How to Clean Stainless Steel Brewing Equipment

Do you deal with rust in your brewing equipment? Do you know how to properly clean stainless steel and other brewery equipment? Keeping the equipment can be painstakingly difficult, especially if you are not using stainless brewing equipment. Stainless is easier to clean, and it is sanitary.  Some people deal with stainless that starts to rust which is due to problems with the protective chromium oxide on the surface. Scouring stainless steel with bleach can cause the protective coating to break down, leading to rust problems as the iron in the steel is exposed.

Upgrading to Stainless steel brewing equipment can reduce the maintenance requirements and provides advanced fermentation techniques. The steel fermenter can heat quickly, producing steam faster. The production time can increase drastically for a number of brewers that use older equipment, or equipment that is prone to rusting.

The construction of StillDragon tanks and other equipment is superior to others on the market. The build quality for the price is phenomenal. The tanks are clean and the lid hatches along with the strong and easy to clean. Consider the Single Walled Pot Belly Kettle from StillDragon if you need to upgrade your equipment. It is functional, easy-to-use, and will last a lifetime thanks to the stainless steel construction.

Passivating Steel

What can you do if you have distillation equipment that is starting to rust? Since the protective coating is removed and the iron is exposed, the only way to fix it is by fixing the stainless with re-passivation. The re-passivation process will include dipping the stainless steel in a bath of nitric acid. Nitric acid helps to dissolve free iron and other contaminates from the surface of the metal. The process will reoxidize the chromium to provide a protective coating once again. The process normally takes up to 30 minutes. The reason why many people perform the nitric acid bath is because it is a stronger protective layer from cleaning the steel alone.

Cleaning Stainless Steel

What if you do not have access to nitric acid to passivate your stainless steel? Clean the stainless steel until you get to the bare metal. Once it is clean, the oxygen will reform a protective chromium oxide barrier as it is exposed to oxygen. To clean the steel correctly, you need to use an oxalic acid based cleanser. Do not use steel wool as it strips the metal. The best cleaning option for stainless steel is to use a non-metallic green or white scrubbing pad. Rinse and dry the steel with a towel to keep it clean and dry, and the oxygen will automatically passivate the steel.

Since the stainless steel will re-passivate itself after each cleaning, upgrading to stainless brewing is a great way to prevent rust and keep a pure flavor for your alcohol. The most common brewing equipment uses a 304 and 316 stainless steel for kegs. The right stainless steel is designed to resist corrosion and is easy to weld. Avoid brewery equipment with a 303 variety of stainless steel as it is difficult to weld and tends to have problems with cleanliness.

Stainless brewing equipment is a nickel alloy and will not rust as long as you clean it correctly. You can identify rust by the reddish-brown color or a pink color in some situations. Simple polishing will normally remove the rust if you catch it early. Deep pitting often arises in fermentation equipment, which can be challenging to clean.

Always search for kegs that are made from stainless steel versus aluminum. The aluminum kegs are harder to clean, and have a hard time with valve fittings. Most vendors provide stainless steel only, but the quality of steel can vary. The stainless steel used for brewing equipment from StillDragon are resistant to corrosion with the proper care.

Why Bleach is Bad?

While bleach is often the preferred cleaning method for many people, bleach can be one of the worst sanitizing agents for anyone in the brewing industry with stainless steel. Bleach works with plastic and glass fermenters. As mentioned previously, bleach will strip stainless steel. Heated bleach will put the surface of stainless steel containers. Not only does it hurt the steel, bleach can cause problems with calcium deposits on the steel.

Removing Beer Stone

One of the largest issues for brewers is beer stone. How can you remove that scale from an aging tank or keg? Beerstone can be hard to remove because it slowly builds over time until you can finally see it. Beerstone is a calcium oxalate scale that occurs with the hard water minerals and protein. If you do not remove beerstone, it will alter the taste of your beer, or cause a shorter shelf life. If you do not clean beerstone correctly, it can cause an unsanitary surface and will ruin an entire batch of beer.

To clean beerstone, use hot water with caustic based products. The solution needs to be used to neutralize beerstone and remove it from the steel, glass, or plastic. A phosphoric acid step is then followed after the caustic cleaning to sanitize the equipment. It is important to know that microorganisms can hide in the crevices of equipment, so you must make sure you remove all the beerstone before you can use the equipment again.

To prevent beerstone, start by rinsing out the beer and yeast with hot water and then use a 1-2 ounce per gallon of phosphoric/nitric acid mix. Keep this mixture in the equipment for approximately thirty minutes before you add a noncaustic alkaline cleaner for another thirty minutes. Complete the cleaning process by rinsing the equipment with an ambient water temperature until the pH balance is neutral.

A light buildup normally takes a few minutes to clean, but a large buildup can take an hour or hard hand scrubbing inside the tank. Some tanks with heavy buildup will require the tank to be soaked for several hours to loosen the beerstone and remove it through hand cleaning.

Brewing has transformed several times thanks to modern technology. There are some old tricks that still work great when it comes to keeping your brewing equipment clean. Does the equipment have a shine? Does the steel feel smooth to touch? Can you see signs of beerstone deposit? Noticing these elements will help you keep your stainless brewing equipment working at its highest potential. For more information about cleaning your distillation equipment visit www.StillDragon.com.