcohol before taking your sample. TIFWIW.

Careful there.  I heard a story just yesterday of a brewer starting a fire in the brewery like that.

[MattyAHA]

Thanks for the info everyone

[Kevin]

Look up the latest Beersmith podcast. They did a whole show on cleaners and sanitizers. Mainly for homebrewers but they touched on commercial products for comparison.

[charlie]

...  one thing homebrewers could use like pros but rarely do is ethanol.  Breweries sometimes use it in spray bottles for quick, small jobs like fittings and such.

+1.

70% ethanol is what the nurse uses when she wipes you down to give you a shot, and it is the most effective concentration to use for killing bacteria and other nasties. We used 70% ethanol diluted from 100% ethanol (available from the scientific supply houses) in a spray bottle to sanitize equipment in the tissue culture laboratory and the brewery.

We can't get 100% ethanol commercially, but Everclear is a commercial product that is available in 151 proof (75.5%) and 190 proof (95%) Everclear can be diluted to 70% ethanol according to the formula concentration * volume = concentration * volume. Here's an example for 190 proof Everclear:

Let's say that we want to end up with 500 ml of 70% ethanol. Starting with 95% Everclear (190 proof) the math is;

500 ml X 0.70 = X ml X 0.95.

Solving for X the formula looks like (500 X 0.7)/ 0.95 or

500 X 0.7 = 350
350 / 0.95 = 386.4

So take 386.4 ml of 190 proof Everclear and dilute it to 500 ml, and Shazam! You have a half liter of 70% ethanol.

Spray away,
Charlie